Mississippi

Where Mississippi State football has improved — and has work to do — in transfer portal

Published

1 year ago

January 23, 2024

Where Mississippi State football has improved — and has work to do — in transfer portal

STARKVILLE — Coaching changes, whether they be at a powerhouse such as Alabama or a Group of Five program like James Madison, have proven to carry plenty of roster turnover with them. Mississippi State football is no exception, with coach Jeff Lebby looking to revamp a program fresh off snapping a 13-year bowl streak.

In his introductory press conference on Nov. 27, Lebby noted the importance of addressing needs in the transfer portal – including at quarterback with Will Rogers departing after four seasons.

But for the former Oklahoma offensive coordinator, retooling MSU extended beyond his side of the ball. Mississippi State lost key starters on defense, ranging from linebackers Nathaniel Watson and Jett Johnson – who combined for 267 tackles in 2023 – to defensive backs Decamerion Richardson and Shawn Preston Jr.

The Bulldogs, with the nation’s No. 36 transfer class, according to 247Sports, will look much different as a result of the moves.

Here’s how we graded MSU’s portal additions so far, and where we think the Bulldogs can improve in the post-spring portal cycle.

Quarterback: B-

Lebby has never been a head coach, but if he’s earned the benefit of the doubt in one category, it’s quarterback evaluation. If he’s confident Baylor transfer Blake Shapen can be the guy for MSU, and Lebby spoke glowingly of him a month ago, there should be some faith there there.

In 27 games across three seasons with the Bears, Shapen threw for 5,574 yards and 36 touchdowns. He isn’t at the level of other portal choices like Dillon Gabriel or DJ Uiagalelei, but he seems to be a serviceable option alongside Mike Wright, Chris Parson and incoming freshman Michael Van Buren.

Running back: N/A

Despite losing starter Jo’Quavious Marks to Southern Cal, Mississippi State didn’t add any running backs.

The Bulldogs appear to be content with their returning players for now, led by Jeffery Pittman and Keyvone Lee while Seth Davis’ availability remains in question following an injury in the Egg Bowl. Lebby also spoke highly of junior college signee Johnnie Daniels.

Wide receiver: A-

The Bulldogs brought in a pair of receivers in Kevin Coleman and Kelly Akharaiyi – two players who have shown promise at their previous stops.

Akharaiyi’s 1,033 receiving yards ranked 19^th in the nation last season, and his 21.52 yards per reception ranked fourth. He also hauled in seven touchdowns with UTEP. Coleman had 26 catches for 362 yards at Louisville last season. While at Jackson State in 2022, he was the SWAC Freshman of the Year.

Tight end: C+

MSU added the Ball brothers, Cam and Justin, to address the hole at tight end. Mississippi State didn’t use the position from 2020-22 during Mike Leach’s tenure, and it struggled to establish consistency at tight end in 2023.

Finding experienced players, with Cam Ball appearing in 10 games for Buffalo last season and Justin Ball starting 12 games while serving as a team captain with Vanderbilt, is a step forward.

Offensive line: B+

Between exhausted eligibility and transfers, MSU lost most of its production along the offensive line the last two months. However, the portal brought promise with four additions.

North Texas transfer Ethan Miner was graded among the top centers last season. Makylan Pounders, a Memphis transfer, was among the top prospects in the 2021 class pursued by MSU and Ole Miss. Jacoby Jackson (Texas Tech) and Marlon Martinez (LSU) have the tangibles to suggest they could be quality options.

Defensive line: D

Mississippi State didn’t stoop below the Power Five level to find players along the defensive line, adding North Carolina’s Kedrick Bingley-Jones, Sulaiman Kpaka from Purdue and Wilky Denaud from Auburn.

However, that trio hasn’t provided much production at the collegiate level yet. For all the successful defensive linemen from MSU now in the NFL, the Bulldogs have struggled to find an instant-impact pass rusher during the portal era.

Linebacker: B

Despite what it’s losing at linebacker, Mississippi State retained starting options while making one portal addition. Stone Blanton, who was previously an MSU baseball commit, is transferring back to his home state after starting 12 games for South Carolina last season.

RECRUITING NEWS: Jeramiah McCloud commits to Mississippi State football, Jeff Lebby’s 2025 recruiting class

Defensive back: D

MSU hasn’t done much so far at corner or safety. The best move may have been convincing safety Corey Ellington, who started in seven of the 12 games he appeared in last season, to take his name out of the transfer portal.

Memphis transfer Tre Wright has been the lone addition at corner. The secondary could be a top priority in the next cycle.

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.

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Where Mississippi State women’s basketball stands in updated March Madness bracket predictions

Published

11 hours ago

January 28, 2025

Press Room

Where Mississippi State women’s basketball stands in updated March Madness bracket predictions

Mississippi State women’s basketball suffered a heartbreaking loss at the buzzer to Missouri on Tuesday night. Yet, it didn’t negatively impact its NCAA tournament projection.

The Bulldogs (16-6, 3-5 SEC) also won 96-56 against Auburn on Thursday, their largest SEC margin of victory in coach Sam Purcell’s three seasons.

MSU only has one game this week at LSU (21-1, 6-1) on Sunday (1 p.m., SEC Network).

Here’s where Mississippi State stands in the latest NCAA tournament predictions.

Mississippi State women’s basketball NCAA tournament projection

ESPN’s Charlie Creme kept Mississippi State as a No. 8 seed this week. He has the Bulldogs matched up against No. 9 Oregon. The winner would play either No. 1 UCLA or No. 16 seeds Texas Southern or North Carolina A&T.

Mississippi State women’s basketball NCAA tournament resume

Mississippi State’s NCAA NET ranking fell three spots to No. 34 after the Missouri loss. Missouri’s NET ranking is No. 74, becoming MSU’s worse loss of the season. MSU is now 14-1 in Quads 2-4.

The Bulldogs’ best wins are at home versus Oklahoma and against Utah on a neutral court.

The Sunday game at LSU will be Quad 1.

Mississippi State women’s basketball NCAA tournament history under Sam Purcell

MSU has reached the NCAA tournament once in coach Sam Purcell’s two completed seasons. In 2022-23, MSU won in the First Four and the first round before losing to Notre Dame in the second round.

The Bulldogs have made NCAA tournament appearances 12 times and have won at least one game 11 straight times.

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

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What Sam Purcell said of Mississippi State women’s basketball’s last-second loss at Missouri

Published

22 hours ago

January 27, 2025

Press Room

What Sam Purcell said of Mississippi State women’s basketball’s last-second loss at Missouri

Mississippi State women’s basketball had the ball in the hands of its 40-point scorer with 25.8 seconds remaining in Tuesday’s game.

The Bulldogs led by one point, but the shot clock showed 16 seconds. One more bucket to add to Jerkaila Jordan’s career high in points could seal the win against Missouri.

Mizzou forward Laniah Randle poked the ball away from Jordan with 13 seconds remaining and another Tigers player grabbed it and raced down the floor. Missouri didn’t call a timeout before Grace Slaughter hit a midrange baseline jump shot at the buzzer.

It dealt Mississippi State (16-6, 3-5 SEC) a 78-77 loss to the Tigers (12-10, 1-6) at Mizzou Arena.

“This one stings,” MSU coach Sam Purcell said in his postgame radio interview. “The kids are heartbroken in that locker room. They wanted this bad. I’m proud of the effort they gave, but at the end of the day, our defense was not good enough to get enough stops tonight.”

What Sam Purcell said went wrong on final play

Purcell called a timeout before Jordan’s turnover. As she began penetrating toward the hoop, center Madina Okot set a screen to the left, but Jordan drove right instead. Jordan then tried to cross back to her left when she began to lose control of the ball.

“I’m going to have to go back and watch it,” Purcell said. “Obviously I thought we had a great flat back screen. We called a timeout, even though we had the matchup earlier because we wanted to catch our breath. We still were able to get it back in our hands for the end of the game.

“You just got to tip your hat to Missouri. I think they got a deflection or a hand in there because she wasn’t able to be stopped. But for that possession, she was. And then they go down, and then obviously make a dagger there at the horn.”

Purcell pointed to two other aspects that went wrong in the game for Mississippi State, who played without backup point guard Destiney McPhaul because of illness.

One, he thought the Bulldogs allowed too many and-1 fouls. They also left points at the free-throw line, going just 14 of 24. Jordan, despite becoming the ninth player in program history to score at least 40 points in a game, was 9-for-17, with four misses in the fourth quarter.

MSU led for 22 minutes, 3 seconds of game time, including the entire third quarter, when it led by as many as nine points.

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

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Mississippi has 12 ties to the Super Bowl between Chiefs and Eagles. Here’s the list

Published

1 day ago

January 27, 2025

Press Room

Mississippi has 12 ties to the Super Bowl between Chiefs and Eagles. Here’s the list

The matchup is set for Super Bowl 59 between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

It’s a star-studded game featuring Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Jalen Hurts and probably singing star Taylor Swift, too. There are also a handful of Mississippi ties to the Super Bowl — 12 to be exact, including players and coaches.

Southern Miss has the most connections among the Mississippi colleges with four.

Here’s are the Mississippi ties to know for the Super Bowl.

Mississippi State’s Super Bowl connections

Chris Jones is back in the Super Bowl as Kansas City’s star defensive lineman. The six-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro played at Mississippi State from 2013-15 and is a Houston, Mississippi, native. In 15 games this season, Jones has 37 tackles, five sacks and 20 quarterback hits. He’s played his entire career with the Chiefs and already won three Super Bowls.

Eagles cornerback Darius Slay played at Itawamba Community College from 2009-10 and Mississippi State from 2011-12. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round and was traded to Philadelphia in 2020. Slay is a six-time Pro Bowler and has 49 tackles, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery this season.

Ole Miss’ Super Bowl connections

Ole Miss’ connections are both on the Eagles.

AJ Brown, Philadelphia’s star wide receiver, played at Ole Miss from 2016-18. Brown was a second-round draft pick by the Tennessee Titans but was traded to the Eagles in 2022. He’s a three-time Pro Bowl selection and eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards for the fifth time out of six seasons. Brown is also a Starkville native.

Eagles assistant special teams coordinator Joe Pannunzio coached tight ends and special teams at Ole Miss from 1995-98.

Southern Miss’ Super Bowl connections

Linebacker Swayze Bozeman signed with the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in the spring. He’s spent time on the practice squad and active roster this season, appearing in three games with three tackles. Bozeman is a Flora native, attended Tri-County Academy and played at Copiah-Lincoln Community College before Southern Miss from 2019-23.

Two other former Golden Eagles are on the Chiefs’ practice squad: cornerback Eric Scott Jr. and wide receiver Jason Brownlee.

Scott played at Southern Miss from 2020-22 and was a sixth-round draft pick by the Dallas Cowboys. He was cut by the Cowboys in August and signed by Kansas City on Sept. 3. Scott has not played in a game this season. Brownlee, a West Point native, played at East Mississippi Community College from 2018-19 and Southern Miss from 2020-22. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New York Jets and caught a touchdown as a rookie but was cut in January. The Chiefs signed him to the practice squad on Jan. 15.

Todd Pinkston is in his second season as the Chiefs running backs coach. The Forest native played wide receiver at Southern Miss from 1995-99 and was a second-round draft pick by the Eagles. Pinkston also coached at Petal High School.

Mississippi high school connections to the Super Bowl

There are four Mississippians who are participating in the Super Bowl but played college football out of the state:

Nakobe Dean, the Eagles linebacker, is a Horn Lake native. He’s a former five-star in the 2019 recruiting class and the No. 1 player in Mississippi, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings. Dean went to Georgia and was drafted by Philadelphia in the third round.
Eagles running back Kenneth Gainwell is from Yazoo City. He played at Memphis and was a fifth-round draft pick in 2021. Gainwell, the backup to Saquon Barkley, suffered a concussion in the NFC Championship game and did not return.
Eagles defensive tackle Byron Young is from Laurel and went to West Jones. He played at Alabama before being drafted in the third round by the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022. Young has been on injured reserve since Oct. 26.
Defensive tackle Fabien Lovett Sr. signed with Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in the spring and has been on the practice squad. He’s an Olive Branch native, played at Mississippi State from 2018-19 before transferring to Florida State.

When is the Super Bowl?

Date: Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025
Location: New Orleans
Time: 5:30 p.m. CT

How to watch the Super Bowl

The Super Bowl will broadcast on FOX. Streaming is available via FuboTV, which offers a free trial to new subscribers.

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

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