Mike Espy Jr - D1 Training

[OliveBranchDAWG]

Question for anyone who lives around the Madison/Jackson area and is familiar with Espy’s training facility.. Does he play any kind of role in recruiting for ole miss? Just from following recruiting from afar, i’ve noticed he’s involved with a lot of top high school prospects who mostly end up at OM.

What triggered this question is I saw CJ Johnson was just hired by Espy to help him “train” athletes for D-1. Yeah, that CJ Johnson.

 

[johnson86-1]

Question for anyone who lives around the Madison/Jackson area and is familiar with Espy’s training facility.. Does he play any kind of role in recruiting for ole miss? Just from following recruiting from afar, i’ve noticed he’s involved with a lot of top high school prospects who mostly end up at OM.

What triggered this question is I saw CJ Johnson was just hired by Espy to help him “train” athletes for D-1. Yeah, that CJ Johnson.

That's hilarious. Is Johnson's specialty going to be helping linebackers "train" themselves into DL/DE shape?

 

[dawgstudent]

Who's he been involved with?

 

[FreeDawg]

Mike, Shay Hodge, and Demario Davis just started a 7on7 team and I’m sure the goal is to take on Demetric Warren. As far as being involved with OM recruiting, Mike is a former player so there will always be a connection but I think success with the business side of D1 is probably his biggest concern. They have added a bunch of trainers. I think CJ would probably be much more likely to get involved in things but don’t kid yourself, I bet he got out of being a juco position coach and in to personal specialized sports training for financial upside.

 

[msstate7]

Demario Davis of the saints?

 

[Xenomorph]

Hmm..

 

[OliveBranchDAWG]

Mingo and Ealy off the top of my head. I’m not saying kids show up and Espy is recruiting them for OM. However, I am saying these top prospects are showing up to train with Espy, Shay Hodge and now, CJ Johnson...

 

[OliveBranchDAWG]

Also, from what I’ve read about Mingo’s recruitment, it was a back and forth OM-MSU battle until the morning of signing day. I wake up on signing day and the first tweet I see is Espy is taking a selfie with Mingo decked out in OM gear.

I’m not naive, I understand there’s a chance Mingo could’ve been playing the game and MSU never stood a chance. However, Mingo was a very critical recruit for us in a position of need. It’s pretty damn hard for Moorhead to recruit when Mingo has Hodge and Espy in his ear the whole time. This situation was probably more about Hodge than Espy, though.

 

[aTotal360]

Jarrian Jones and Demonte Russell are there all the time too. I'm sure he talks about his experiences at OM, but it's currently not a recruiting snake pit like the conspiracy theorist want it to be.

 

[FreeDawg]

Only Demario Davis I know of

 

[Wizard.sixpack]

Well Michael Oher is part owner.....BUT Antonio Johnson is the other owner so there is MSU ties.

 

[OliveBranchDAWG]

Jarrian Jones and Demonte Russell are there all the time too. I'm sure he talks about his experiences at OM, but it's currently not a recruiting snake pit like the conspiracy theorist want it to be.

That’s fair.

 

[olddan]

Jarrian Jones and Demonte Russell are there all the time too. I'm sure he talks about his experiences at OM, but it's currently not a recruiting snake pit like the conspiracy theorist want it to be.

& Cam Akers

 

[msstate7]

Only Demario Davis I know of

Just looked up his bio. I had no idea he was from Brandon

 

[Bulldogg31]

One interesting angle would be if an athlete were allowed to train at a place like this as a courtesy, or as part of a special group, without paying the same amount as a 40-year-old guy off the street. In that case, if the owners were thought to be steering recruits to a particular school then the discounted training sessions might be regarded an impermissible benefit as they have a defined monetary value. Same reason you can’t just hand out leased cars, or discounted loans, or 4 used tires.

It’s a stretch but I could see the NCAA not looking kindly upon that arrangement, especially since all of the individuals mentioned here fall under the NCAA’s definition of a booster.

 

[patdog]

Of course they’re recruiting for UMiss. We need to play the game better.

 

[coach66]

Now you are thinking or maybe folks get incented to steer kids in certain

directions, hypothetically speaking. I have no idea but that sure seems like a potential problem area for State or Ole Miss guys.

 

[Bulldogg31]

directions, hypothetically speaking. I have no idea but that sure seems like a potential problem area for State or Ole Miss guys.

The trick would be getting documentation. If this were a B-Rated movie, I would contact the young admin at a place like that and make arrangements to acquire these documents for a stack of cash.

 

[Shamoan]

did he get fired from emcc?

 

[gwadSIG]

There’s a reason why Steve is always caustious with his predictions on Jackson area kids, especially JPS. Apparently there are a lot of mentors in the area.

 

[Mafiadawg]

I feel like boobie d works out there some when he is in town too.