The Mississippi State Bulldogs hauled in a top-20 recruiting class for the first time in six years this winter, thanks in large part to its many recruiting victories in its own home state.

The Bulldogs signed nine of the top-20 players from the state of Mississippi, according to the 247Sports industry composite rankings, while a team like Ole Miss, for instance, signed just two.

Among those many recruiting victories was the nation’s top inside linebacker prospect, Leo Lewis. Lewis was committed to Ole Miss for four months, decommitted on the weekend before signing day while visiting fellow regional rival LSU, then ultimately signed with Mississippi State on signing day.

It was a move few saw coming, and a move that is likely to benefit the Mississippi State defense right away as it transitions under new leadership in the form of new defensive coordinator Manny Diaz.

Lewis will arrive in Starkville as the nation’s top inside linebacker recruit just one year after former MSU inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney, the top player at the position in the 2015 NFL Draft class, made the leap to the professional ranks. The Bulldogs appear to be a perfect fit for Lewis, especially considering Diaz’s history with producing NFL talents on defense.

In his first go-round as Mississippi State’s DC, a one-year stint in 2010, Diaz coached eventual NFL stars K.J. Wright, Fletcher Cox, Pernell McPhee, Cameron Lawrence, Johnthan Banks and more. Lewis could be the next to fit that mold.

But how does he compare to McKinney, the man in the middle he’ll likely directly replace in 2015? Both are talented middle linebackers, but how similar are they to one another?

The truth is, they’re not very similar at all as players.

McKinney assumed superstar status as a big, strong, powerful linebacker capable of taking on any player on the field. At the college level, he filled holes at the line of scrimmage quickly, took on much larger blockers and shed them with ease, and almost never missed a tackle no matter the ball-carrier.

McKinney doesn’t change direction as well as some linebackers, which isn’t hard to believe considering his 6-foot-5, 250-pound frame, but he has great straight line speed when pursuing ball carriers and is able to quickly close ground.

He’s also one of the more intelligent football players in this year’s draft class, and that insight into the game allows him to ensure he’s always in the right place and taking the right assignment, and at the college level he ensured his teammates were in the right places at the right times as well.

Lewis is a completely different player. At 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, Lewis is smaller and shiftier than his soon-to-be NFL counterpart. He may hit as hard as McKinney for his size, but Lewis is a player better equipped to read plays and react rather than aggressively follow assignments like McKinney.

He changes directions better but is less powerful, and having yet to arrive at the college level he’s certainly lacking the football IQ McKinney possesses after four years of college.

Both players are incredible talents, but as you can see they go about their business in different manners. And that’s okay, because Mississippi State doesn’t need another Benardrick McKinney in 2015. What it needs is the first-ever Leo Lewis, and it’s got him for at least three years.