BREAKING NEWS – NCAA Tournament Selection Committee member Dan Beebe will attend Ole Miss at MSU game Thursday night

Big 12 commissioner and NCAA Tournament selection committee member Dan Beebe

Spokesmen for the Big 12 Conference have confirmed to The SDN Bulldog Blog Monday evening that NCAA Tournament selection committee member Dan Beebe will be in attendance for the Ole Miss at Mississippi State game Thursday night at Humphrey Coliseum.

Part of the duties of being on the selection committee is attending games that involve possible teams to be included in the field of 65. Beebe’s term on the selection committee doesn’t expire until 2014.

Beebe has served as Big 12 Commissioner since 2007 and his resume also includes serving on the BCS television negotiations committee with ESPN and was also named to the Executive Committee of NACDA (National Association of Collegiate Athletic Directors).

Earlier in his career, Beebe served as the Commissioner of the Ohio Valley Conference for 14 years.

Mississippi State (16-7, 4-4 in Southeastern Conference play), who has lost four of its last five SEC games, will take the floor against Ole Miss (17-6, 5-4) for a 8 p.m. tip in a contest that will also be televised on ESPN.

MSU/SEC Notebook – February 8th

NOTE: Each Monday for the rest of the regular season every Southeastern Conference head coach will talk to the media. Starting with this blog post, I will briefly summarize what will be in the notebook that runs in Tuesday’s Starkville Daily News but will no longer publish the whole story on The SDN Bulldog Blog in the hope you will be intrigued enough to pick up a copy of the paper. Please do! It makes my bosses (and then therefore, me) happy when you do. For my out-of-market readers, please go to the Starkville Daily News website to read the full story.  Thank you.

Rick Stansbury

Stansbury still bemoaning lack of depth

At 4-4 in Southeastern Conference play with a team that was ranked 18^th in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll, Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury was asked by Ron Higgins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal if he was disappointed by the lack of poise in the starters he had coming back from a SEC Tournament champion and NCAA Tournament team one season ago.

Stansbury quickly pointed out again the argument he’s not working the team he thought he’d have with the early season injuries to center Elgin Bailey, guard Twany Beckham and Shaun Smith along with the ongoing ineligibility of freshman forward Renardo Sidney.

“Here’s the thing that gets missed in this – don’t forget we’re without basically three of those guys we had last year” Stansbury said. “You don’t have your backup center, then you lost your backup point guard. That’s been the challenge for us. I just don’t have the quality depth there. And it’s the depth at two positions – at the five and at the one.”

John Calipari

Calipari gives his take on the NCAA one-and-done rule

One of the coaches in the country you could argue has benefited the most from the recruitment of one-and-done player is Kentucky head coach John Calipari. The Wildcats head coach has had back-to-back starting point guards end up as lottery picks in his last two years at Memphis with Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans.

Calipari was asked Monday his take on the NBA rule that makes high school prospects spend at least one year in college saying it hasn’t changed his perspective in recruiting at all.

“What I do is recruit the best players I can recruit and if they’re prepared after a year, I influence them to go (pro),” Calipari said.

Previously, the NBA allowed players to be drafted directly from high school. Since 2006, draftees must be at least 19 years old and one year out of high school.

Vols and Vandy meet in primetime matchup

While there may be a lot of mid-week conference games that string together and blend in with each other, tonight’s SEC battle in the Volunteer state is not one of them.

Asked if trying to prepare his guys is easier for tonight’s home matchup against Tennessee in the middle of ESPN’s Rivalry Week coverage, Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings was sure it wouldn’t take a dramatic pre-game speech.

“There are a few games each year where you don’t have to do much to get your guys ready to play and I would think that Tuesday night would qualify as one of those,” Stalling said. “I enjoy those and in games like this I don’t think you have to be concerned with their emotional readiness.”

The 12^th-ranked Volunteers (18-4, 6-2) travel to Memorial Gym for the task of being the first team during the 2009-10 season to knock off the 22^nd-ranked Commodores (17-5, 6-2) at home.

“If you’re going to be a factor in the race for a championship then taken care of what happens on your home court is extremely important,” Stallings said.

All of the SDN Bulldog Blog readers: feel free to follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/matthewcstevens for up-to-date Mississippi State coverage.

Bracket Talk Vol. 3 – February 8th

David Mihm - Bracketography.com

Bracketography.com’s founder and editor David Mihm will be on this blog in a weekly Q&A session for his thoughts on Mississippi State’s seeding position and the rest of the SEC. Feel free to send me – via the comments section – your questions of interest to ask him throughout the season.

NOTE: In the effort of full disclosure, you should know Mihm took me on a freelance writer since my sophomore year of college and I worked for him on the Bracketography.com site until the day I took the job at Starkville Daily News.

Currently and for the first time this season, Mihm has Mississippi State as a the fifth team out of bracket.

1) Okay, we’re finally at the point a majority of my readership and all Mississippi State fans dreaded being in. For the record, Mihm’s latest projection released Sunday evening has the Bulldogs as the fifth-to-last team out of the NCAA Tournament field. This means MSU is ranked according to Bracketography.com as the 36th-best at-large team in the country.
While I’m not going to ask you what MSU needs to do to get back on the good side of the bubble (the answer to that is always start winning games) but is there teams MSU needs to root for (in other words schools they need to see keep winning) around the country to make the Bulldogs tournament resume and RPI ranking go up?

A: You always want to root for teams you’ve beaten (and even lost to) throughout the year.  For MSU, it starts with Old Dominion.  The Monarchs are struggling right now, losing two games in a week to the top of the CAA.  UCLA lost a share of the Pac-10 lead to California on Saturday. Those were probably MSU’s two best non-conference wins.

2) I notice you have 1-seed Kentucky in a first and second round pod located in Milwaukee. It should be noted that believe it or not, that location is the closest to the Lexington campus by at least 300 miles. However, my question is would the committee consider the liklihood and historical evidence of the Big Blue nation fan’s ability to travel anywhere and make it less significant which site they put them in. I guess I assumed if given the opportunity the committee would place Wisconsin in a Milwaukee pod and say Gonzaga in a Spokane site. Thoughts?

A: It’ll be interesting since New Orleans or Jacksonville would make a more logical site for an SEC team.  Also all of the Big Ten teams at the top of the bracket would prefer Milwaukee (Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State). However, 300 miles is a long way to travel.

3) Let’s just be bluntly honest on this question: Is there any historical precedent that can be matched by how awful the Pacific 10 Conference has been this year? Currently, you have them as not only a one-big league but California gets a 13-seed in your latest bracket. You live out in Portland so please discuss this phenomenon with a BCS conference.

A: This year’s Pac-10 is as bad as any Bowl Champiosnhip Series conference has ever been.  Even worse than the Southeastern Conference a couple of years ago.  USC would have a somewhat sound at-large profile thanks to non-conference wins over Tennessee, St Mary’s, and UNLV but they’re the only team in the conference you could say that about and they’ve declared themselves ineligible for postseason play.

4. I have to assume your choice of final No. 1 seed had to be between Purdue and Duke. I must say this debate interests me because Duke has a higher RPI, better strength of schedule and currently leading their league while Purdue is third in the Big Ten. Please discuss why you think the committee, if the season ended today, would choose the Boilermakers?

A: Actually, Duke doesn’t have nearly a strong enough resume to be a #1 right now.  It’s down to Purdue and Villanova at the moment, though Georgetown, West Virginia, Duke, and Wisconsin will all have a chance by the end of the year.  Duke’s best non-conference wins are over Charlotte and Gonzaga, whereas Purdue beat Tennessee, Wake Forest, and West Virginia.

5) Take as long as you wish on this question because as you and I know it has so many angles but…where do you stand on increasing the size of the NCAA Tournament field?

A: Totally against it.  In fact, the NCAA should cut one at-large team and go back to 64.  All these coaches whining that the field should expand so that there’s not the same kind of pressure to make the NCAAs should consider that they’ll be under the same pressure to make the second round if the field expands to 96 or 128.  Also I suspect we’d continue to see domination of the remaining at-large bids by power conferences, despite assurances to the contrary.

All of the SDN Bulldog Blog readers: feel free to follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/matthewcstevens for up-to-date Mississippi State coverage.

Macklin leads Florida past Mississippi State 69-62

Florida's Vernon Macklin (32) goes for two points during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Mississippi State in Gainesville, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Phil Sandlin)

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — After two years of trying, Florida finally had an answer for Mississippi State center Jarvis Varnado.

Georgetown transfer Vernon Macklin — a 6-foot-10, 240-pound junior center — was able to handle one of the nation’s top post players well enough to give Florida a 69-62 victory on Saturday, snapping a two-game losing streak to the Bulldogs.

Macklin scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed six rebounds against the 6-9, 230-pound Varnado, who is rapidly approaching the NCAA career record for blocked shots, to give Florida its first victory over Mississippi State since NBA lottery picks Joakim Noah and Al Horford were in their final season.

“We had to have a presence at the basket,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said. “The last two years we played them with him (Varnado) there, we had no presence at the basket. Even when we tried to have a presence, we couldn’t have a presence. I thought Vernon, if he could get the ball in there, could do some things.”

Macklin made 10 of 14 shots and gave the Gators (17-6, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) a boost coming out of the half. He scored Florida’s first 10 points — four on dunks and another on a hook over Varnado — and left the game for a breather after 5 minutes with the Gators ahead by four points.

“I didn’t look at it personally,” said Macklin, who had scored a combined 13 points in his previous two games. “That’s a great center and he’s been a great center in this league for a long time. I just wanted to go out there, have a good game and help my team win this game.”

It wasn’t just his offense that helped. Macklin gives the Gators a physical presence inside that they haven’t had the past two seasons. Varnado scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, but was just 6-of-16 shooting and had a season-low one block.

“We had our hands full and we didn’t perform tonight,” Varnado said. “They made it tough for me to score. I missed a lot of easy baskets, but they made it tough for me to score.”

Varnado was no factor after hitting a pair of free throws to cut Florida’s lead to 59-49 with 6:22 to play. The rest of the way, he went 0-for-2 from the field and 0-for-2 from the free-throw line, and he had two rebounds, one foul and one turnover.

“We just didn’t execute down the stretch,” said Varnado, who needs 26 blocks to break former Louisiana-Monroe standout Wojciech Mydra’s NCAA career record of 535.

Florida had a 12-point lead with 2:38 to play but struggled to close out the game.

Mississippi State (16-7, 4-4) scored seven unanswered points to cut the lead to 61-56. Ravern Johnson and Barry Stewart each hit 3-pointers in the final minute, cutting Florida’s lead to 66-62 with 22.4 seconds to play.

Chandler Parsons, who had 18 points and 12 rebounds, and Erving Walker combined to hit three free throws in the final seconds.

“We can’t seem to find a way to close out and finish a game,” Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. ” … Those are the moments we’ve just got to learn to manage better.”

Florida had one of its worst shooting games of the season, making just 40.3 percent from the field. That included a 3-for-17 performance from the 3-point line. Walker and Kenny Boynton combined to go 1-for-13 from beyond the arc.

Walker, Boynton and Alex Tyus — Florida’s top three scorers — combined to make just 7 of 35 shots from the field. Parsons and Macklin combined to go 15-for-22.

Johnson had 20 points for Mississippi State, which has lost four of its last five games.

BREAKING NEWS – Jackson says MSU accepts revised facts & petitioned NCAA for Sidney’s reinstatement

Renardo Sidney

Mississippi State’s athletic department accepted the revised statement of facts involved in the investigation into the amateur status of freshman Renardo Sidney and Sidney attorney Donald Jackson confirmed via text message to the SDN Bulldog Blog moments ago MSU officials formally petitioned the NCAA for Sidney’s reinstatement Friday morning
The NCAA notified State on Wednesday about where it felt the facts, determined by a months-long inquiry and arbitrated by a fact-finding committee late last month, jeopardized Sidney’s amateur status. Concerns to Jackson’s client was a charge of unethical conduct that stemmed from Sidney’s answers to questions about a trip he took to Los Angeles in 2006.

Bracky Brett, MSU’s associate athletic director for compliance, declined comment. If State had appealed the decision by the fact-finding committee, the case would certainly have continued as the school worked toward an appeal. Now, the remaining step appears to be the NCAA’s determination of a penalty against Renardo for the uncontested violations.

Sidney, a Jackson native and McDonald’s All-American prospect that signed with MSU on April 30 out of Los Angeles’ Fairfax High., continues to be inactive due the ongoing NCAA investigation into his amateur status which has forced the 6-foot-10 forward to not participate in any of the Bulldogs first 22 games.

Mississippi State (is 16-6, 4-3 in Southeastern Conference) travels to Florida for a 12:30 p.m. contest Saturday.

All of the SDN Bulldog Blog readers: feel free to follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/matthewcstevens for up-to-date Mississippi State coverage.

BREAKING NEWS: SDN Bulldog Blog obtains documents in Sidney case; MSU must take next step in process

In a statement sent to the media Thursday morning, Renardo Sidney’s attorney Don Jackson remained consistent in his accusation towards the NCAA is unethical conduct charge against the freshman forward in order to justify the amateurism investigation that has been ongoing since he signed with Mississippi State on April 30, 2009.

Don Jackson

“Since they were unable to find violations with the major issues of these so-called facts like the house in Los Angeles, cars and big-money items like that, what they are attempting to do now is hang this unethical conduct charge saying Renardo lied to them during the interview process of the investigation,” Jackson said in an exclusive phone conversation with The SDN Bulldog Blog Thursday morning.

Below are a.pdf copy of the NCAA statement of facts sent to Mississippi State and a .pdf copy of the Fact-Finding committee’s determination of those facts. Both documents were obtained by The SDN Bulldog Blog early Thursday morning from Jackson.

Renardo Sidney Statement of Facts

Fact-Finding Committee’s Determination of NCAA Statement of Facts

Jackson blasted the NCAA once again in his latest statement throwing out the idea that if the organization continues to make Sidney sit out games, whether or not that effects the overall integrity of the intercollegiate athletics.

“The association’s ‘find a violation and if necessary manufacture one’ approach begs the question of whether this type of investigation is intended to impact conference and national standings,” Jackson said. “When All American caliber student athletes are taken off of the court in this way, it certainly has that effect. It has in this case.”

Jackson said Sidney Jr., has been interviewed on two separate occasions by NCAA officials for a total of six hours including most recent session on Dec. 23 in Montgomery where a trip to California when Sidney Jr., was in the ninth-grade notably came up.

“Renardo has told them repeatedly every time when he’s been asked ‘I don’t remember’ and because they weren’t able to prove anything else, they are trying prove the statements by the entire family are inconsistent and not truthful,” Jackson said.

The SDN Bulldog Blog also obtained an e-mail sent by NCAA representative Alex Hammond to MSU compliance director Bracky Brett and MSU attorney Mike Glazier. The e-mail message reads as follows:

March 2006 trip to LA

Based on the information submitted, the student-athlete has jeopardized his amateur status by accepting transportation around Los Angeles from two individuals with whom there is no pre-existing relationship.  This benefit is contrary to Bylaw 12.1.2.1.6.

Further, based on facts found by the Fact-Finding Committee, a violation of Bylaw 10.1-(d) was committed by the student-athlete for the statements outlined in Fact number 25 – (a), (b) and (f).  These statements have proven to be false statements provided during the interviews noted in the document.

Due to the fact that there does not appear to be any evidence that the complimentary hotel room was provided based on the student-athlete’s athletics ability or reputation , there is not enough evidence to confirm a violation of NCAA rules at this time.  Further, through interviews, the student-athlete’s father maintains that he provided the remainder of the expenses for the trip to Los Angeles.  While there is no documentation to substantiate this, based on the Fact-Finding Committee’s deliberation on this issue, there are no other remaining issues with the expenses for the trip to Los Angeles.

Reebok agreements

Based on the information provided, the family used money contractually delivered to the nonprofit foundations established for the purpose of administering a basketball team for personal use (e.g., Sunglass Hut, Arco Arena Team store, LA Sparks, flights not connected to basketball tournaments/travel).  Thus, the family obtained personal gain from money deposited into the foundations in violation of requirements established for operating such a nonprofit foundation.  Based on the totality of circumstances surrounding this issue, it is reasonable to conclude that the money obtained for personal gain was a direct result of the student-athlete’s athletics reputation.  As a result, the use of this money for personal use is contrary to Bylaw 12.1.2.1.6 and jeopardizes the student-athlete’s amateur status. In addition, it also appears that pursuant to the articles of incorporation of the foundations established in California, use of the foundation’s money for personal benefit is also impermissible.

Excess Reebok gear

Prospective student-athletes are permitted by Bylaw 12.1.2.1.4.3 to obtain apparel for their use in practice and competition from a team on which they compete.  Further, they are permitted by Bylaw 12.1.2.4.10 to receive apparel directly from a manufacturer to be used in their sport under the conditions noted in the bylaw.  Based on the information submitted, neither of these standards has been met in relation to the “excess” gear received by the student-athlete.  The gear was provided through the nonprofit foundation to the student-athlete, as opposed to directly from the manufacturer, and was in excess of actual and necessary apparel for participation on the team.  Thus, the excess gear was contrary to Bylaw 12.1.2.1.6 and jeopardizes the student-athlete’s amateur status.

San Francisco workouts

A violation of 12.1.2.1.6 has already been agreed on between the institution and ACP staff.  The AMA staff concurs with this outcome.

Unofficial visits

Based on the information submitted, the student-athlete’s receipt of lodging expenses from Chris Rivers is contrary to Bylaw 12.1.2.1.6 and jeopardizes the student-athlete’s amateur status.

Loans from Financial Institutions

The AMA staff did not determine there to be a violation of NCAA rules related to the facts outlined in this section.

So what does all this mean and what happens now?….

The next step in the process is Mississippi State must decide if it will accept that Sidney committed an unethical conduct violation and whether it will appeal or just accept the facts and seek his reinstatement.

Brett had no comment on the latest developments Thursday morning and what MSU officials will decide to do or when it will make that determination.

Sidney, a Jackson native and McDonald’s All-American prospect that signed with MSU on April 30 out of Los Angeles’ Fairfax High., continues to be inactive due the ongoing NCAA investigation into his amateur status which has forced the 6-foot-10 forward to not participate in any of the Bulldogs first 22 games.

Mississippi State (is 16-6, 4-3 in Southeastern Conference) travels to Florida for a 12:30 p.m. contest Saturday.

All of the SDN Bulldog Blog readers: feel free to follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/matthewcstevens for up-to-date Mississippi State coverage.

Final from Memorial Gym: Road shooting woes plague MSU again

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Vanderbilt guard John Jenkins (23) hangs on the rim after dunking over Mississippi State guard Phil Turner (25) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Nashville, Tenn., Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Frederick Breedon)

NASHVILLE – Mississippi State’s head coach Rick Stansbury always says when you’re making shots, the world goes around.

Vanderbilt controlled the tempo of the game and utilized a smothering defensive effort to hang on for a 75-72 victory Wednesday night.

Apparently time has stood still recently when the Bulldogs play on the road.

Mississippi State’s constant shooting slump on the road continued to the tune of 9-of-34 from beyond the three-point arc and leading scorer Ravern Johnson was held to six points, eight below his season average of 14 per game, as the junior struggled with foul trouble all evening long.

“Ravern never got going with the foul trouble,” MSU head coach Rick Stansbury said.

One possession essentially defined Johnson’s night as he missed two wide-open three-point looks and was beaten back down the floor by Vanderbilt center A.J. Ogilvy. The Australian native turned a fast break layup into a three-point play to give Vanderbilt a 56-45 lead while Johnson committed his fourth foul with 11:17 left in the game. Johnson would eventually foul out with more than five minutes to play.

Ogilvy ended the game with 16 points, 10 in the second half and seven rebounds.

“My teammates are looking for me,” Ogilvy said. “I’m making shots right now and my hand is hot. Hopefully we can keep winning and having everyone contribute.”

Mississippi State attempted to steal the game away as the Bulldogs senior guard Barry Stewart had eight points in 35 seconds to cut the deficit to 71-65 with 3:18 to play.

Stewart, a Shelbyville, Tenn., native who had 21 tickets reserved for friends and family Wednesday night, finished with 13 points.

“It’s kind of when you’re determined to do something, you just go all out,” Stewart said.

When the Bulldogs (16-6, 4-3 in Southeastern Conference) weren’t missing contested jumpers, MSU continued its lack of offensive efficiency away from Starkville as they went through a six-minute stretch in the second half where they only converted two field goals.

MSU senior forward Jarvis Varnado was a block away from second triple-double of the season as the 6-foot-8 and Wooden Award candidate posted 12 points, 14 rebounds and nine blocks. Varnado, who pushed his career total for blocks to 509, is now 27 blocks short of breaking the NCAA career record for block shots currently held by Wojciech Mydra of Louisiana-Monroe.

“In that second half, we knew Ogilvy would come at him, and he did come at him,” Stansbury said. “Jarvis influenced that game tremendously in the second half in the paint.”

All of the SDN Bulldog Blog readers: feel free to follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/matthewcstevens for up-to-date Mississippi State coverage.

Mullen stresses the in-state talent in 2010 recruiting class

Kim Murrell/For the Daily News - Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen addressing the media at the Bryan Building about the 26 recruits the Bulldogs signed Wednesday.

The one thing that can be classified as a sure thing coming out of Mississippi State’s 2010 national signing day results is Dan Mullen kept his promise.

The Bulldogs head coach went into this recruiting class stressing he was going to make sure a majority of the players targeted has in-state ties and as the letters of intent were faxed in early Wednesday morning, it was clear that goal was met.

“When I got hired here I wanted to make a statement that we were going to recruit the state of Mississippi hard,” Mullen said. “For the second year in a row, we’ve recruited 16 high school players from the state of Mississippi which is more than Southern Miss and the university of the school up north combined.”

19 of the 26 signed prospects were either initially from or have played football in the Magnolia state.

Mullen and the Bulldogs coaching staff set in motion a philosophy with the this recruiting class that they insist their program can compete for Southeastern Conference championships with a roster primarily full of players who reside in Mississippi.

Mississippi State’s 2010 class includes five of the Rivals.com top 10 in Mississippi and nine of the Scout.com top 20 prospects in state.

“I think we hit home runs wherever we wanted to go,” Mullen said.

The rankings of national recruiting services do not agree. Scout.com and rivals.com have the Bulldogs ranked 36^th and 37^th nationally. The pair of sites rankings have MSU with the ninth-best class in the SEC.

Most of the team rankings around the country have Florida, Alabama, Texas and Auburn in their Top 5 standings with the Gators being ranked number one in ESPN, Scout.com and Rivals.com respectively.

LSU, Ole Miss and Tennessee with new head coach Derek Dooley were near everybody’s Top 15 standings making it seven schools from the SEC somewhere in the Top 25 of all three services rankings.

All of the SDN Bulldog Blog readers: feel free to follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/matthewcstevens for up-to-date Mississippi State coverage.

Initial recap of MSU 2010 Signing Day

Hard to believe this SI cover of National Signing Day was 14 years ago.

Mississippi State has completed its 2010 recruiting class giving this reporter time to leave the Nashville Bureau office for a while to eat lunch.
Now that we are back with a full stomach if there are any further signees, The SDN Bulldog Blog will update immediately. By the way, we’re still being told MSU is playing a college basketball game at Memorial Gym against 18th-ranked Vanderbilt tonight.

The first thought of the Bulldogs recruiting haul before MSU head coach Dan Mullen reaches the podium to discuss the future version of Bulldogs, is he  stayed true to his promise of making sure a majority of the prospects signed to the maroon and white were from the state of Mississippi. 19 of the 26 signed prospects have ties to the Magnolia State.

The Bulldogs got five four-star players, 14 three-star athletes and made sure to have the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year for the fourth consecutive year.

The national online recruiting service rankings aren’t impressed with the job Mullen’s staff did in the 2010 class. Scout.com rate State’s class is 36th best nationally and ninth in the Southeastern Conference; Rivals.com places it at No. 38 and ninth in the SEC.

The prized recruit for MSU is obviously four-star offensive lineman Damien Robinson. The Olive Branch product was a  first-team all-state in 6A by the Mississippi Association of Coaches and was listed as that Rivals.com third-best recruit in the state of Mississippi.

Vincent Sanders signed with Ole Miss

MSU did strike out on two recruits during the early morning hours as Noxubee County athlete Vincent Sanders announced live on WCBI that he was choosing Ole Miss over MSU and Florida State. Sanders runs the 40-yard-dash in 4.6 seconds missed five games during the season with a fractured jaw but still caught 40 passes for over 600 yards.

Three-star linebacker product Cordell Giles, who had been a verbal commitment by MSU for over a year, decided to change his mind into to sign with Ole Miss. Giles was ranked 17th-best player in the state and No. 20 tight end prospect in the country by Rivals.com. Giles earned first-team Class 1A all-state honors from the Mississippi Association of Coaches as a junior.

MSU 2010 Signing Day Updates

NOTE: The SDN Bulldog Blog will update this post often with news as soon as MSU announces they’ve received the faxed National Letter of Intent up until the final signee. we’ll have the time of signing along with important information like height, weight, hometown and recruiting service rankings.

8:35 a.m. UPDATE: Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen has been using his Twitter page to announce the signings as the athletic departments gets the faxed NLI’s. Here’s who the Bulldogs currently have in the fold.

NAME         POS.     HT.     WT.     HOMETOWN (LAST SCHOOL)
Ferlando Bohanna     LB     6-0     230     Memphis, TN (Whitehaven HS)
Analysis: Earned first-team All-State honors and all-city honors by The Commercial Appeal. Chose MSU over North Carolina , Clemson, Southern Miss, MTSU and Kansas. Will be loved from day one after this quote, “I loved hearing those cowbells ringing at the stadium.”

Michael Carr     ATH     6-1     195     West Point, MS (West Point HS)
Analysis: A four-star prospect by ESPN.com that helped lead West Point to the 2009 Class 5A state title and has been a starter since freshmen season. Will likely be at RB or Safety at MSU.

Dillon Day         OL     6-4     260     West Monroe, LA (West Monroe HS)
Analysis: Played offensive tackle at West Monroe but is listed in the services as a prospect at guard. Led his high school to a  state championship appearance his junior year and the 5A state title his senior campaign.

Kaleb Eulls         DL     6-4     255     Yazoo City, MS (Yazoo County HS)
Analysis: Rated as the best in-state prospect by our friends at BulldawgJunction.com. Earned first-team Class 4A Player of the Year honors by the Mississippi Association of Coaches and chose MSU over Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU, Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina.

Dylan Favre         QB     5-11     190     Bay St. Louis, MS (St. Stanislaus HS)
Analysis: Parade All-American and Mississippi Mr. Football selection is the nephew of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre. Owns state career passing records with 12,559 career passing yards and 144 career TD passes while also set single-season passing records in the state this season while leading Saint Stanislaus to a state championship.

more to come, stay tuned….

9:00 a.m. UPDATE –

Nick Griffin         RB     5-11     195     New Augusta, MS (Perry Central HS)
Analysis: A three-star tailback prospect who played in the Mississipp-Alabama All-Star game and was voted the Class 3A Offensive Player of the Year by the Mississippi Association of Coaches. Chose MSU over Vanderbilt, Stanford, Southern Miss, Arkansas State.

Corvell Harrison-Gay LB/DE   6-3     220     Laurel, MS (Northeast Jones HS)
Analysis: Rated as the top linebacker prospect in Mississippi by Rivals.com. Led NEJHS on defense as a senior with 85 tackles in 10 games.

Christian Holmes     DB     6-2     235     Puckett, MS (Puckett HS)
Analysis: Had 107 tackles, four sacks and two interceptions at Puckett High as a senior. Was selected a first-team all-state by the Mississippi Association of Coaches while being a three-year starter at linebacker and tight end. The two-star recruit helped lead Puckett to a state title as a sophomore.

Jay Hughes     ATH     5-11     175     Hattiesburg, MS (Oak Grove HS)
Analysis: Three-star athlete was recruited as a cornerback and earned first-team all-state honors by the Mississippi Association of Coaches. Hughes was rated the 17th best in-state prospect by our friends at BulldawgJunction.com.

Malcolm Johnson     WR     6-2     205     Tuscaloosa, AL (Northridge HS)
Analysis: Wins the award for getting his National Letter of Intent before any other MSU signee this morning. Johnson had 681 yards receiving and eight touchdowns as a senior. Chose MSU over Ole Miss and Southern Miss. Why did the Alabama prospect pick MSU? “This is going to be a new beginning at Mississippi State and this isn’t going to be your old Mississippi State at all.”

10:00 a.m. UPDATE –

Robert Johnson     WR     6-0     195     Hattiesburg, MS (Oak Grove HS)
Analysis: Three-star athlete that could play both WR or DB at Mississippi State. Johnson earned first-team Class 6A all-state honors by the Mississippi Association of Coaches while leading Oak Grove to the Class 6A title game. Chose MSU over Ole Miss, Auburn, Kentucky, West Virginia, Louisville , Southern Miss and Tulsa.

Eric Lawson         OL     6-6     320     Olive Branch, MS (Olive Branch HS)
Analysis: Two-year starter for Olive Branch at right guard before starting as a sophomore at Terry but then family moved. The three-star prospect chose MSU after committing to Texas Tech in October of 2009 but after Mike Leach was fired, Lawson reconsidered his decision.

Jameon Lewis     ATH     5-9     175     Tylertown, MS (Tylertown HS)
Analysis: Lewis was named the Mississippi Association of Coaches Offensive Player of the Year in Class 3A. The three-star athlete, nicknamed “Tubby”, played just one full game as a senior due to knee injury but helped Provine win the 2008 Class 5A state basketball title.

Archie Muniz     OL     6-5     255     Houston, TX (Cypress Creek HS)
Analysis: A three-star offensive tackle prospect is considered the 30th-best by ESPN.com at his position. Chose MSU over Utah, Arizona State, Kansas State, Northwestern, Vanderbilt,
Wake Forest and Houston. Has 3.9 GPA at Cypress Creek High. Says Muniz: “Me and my family are real close. So I figured if I went to Mississippi State, they can make all the games.”

Curtis Virges     DL     6-3     290     West Point, MS (West Point HS)
Analysis: Virges was listed as the eighth-best prospect in the state by our friends at Bulldawg Junction.com while being rated a three-star prospect by Scout.com, Rivals.com and ESPN.com. Named first-team all-state in Class 5A by the Mississippi Association of Coaches.  Virges posted  posted 82 total tackles and 14 sacks for the Green Wave.

Matthew Wells     ATH     6-0     190     Monticello, MS (Lawrence County HS)
Analysis: Wells finished his senior season with 1,055 yards and 10 touchdowns while being named first-team all-state selection by Mississippi Association of Coaches. Look to see Wells, a three-star tailback prospect, see the field early in his college career because he came to MSU because “hey give true freshmen a real opportunity to play early.” Chose MSU over Ole Miss, Southern Miss, Tennessee and Stanford.

more to come, stay tuned….

10:30 a.m. UPDATES –

Paul Crawford     DL     6-8     235     Lewisville, TX (Hebron HS)
Analysis: The SDN Bulldog Blog previewed his commitment. Finished his senior season with 72 tackles and chose MSU over Arkansas, Baylor and Colorado State.

Brandon Hill         ATH     6-2     210     Crawford, MS (West Lowndes HS)
Analysis: Hill is a four-star prospect by ESPN.com that can run the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds and was rated as the 27th best in-state prospect by our friends at BulldawgJunction.com. Most of Hill’s numbers are on the offensive side of the ball but he will be on the MSU’s front seven.

Jeremy Lee         ATH     5-10     170     Utica, MS (Hinds AHS)
Analysis: Lee’s commitment was previewed here and rushed 77 times for 558 yards and four touchdowns but will be a defensive back at MSU.

Jamerson Love     DB     5-11     175     Aberdeen, MS (Aberdeen HS)
Analysis: Love totaled over 4,000 yards of total offense the past two years at Aberdeen, including four kickoff returns for touchdowns. Expected to make the transition to cornerback at MSU. Chose the Bulldogs over Southern Miss and Arkansas State. Love was named Class 3A All-State by the Mississippi Association of Coaches.

11 a.m. UPDATE -MSU recruiting class rankings

ORGANIZATION;       NAT. RANK,      SEC RANK

Scout.com; 36th, 9th

Rivals.com; 37th, 9th

The latest MSU signee (#22) of the early morning represents a big one for the Bulldogs program.

Damien Robinson     OL     6-8     330     Olive Branch, MS (Olive Branch HS)
Analysis: MSU confirms the reports by several news organization coming out of Olive Branch High School that the four-star offensive line prospect, who rated as the nation’s 10th-best tackle prospect by ESPN.com, has chosen the Bulldogs over Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Auburn. Easily MSU’s most acclaimed signee of the 2010 recruiting class as he was selected to play in the Army All-American game.
“He plays tackle for us and I believe that is where most college coaches were recruiting him to play,” Olive Branch High head coach Scott Samsel said.

UPDATE: Bulldogs lose out on big in-state recruit

Yesterday The SDN Bulldog Blog previewed two in-state mystery prospects here for its Signing Day preview. MSU went 1-for-2 on those top players as the Bulldogs landed Olive Brach OL prospect Damien Robinson but at the same time live on WCBI (CBS affiliate) Noxubee County wide receiver Vincent Sanders signed with Ole Miss.

The SDN Bulldog Blog will have a complete wrap of the 2010 recruiting class here in the Nashville bureau before and after Mullen speaks to the media at 3 p.m.

11:15 a.m. UPDATE – Giles recants on his MSU verbal commitment and signs with Ole Miss

Linebacker prospect Cordell Giles out of Ray Brooks School in Benoit remained a solid verbal commitment to Dan Mullen and the Mississippi State program for over a year but Ole Miss’ football office announced Wednesday that the 6-foot-4, 220-pound athlete has signed a National Letter of Intent with the Rebels.

12:30 a.m. UPDATE – We didn’t forget about this three!

Vick Ballard     RB     5-11     210     Pascagoula, MS (Pascagoula HS/Miss. Gulf Coast CC)

James Carmon     DL     6-7     360     Baltimore, MD (Baltimore City College/Miss. Gulf Coast CC)

Blaine Clausell     OL     6-7     310     Mobile, AL (Baker HS)

For those of you who thought The SDN Bulldog Blog had forgotten about these three recruits, we reported on their signing when they arrived on campus before the start of the Spring Semester as all three already enrolled at MSU in January.

All of the SDN Bulldog Blog readers: feel free to follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/matthewcstevens for up-to-date Mississippi State coverage.