Mississippi
SEC Football Freshman of the Month: Who’s Mississippi State’s Candidate?
The future is now in Starkville.
After Blake Shapen suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the Florida loss, Mississippi State handed the ball to prized recruit Michael Van Buren Jr. He’ll have a shot over the next seven games to padlock the QB job for the next three years.
However, the Bulldogs’ best true freshman of September doesn’t throw passes… he catches them. And he makes plays on special teams. No one recruits, develops, and turns loose young stars better than the SEC. Here are each league team’s top rookie of the opening month.
Electrifying Georgia game stamped Williams as the favorite for the 2024 Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Award.
Punishing runner has rushed for 62 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Mega-recruit has made nine catches for 212 yards and a TD while dealing with a shoulder injury.
Sure, it was against Samford, but Lagway’s lone start sent a clear signal of his seismic potential.
Five-star Bolden has played 170 snaps and is already a key member of the DB rotation.
In spot duty, Nichols is laying the groundwork with a couple of pass breakups.
Durham has risen to the top of the depth chart in Baton Rouge with 374 yards from scrimmage and five total TDs.
Craver has already paid dividends on offense and special teams for the Bulldogs. The speedy four-star recruit has nine receptions for 238 yards and two TDs, adding a score on a blocked punt fumble recovery.
It’ll be fun watching the chemistry develop between the two rookies, Craver and MVB at quarterback.
Two-touchdown performance by Mario Craver in his State debut 🐶 pic.twitter.com/gpVpNrieUm
— Tru Maroon Nation (@TruMaroonNation) September 1, 2024
Dallas native ranks fourth on Mizzou with 69 yards on 11 carries.
Sooner gem has already logged 150 tackles and seven stops in the first four games.
The future is bright for Echoles who has flashed off the bench in run defense.
Highest Graded True Freshman DT from Week 4:
💪 William Echoles, Ole Miss: 78.1@OleMissFB pic.twitter.com/J7aKV9FMJn
— PFF College (@PFF_College) September 24, 2024
Stewart has quickly emerged as one of the nation’s most explosive and disruptive young edge rushers.
Early blowouts gave future stars, like Carter, a chance to log valuable reps.
Simmons has been a beast off the edge, bagging a team-high four sacks and earning a wicked PFF pass rush grade of 90.2.
Reed has filled in exceptionally well for injured Conner Weigman, accounting for eight TDs without a pick.
Seabrooks has earned quality minutes off the bench, making 11 tackles and his first career pick.
SEC Football Offensive Players of the Month: Who Represents Mississippi State?
SEC Football Defensive Players of the Month: Who Represents Mississippi State?
It will be a beautiful start to the weekend with sunny skies and highs in the 80s. Here’s your statewide forecast from the National Weather Service.
Northern Mississippi
It will be a sunny Friday with highs in the mid-80s. Friday night will be mostly cloudy and warmer with lows in the mid to upper 60s.
Central Mississippi
Friday will be sunny with highs in the mid to upper 80s. Friday night will be mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid-60s.
Southern Mississippi
It will be a sunny Friday with highs in the mid-80s. Friday night will be partly cloudy with lows in the lower 60s.
Mississippi
Golden Spikes watchlist features players from Mississippi State, Ole Miss – SuperTalk Mississippi
Two pitchers representing Mississippi universities are up for the 2026 Golden Spikes Award.
USA Baseball announced Thursday the 25 semifinalists for the award, which is presented annually to the most prolific college player in the nation. Both Mississippi State’s Tomas Valincius and Ole Miss’ Cade Townsend cracked the list. It’s the latest award each was announced to be up for after Valincius and Townsend became Ferris Trophy finalists earlier this week.
Valincius, a left-hander who followed first-year Bulldog head coach Brian O’Connor to Starkville from Virginia has been a star for Mississippi State this season. In 13 starts, the sophomore is 8-2 with a 2.52 ERA and 105 strikeouts, along with just 16 walks across 75 innings of work.
He has effectively limited opposing hitters to a .209 batting average on the year and ranks second in the SEC in strikeouts and wins, and is third in innings pitched and fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.56) and WHIP (0.99).
Valincius is the 10th Bulldog to earn a semifinalist distinction from the Golden Spikes Award and the first since Dakota Jordan in 2024. Will Clark is the program’s only Golden Spikes Award winner in 1985 while Rafael Palmeiro and Brent Rooker finished as finalists for the honor in 1984 and 2017, respectively.
For Ole Miss, Townsend is the first Rebel since Doug Nikhazy in 2021 and just the seventh ever to be named a semifinalist for the award. He is the first Ole Miss sophomore to ever be named a semifinalist as all six before him were juniors.
The right-hander boasts a 3.25 ERA and has struck out 77 batters while only allowing 20 earned runs in 55.1 innings. Townsend ranks fifth in the SEC in WHIP (1.01), strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.50), and strikeouts per nine innings (12.52). He leads the Rebels in all three categories as well as batters struck out looking (24) and wins and is second in opponent batting average (.202) and total strikeouts (77).
If Townsend is announced as a finalist, he will join Stephen Head and Drew Pomeranz in earning the honor. No Ole Miss player has ever won the Golden Spikes Award.
The full list of semifinalists can be found here. Finalists will be named on June 10, and this year’s Golden Spikes Award winner will be announced on the MLB Network on June 29. Fans can weigh in on which player is their favorite by clicking here.
One series remains in the regular season and Ole Miss and Mississippi State baseball are in similar situations.
Both are locks for the NCAA Tournament but are on the bubble for hosting a regional.
The Tennessean’s latest bracket projections have both the Rebels and Bulldogs as two of the 16 national seeds, but that is not solidified yet.
Finding wins in the final series, and possibly the SEC Tournament too, are necessary. Both teams close the regular season on the road against ranked teams that are also projected to host regionals.
The No. 12 Bulldogs (38-14, 15-12 SEC) play at No. 10 Texas A&M (37-12, 16-10). The No. 19 Rebels (35-18, 14-13) play at No. 16 Alabama (35-17, 16-11). Both series begin May 14 (6 p.m., SEC Network+).
Here’s a look at the different scenarios for Ole Miss and Mississippi State to host NCAA Tournament regionals.
Mississippi State, Ole Miss hosting scenarios for NCAA Tournament
Ole Miss and Mississippi State getting swept could knock them completely out of the hosting conversation, barring a deep run in the SEC Tournament. However, SEC Tournament wins are not always viewed the same as SEC regular-season wins by the selection committee.
Mississippi State is in a slightly better spot than Ole Miss. The Bulldogs’ RPI is at No. 12, one spot ahead of Ole Miss. They are tied for sixth in the SEC standings, while Ole Miss is ninth.
The Bulldogs also went 4-0 against Ole Miss, which could give them the edge if the final hosting seed came down to those two teams.
The Tennessean projects MSU as the No. 12 national seed and the Rebels as the No. 13 seed. D1Baseball and Baseball America also project MSU to host, however they both have Ole Miss as a No. 2 seed.
That could mean Ole Miss needs two wins against Alabama, while MSU may be fine with just one win at Texas A&M. If Ole Miss wins one game at Alabama, it probably would need multiple wins in the SEC Tournament.
Mississippi State winning two games at Texas A&M could keep it in contention for a top eight seed. Ole Miss and Mississippi State sweeping their series obviously would, too.
Getting a top eight seed is advantageous because that means you are guaranteed to host a super regional.
Who Ole Miss, Mississippi State fans should root against
It will help Ole Miss and Mississippi State if teams near them in the projections lose, too. That would be teams like Oregon, West Virginia, Wake Forest, Nebraska, Oregon State and Kansas.
Oregon hosts Southern Cal, Nebraska plays at Minnesota, Kansas plays at BYU, Wake Forest plays at Duke, Oregon State hosts Air Force and West Virgina hosts TCU.
How NCAA Tournament history could be made in Mississippi
If everything falls the right way, there’s a chance Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Southern Miss all host NCAA Tournament regionals. That’s never happened.
The No. 9 Golden Eagles (37-14, 19-8 Sun Belt) are projected by The Tennessean as the No. 10 national seed, just ahead of MSU and Ole Miss.
Southern Miss plays a home series against Georgia Southern (15-37, 7-20) at Pete Taylor Park beginning May 14 (7 p.m., ESPN+).
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
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