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Magnolia State’s success will benefit future recruiting efforts
By Ethan Levine
Published:
The Magnolia State has experienced a football renaissance this season, as both Ole Miss and Mississippi State climbed into the top 3 of the most recent AP Poll following a pair of wins over top 10 teams last week.
Fans throughout the state are not looking past the magical season currently unfolding, and for good reason, but the Rebels and Bulldogs’ success on the field now should benefit both teams later, too. Already affiliated with the almighty SEC brand, the more both teams can win this season, the more it will help their recruiting efforts down the line.
Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze has only been on the job for two and a half seasons, but he’s already done a tremendous job on the recruiting trail. In fact, Freeze’s successes in recruiting may be the most prominent reason for the Rebels’ success on the field during his tenure. He took over a program floundering at the bottom of the SEC West, and stocked it with the talent necessary to be one of the best teams in the nation.
And sure enough, Ole Miss is indeed one of the best teams in the nation entering Week 7, a tribute to Freeze’s coaching abilities, but also his recruiting abilities.
Freeze’s 2013 recruiting class will go down in history as one of Ole Miss’ best classes ever, headlined by current stars Robert Nkemdiche, Laquon Treadwell, Laremy Tunsil and others. Most of the top talents from that class are already playing major roles in the team’s 5-0 start to the season, and future recruits are noticing.
As Ole Miss continues to win with Freeze’s top-flight recruits, more highly touted preps will begin looking Freeze’s way as they prepare to choose a college. They’ve seen what Nkemdiche and Treadwell have done in less than two seasons of college ball, and trust that Freeze can turn them into superstar collegiates as well.
It’s a bit of a different story in Starkville, as Dan Mullen has done a lot with a little in terms of recruiting during his five-year stint with Mississippi State. Mullen cannot claim the high-profile recruiting classes Freeze can, but he has shown he can develop his athletes into well-rounded football players once they arrive in Starkville.
Of Mississippi State’s 15 alums currently on NFL rosters, 14 played at least one year for Mullen before entering the pros. That’s a strong track record of player development, and can be a huge selling point for Mullen down the line, especially as his team continues to reach new levels of success beginning with the ongoing season.
Many of those former Bulldogs now in the NFL were not highly regarded coming out of high school, but Mullen still managed to turn them into professionals. Imagine what he could do with four- and five-star recruits.
With Mississippi State finally succeeding on a national stage, recruits will begin to see the Bulldogs as a promising program worth considering during the recruiting process. And with Mullen’s successes in player development, especially at tailback and on the defensive side of the ball, MSU will be a tough program for future preps to ignore.
And it cannot be overstated how much playing in the SEC will help both Freeze and Mullen in recruiting.
The SEC is widely considered the best conference in America, and recruits know this. They’re not living under rocks, and they see and hear how much attention is paid to the SEC by the national media and fans alike. They know how often SEC teams play games on national television, and they want to be a part of that some day, too. Freeze and Mullen’s programs could be a high schooler’s ticket onto the big stage, and that is surely a huge selling point for both coaches when pursuing the nation’s top high school talents.
The Magnolia State’s coaches are not the only coaches who will benefit from their association with the SEC, but when combined with each coach’s personal recruiting advantages and each program’s success on the field this season, it could make for one of the best recruiting periods in either program’s history.
The Rebels and Bulldogs still have work left to do this season, but if they can finish what they’ve started in 2014 they should be able to attract the talent necessary to keep up this level of success for years to come.
A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.