State football recruiting 2008 - 2019

[KingCharlesSpaniel]

Year	MS blue chips/signed	Recruiting Class Rank	Rank at season end	Record
2019	16/4	24	-	-
2018	4/3	27		8-4
2017	7/2	24	19	8-4
2016	11/3	28		5-7
2015	7/5	18		8-4
2014	8/3	36	11	10-2
2013	5/2	24		6-6
2012	7/3	22		8-4
2011	8/1	41		6-6
2010	9/4	30	15	8-4
2009	9/5	18		5-7
2008	5/2	53		4-8

<tbody>
</tbody>

Recruiting info from 247. Season End rank and records from ESPN.
MS blue chips is the number of HS players ranked 4 or 5 star in MS. The other number is the number signed by state. Not all players signed ever enrolled.
I will add out-of-state blue chips later. Just wanted to show what an outlier the 2019 MS class is for number of blue chips.

 

[GTAT]

Year	MS blue chips/signed	Recruiting Class Rank	Rank at season end	Record
2019	16/4	24	-	-
2018	4/3	27		8-4
2017	7/2	24	19	8-4
2016	11/3	28		5-7
2015	7/5	18		8-4
2014	8/3	36	11	10-2
2013	5/2	24		6-6
2012	7/3	22		8-4
2011	8/1	41		6-6
2010	9/4	30	15	8-4
2009	9/5	18		5-7
2008	5/2	53		4-8

<tbody>
</tbody>

Recruiting info from 247. Season End rank and records from ESPN.
MS blue chips is the number of HS players ranked 4 or 5 star in MS. The other number is the number signed by state. Not all players signed ever enrolled.
I will add out-of-state blue chips later. Just wanted to show what an outlier the 2019 MS class is for number of blue chips.

Ole Danny Merlinz might not be such a bad crooter after all. I'm starting to think the problem is MSU (well, not "starting to", we already know this). King Jackie had issues recrootin the best as well, Doug Buckles and Deuce McAllister come to mind.

So we have two choices, correct the issue inside the program that won't allow us to recruit on the next level (it's not just 'cheating', it's something more fundamental), or innovate the program. Mullen sort of did this and the recrootin got better because of it. Seems JoMo is attempting to innovate at an even higher level.

No reason we can't do both I guess. I can't put my finger on what it is, because we sure seem to be able to attract the best of the best baseball players. What is it they are seeing that the football recroots aren't? Besides the general race of the two groups.

 

[Seinfeld]

I kept reading the “best MS crop in years” comments, and I rolled my eyes a little bit each time, but those numbers seem to tell the story.

2019 was by far the best collection of state talent in many years, and it is very deflating to know that even when talent is finally in our backyard, we can’t get it to campus. That HAS to be fixed

 

[57stratdawg]

To get to where we’re winning 10 games more than once a decade, we cannot see ‘MS Blue Chip / Signed’ numbers like 11/3, 7/2 and 16/4.

 

[The Fatboy]

Changing the perception of the program and Starkville is the only way to get better recruits. It's dumb of course that a kid will make a choice based on what or where is "cool" but hell we were all kids once and understand that draw.

 

[The Fatboy]

The SEC is more competitive in recruiting than ever before. Perception of MSU has changed in the past ten years but so has every other SEC school.

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Well we did lose Lee Begley so there’s that

 

[StarkVegas Steve]

Ole Danny Merlinz might not be such a bad crooter after all. I'm starting to think the problem is MSU (well, not "starting to", we already know this). King Jackie had issues recrootin the best as well, Doug Buckles and Deuce McAllister come to mind.

So we have two choices, correct the issue inside the program that won't allow us to recruit on the next level (it's not just 'cheating', it's something more fundamental), or innovate the program. Mullen sort of did this and the recrootin got better because of it. Seems JoMo is attempting to innovate at an even higher level.

No reason we can't do both I guess. I can't put my finger on what it is, because we sure seem to be able to attract the best of the best baseball players. What is it they are seeing that the football recroots aren't? Besides the general race of the two groups.

Umm....it's because our facilities in football are just like everyone else's, but in baseball we're in a park that's nicer than 60% of the major league parks and 99% of minor league parks. Our facilities are also top 5 in baseball.

 

[Junction John]

Very bad (maybe the worst ever) year to have wholesale coaching changes.

2019 was by far the best collection of state talent in many years, and it is very deflating to know that even when talent is finally in our backyard, we can’t get it to campus. That HAS to be fixed

Then compounded it this year with the three amigos exiting at the 11th hour.

 

[FQDawg]

Changing the perception of the program and Starkville is the only way to get better recruits. It's dumb of course that a kid will make a choice based on what or where is "cool" but hell we were all kids once and understand that draw.

I love Starkville but it absolutely works against us in recruiting, especially when you couple that with the fact that we don't seem to play the same recruiting games as Ole Miss. Or, at the very least, we don't seem to play them to the same degree.

 

[maroonmania]

Year	MS blue chips/signed	Recruiting Class Rank	Rank at season end	Record
2019	16/4	24	-	-
2018	4/3	27		8-4
2017	7/2	24	19	8-4
2016	11/3	28		5-7
2015	7/5	18		8-4
2014	8/3	36	11	10-2
2013	5/2	24		6-6
2012	7/3	22		8-4
2011	8/1	41		6-6
2010	9/4	30	15	8-4
2009	9/5	18		5-7
2008	5/2	53		4-8

<tbody>
</tbody>

Recruiting info from 247. Season End rank and records from ESPN.
MS blue chips is the number of HS players ranked 4 or 5 star in MS. The other number is the number signed by state. Not all players signed ever enrolled.
I will add out-of-state blue chips later. Just wanted to show what an outlier the 2019 MS class is for number of blue chips.

It was an especially deep class in MS this year which would make you think it should definitely have been easier for us to have a higher ranked recruiting class. The only down side is that because there were so many higher ranked players in the State this year we had much stiffer competition from out of State SEC schools putting much more emphasis on recruiting MS than we do in normal years.

 

[GTAT]

I love Starkville but it absolutely works against us in recruiting, especially when you couple that with the fact that we don't seem to play the same recruiting games as Ole Miss. Or, at the very least, we don't seem to play them to the same degree.

It ain't Starkville. Again, we get baseball and basketball players here. It's something fundamental in regards to the football program. To me, it boils down to simply the size of the fanbase. We need to get bigger.

 

[maroonmania]

I love Starkville but it absolutely works against us in recruiting, especially when you couple that with the fact that we don't seem to play the same recruiting games as Ole Miss. Or, at the very least, we don't seem to play them to the same degree.

It's much more the recruiting games than Starkville itself. As was mentioned, we do well in MBB, WBB and baseball recruiting. Just too many schools in the SEC (and we have to live with probably the worst) where football recruiting is almost life and death to a lot of the diehard fans. Just way too many of them willing to go much further to get a kid than we are. Heck, the big time OM fans would rather win a recruiting battle than a real game. Auburn and Alabama are terrible as well. Our history and fanbase size and Starkville itself don't do us a lot of favors but there is way more to it than that.

 

[PartTimeGenius]

I can live right beside a Ford dealership, but if I want to buy a Dodge, I'm going to buy a dodge. A Salesman won't convince me to buy the Ford, but a Finance man with an irresistible deal might.

 

[campshelbydog842003]

It's much more the recruiting games than Starkville itself. As was mentioned, we do well in MBB, WBB and baseball recruiting. Just too many schools in the SEC (and we have to live with probably the worst) where football recruiting is almost life and death to a lot of the diehard fans. Just way too many of them willing to go much further to get a kid than we are. Heck, the big time OM fans would rather win a recruiting battle than a real game. Auburn and Alabama are terrible as well. Our history and fanbase size and Starkville itself don't do us a lot of favors but there is way more to it than that.

This. We care more in baseball and basketball than a lot of other people in our conference, and it shows in recruiting. Now there was a time in the Rick Ray years where we were not on the same page but that is a whole different issue. We are never going to "care" more than our competitors in football, because caring that much will get us the death penalty if we continue to cheat after they slap us on the wrist for our first offense. However, we can "care" as much as we want in the state of MS and no one will really bat an eye because it makes sense for MS prospects to sign at a MS school. We did not take advantage this year the way we could have with a lame duck Ole Miss coaching staff and we won't have that opportunity again with that amount of instate talent for a long time.

 

[Sienfield]

I love Starkville but it absolutely works against us in recruiting, especially when you couple that with the fact that we don't seem to play the same recruiting games as Ole Miss. Or, at the very least, we don't seem to play them to the same degree.

Do you think Lexington, KY helps bring in the football players for Kentucky football? What's the problem with Lexington? Kentucky football historically has been similar to Mississippi State football and the home cities are very different. Kentucky gets the basketball recruits and MSU get the baseball recruits but neither gets the top of the football recruits.