BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) – The 2024 NFL Draft has finally reached its conclusion, and teams begin signing undrafted free agents, it’s time to see who will be representing the Magnolia State come this Fall.

Mississippi’s first rep to come off the board during the draft was Florida State’s Trey Benson, a runningback from Greenville and St. Joseph Catholic School alum who was selected in Round 3 with the 66th pick by the Arizona Cardinals.

From there, eight more players who attended school in the state were selected over the next two days.

Round #, Pick # — College, Position, Name, Pro Team (Hometown/High School)

• Round 3, Pick 96 — Florida St. CB Jarrian Jones, Jacksonville Jaguars (Magee/Northwest Rankin)
• Round 3, Pick 97 — Texas A&M DT McKinnley Jackson, Cincinnati Bengals (Lucedale/George Co.)
• Round 4, Pick 112 — Mississippi St. CB Decamerion Richardson, Las Vegas Raiders
• Round 5, Pick 153 — Ole Miss CB Deantre Prince, Jacksonville Jaguars (Charleston/Charleston)
• Round 6, Pick 200 — Mississippi St. DT Jaden Crumerdy, Carolina Panthers (Hattiesburg/Oak Grove)
• Round 6, Pick 206 — Mississippi St. LB Nathaniel Watson, Cleveland Browns
• Round 6, Pick 214 — Ole Miss EDGE Cedric Johnson, Cincinnati Bengals (Mobile, Ala./Davidson)
• Round 7, Pick 224 — Ole Miss S Daijahn Anthony, Cincinnati Bengals

Even after the draft, NFL teams continue to add undrafted free agents. Here are those who will look to earn a roster spot over the next few months:

• Southern Miss RB Frank Gore Jr., Buffalo Bills
• Southern Miss LB Swayze Bozeman, Kansas City Chiefs (Flora/Tri-County Academy)
• Southern Miss C Briason Mays, San Francisco 49ers
• Southern Miss WR Latreal Jones, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Taylorsville/Taylorsville)
• Ole Miss EDGE Isaac Ukwu, Detroit Lions
• Ole Miss LB Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste, Los Angeles Chargers
• Ole Miss WR Dayton Wade, Baltimore Ravens
• Ole Miss CB Zamari Walton, Los Angeles Chargers
• Ole Miss QB Spencer Sanders, Kansas City Chiefs
• Ole Miss CB Deshawn Gaddie Jr., Carolina Panthers
• Mississippi St. CB Marcus Banks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Mississippi St. WR Lideatrick “Tulu” Griffin, Las Vegas Raiders (Philadelphia/Philadelphia)
• Mississippi St. LB Jett Johnson, New York Jets (Tupelo/Tupelo)
• Alcorn St. RB Jarveon Johnson, Green Bay Packers (Columbia/East Marion)
• UCF QB John Rhys Plumlee, Pittsburgh Steelers (Hattiesburg/Oak Grove)
• Washington RB Dillon Johnson, Tennessee Titans (Greenville/St. Joseph)
• Arkansas St. CB Leon Jones, Chicago Bears (Hattiesburg/North Forrest)
• Florida St. DT Fabien Lovett, Kansas City Chiefs (Vicksburg/Olive Branch)

Altogether, 27 players that either attended high school or college in the state of Mississippi currently look forward to suiting up for minicamp.

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Bob Tyler, who’s coaching career spanned across 45 years and included stops at Mississippi State and Ole Miss, died Sunday, a Mississippi State spokesperson confirmed to The Clarion-Ledger. He was 91.

Tyler’s coaching career started in 1957 when he was hired by Water Valley High in his hometown. The first part of his high school coaching career featured stops at Okolona, Corinth, Senatobia and Meridian.

He made the jump to the collegiate ranks when he was hired onto Johnny Vaught’s staff at Ole Miss (1968-70).

Tyler spent the 1971 season working under Bear Bryant at Alabama before arriving at Mississippi State the following year as an offensive coordinator under Charles Shira.

In 1973, Tyler became the coach of the Bulldogs. Across six seasons, he had a 21–44–2 record. That’s an adjusted record from his actual 39-25-3 mark. Mississippi State forfeited four wins and a tie in 1975 along with the 1976 and 1977 seasons due to alleged improper benefits to student-athletes − though that decision has long been debated.

The NCAA tried putting the Bulldogs on probation for the 1975 campaign, but MSU sought and won approval from the court − which delivered an adverse opinion to the ruling − to play.

BOB TYLER: Bob Tyler a man of many talents. Here are a few

In 1974, Tyler led Mississippi State to only its second nine-win season ever. It’s a feat that has only been reached 10 times in program history. The Bulldogs ended that campaign with a Sun Bowl victory.

Tyler spent time as Mississippi State’s athletics director (1976–79) before moving to North Texas. He was the football coach in 1981 and served as the school’s AD from 1981-82.

He returned as the coach of Northwest Community College from 1984-85. In 1986 he surfaced as the high school in Oxford before finishing his career at Millsaps College (2000-02).

Tyler was inducted into the Mississippi State Hall of Fame in 2020 and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.

Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @skrajisnik3.

• Just because a retail location sells these items doesn’t mean they are safe. 

If you’ve recently been inside a convenience store in our state to buy a soda or snack, you may have noticed a plethora of items behind the counter, or a locked cabinet, that have colorful packaging and with names such as “Delta 8,” “THC-P,” “HHC,” and “THC-O,” among many others. Unbeknownst to most customers, these products contain what’s known as “Intoxicating Hemp-Derived Cannabinoids.” But just because a retail location sells these items doesn’t mean they are safe. 

In 2020, Dr. Bill Gurley, a principal scientist in the National Center for Natural Products Research (NCNPR) at the University of Mississippi (UM), along with his colleagues, published a study that analyzed some of these products being sold in our state. At the time, most of the available products being sold were touted as “CBD (cannabidiol),” a non-intoxicating compound found in cannabis. Undercover law enforcement agents purchased twenty-five of these products, which were sent to UM researchers for analysis. The results were alarming: only three products that claimed to contain CBD were within 20% of what the label claimed was in the product; three products contained delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (d-9 THC), a predominant, intoxicating compound found in cannabis; and three products contained no cannabinoid material whatsoever. 

In another study published by UM in 2023, Dr. Mohamed Radwan and his colleagues looked at products containing delta-8 THC, an intoxicating compound found in trace amounts in cannabis. Since there are only trace amounts of delta-8 THC found in cannabis naturally, the manufactures chemically alter CBD to make delta-8 THC for the active ingredient in the products. This process of adding chemicals to create synthetic products such as the ones mentioned earlier (delta-8, THC-P, HHC, etc.) results in many byproducts that could be harmful when ingested. Furthermore, the manufacturers of these products often do not disclose what these byproducts are, nor the amount you are potentially ingesting. This study found several impurities in these products and great variability of their contents. 

Some of the side effects of these products are anxiety, vomiting, dizziness, loss of consciousness, tremors, hallucinations, and rapid heart rate. The Center for Disease Control found that since these products have become widely available to the public, hospitalizations of children under 10 years old have skyrocketed as the result of accidental ingestions of cannabis edibles (gummies, cookies, etc.). The Mississippi Poison Control Center has seen similar instances of Emergency Room visits and hospitalizations, mainly due to children having access to these products a parent or guardian purchased and them thinking it was candy or a snack, then having a horrible side effect. 

A reasonable question to ask is, “why are these products allowed to be sold in the first place?” In 2018, US legislators passed the Agricultural Improvement Act, commonly known as “The 2018 Farm Bill.” As we discussed earlier regarding the CBD study from 2020, when those products were obtained, most of the products were CBD-based. However, as businesses looked closely at the Farm Bill, a loophole was noticed that stated “derivatives” were also allowed to be sold. This may have been an unintended consequence of the bill’s language, but, nevertheless, companies started making these highly intoxicating products such as the ones we’ve discussed (delta-8, THC-P, HHC, etc.). These products fall outside the governance of the FDA and DEA, hence they are unregulated and able to be sold in gas stations, convenience stores, vape shops, etc. 

This issue is not unique to Mississippi and the federal government realizes it must act to address it, but until then, states must take action to protect their citizens. Thankfully, Mississippi now has one of the most comprehensive solutions in the nation on the table. Representative Lee Yancey (District 74) has sponsored House Bill 1676, which addresses this issue, the main goal being consumer safety. By removing these products from the shelves of gas stations and vape shops and placing them under strict rules and parameters of the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Program dispensaries, we can be sure of the products’ purity, correct dosage/labeling, and consistency, which is currently not the case with the products being sold in retail outlets today.

I commend Representative Yancey and his colleagues who have supported this bill, as Mississippi can lead the way on how to deal with this issue and other states can follow our example.