Recent history suggests Mississippi’s five-star RB Cam Akers will stay close to home
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While several of the nation’s elite football programs anxiously await Cam Akers’ college decision, recent history suggests Florida State will be pulling off a small miracle if it can pray the five-star running back away from home.
If you go by 247Sports’ Mississippi state high school player recruiting rankings, Mississippi or a neighboring state has not lost a four or five-star prospect to an outside football program since 2007 – when four-star running back Lee Chambers left the Magnolia State for Miami.
During that span, 69 players have chosen to stay in-state or play at a neighboring SEC program:
Mississippi has produced 69 4/5star recruits from 2007-2016. Just 1 has gone to school outside of Miss or a neighboring state. 0 since 2008.
— Brendan Sonnone (@BSonnone) December 22, 2016
Akers recently announced he would be committing Dec. 27 between Ole Miss, Florida State, LSU, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. While the Rebels and the Seminoles are the perceived favorites to land his services, Akers and those closest to him have kept nearly everyone in the dark on his recruitment.
If history repeats itself, the real players in Akers recruitment would be Ole Miss, LSU, Tennessee and Alabama. By this time next week, we’ll know if Akers has become the latest elite prospect to stay close to home, or if he’s decided to buck the trend and leave his home state for the next few years.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
