{"id":68225,"date":"2024-11-14T17:00:15","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T22:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=68225"},"modified":"2024-11-14T14:56:57","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T19:56:57","slug":"what-does-losing-do-for-bulldog-recruiting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2024\/11\/14\/what-does-losing-do-for-bulldog-recruiting\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does Losing Do For Bulldog Recruiting?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following the loss at Tennessee last weekend, Starkville has been pretty quiet about their football season. It makes sense they\u2019d prefer to concentrate on Mississippi State\u2019s soccer team as the #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, or the basketball team\u2019s No. 2 ranking in the SEC. It sure beats dwelling on being winless in the conference after 10 games. But in terms of future football teams, what does losing do for Bulldog recruiting? For that matter how do you keep the players you have and prevent them from entering the transfer portal? It’s right around the corner, December 9th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

These are questions that may keep head coach Jeff Lebby<\/a> up at night. The season hasn\u2019t gone exactly the way he wanted, that\u2019s for sure. \u00a02-8, 0-6 in the SEC, isn\u2019t exactly the beacon to attract some of the best high school talent in the country, or potential transfers that could make a difference.<\/p>\n

During this bye week for the Dawgs, most coaches would have their assistants in the field, shoring up new prospects for the next class. At State, it\u2019s a full-time job just keeping the gate closed, in both recruits and potential exits from the existing roster.<\/p>\n

Then there’s the issue of coaches poaching players from other teams. Read further to learn more.<\/p>\n

Jumping Ship<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Mario Nash Jr. is a 6\u2019 4\u201d 280-pound offensive lineman from Dekalb, MS. He committed to State in June. 247Sports <\/em>ranks him as the 8th-best player in the state and the 14th-best\u00a0interior lineman in the country. On October 7th<\/sup>, he announced his de-commitment from the Dawgs via X, thanking them but reopening his recruitment. This was just the beginning following the loss to Texas. MSU was 1-4, 0-1 in the SEC.<\/p>\n

Kevonte Henry is a 6\u2019 4\u201d 240-pound edge rusher ranked as the No. 2 junior college player in the country, behind another Bulldog commit Zavion Hardy. Henry flipped his commitment from Mississippi State to Alabama on October 14th<\/sup>. Hardy decided to stay put.<\/p>\n

Steve Miller is a high school recruit ranked as the No. 51 safety and No. 68 player in Georgia. He flipped his commitment from State to USC one hour after Henry. At the time, State was 1-5, 0-3 in the SEC.<\/p>\n

As the losses mount up, so do recruits reversing their commitments. Following the loss to Texas A&M 34-24, three-star linebacker Austin Howard announced his de-commitment from the Bulldogs. He was the No. 69 linebacker in the state of Tennessee, and the No. 23 player in that state. Howard made his decision following a visit to the Volunteers during the Alabama game, but closely following the Dawgs\u2019 loss to the Aggies.<\/p>\n

There seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to MSU\u2019s worst season in 21 years. With two games to go, Lebby has an uphill battle to re-establish credibility with recruits. It might help to have performance improvements, but the Tennessee game didn\u2019t help on that front. No. 23 Missouri and of course nemesis No. 11 Ole Miss stand in the way, and not much time left.<\/p>\n

A Ticket to Ride<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A major complication for Lebby, as this season keeps going awry, is the transfer portal. Things were a little easier for coaches of years gone by before this came along. So far, the current roster of players is showing a great deal of loyalty to Mississippi State and their beleaguered head coach. So, the players who might declare to leave are a big unknown at this point.<\/p>\n

However, there is a somewhat sinister aspect many may not know about and that is poaching.<\/p>\n

On the SEC coaches’ teleconference Wednesday, Lebby said that some of his players are already being recruited behind the scenes. He spoke about it as if it was just a reality with which coaches have to live. \u00a0\u201cWell yeah, it\u2019s going on,\u201d Lebby said. \u201cThere are guys on the football team right now that are going through that. Again, until that is managed and policed at the highest level, there\u2019s nothing that\u2019s going to stop people from doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lebby isn\u2019t alone. Auburn is also having a challenging season. Granted, it is not as bad as the Bulldogs’, but the Tigers are 3-6, 1-5 in the SEC. As a result, their head coach, Hugh Freeze, is dealing with the same issue. In an interview with Auburn Undercover<\/em>, he is also calling for governance. “I talked to two different head coaches today because, truthfully, one of them is my friend and he’s already heard that one of his (players) may be going in the portal and looking at Auburn,” Freeze said. “It tests your friendships. It’s awkward. It’s uncomfortable. Having to recruit your own locker room is very, very challenging. All of us are like ‘Can we please just get some type of regulations around it to where we’re somewhat protected with the guys in your locker room?’\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone Loves a Winner<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This is not your parent\u2019s college football anymore. With the advent of NIL, the transfer portal, and a player marketplace attitude, a team\u2019s roster can change year after year. But, to attract and retain talent, it certainly helps if the team is a winner. In Mississippi State\u2019s case, there’s a new head coach, in that role for the first time, trying to rebuild a team that has been through a traumatic few years. In this kind of environment, Lebby\u2019s job is more difficult than it used to be, or even under normal circumstances. It doesn\u2019t help to be 2-8 with zero wins in the conference.<\/p>\n

State has a strong roster of individual talent that isn\u2019t firing on all cylinders as a team this year. There is the potential for them to be a good or even great team, as long as Lebby can keep them together and acquire new talent for the future. Linebacker Stone Blanton<\/a> spoke to the media after the UMass win. He is one of the strong ones having a good season individually. It\u2019s not certain all share his belief, but he has faith. \u201cCoach Lebby is a great leader and he\u2019s telling us, he\u2019s teaching us and he\u2019s leading us to keep fighting, keep playing,\u201d Blanton said. \u201cIt\u2019s not going our way, good. We just got to keep battling it out and keep doing it. There is a reason that this is happening. There is a lesson out of anything, no matter how bad it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo Credit: Matt Bush-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following the loss at Tennessee last weekend, Starkville has been pretty quiet about their football season. It makes sense they\u2019d prefer to concentrate on Mississippi State\u2019s soccer team as the #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, or the basketball team\u2019s No. 2 ranking in the SEC. It sure beats dwelling on being winless in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4559,"featured_media":68275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,7316],"tags":[33096,33097,34390,1546,8272,34387,34386,34389,34388],"class_list":["post-68225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sec","category-featured","category-recruiting","tag-2024-mississippi-state-football","tag-2024-sec-football","tag-austin-howard","tag-hugh-freeze","tag-jeff-lebby","tag-kevonte-henry","tag-mario-nash-jr","tag-steve-miller","tag-zavion-hardy"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4559"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}