MSU's System: Transforming 3-star talent to NFL players
STARKVILLE — A pattern formed within Mississippi State’s Twitter timeline during national signing day on Wednesday.
Within the updates of new signees appeared retweets from NFL players. Each congratulated the members of the class and relived their highlights from their time in Starkville.
Most also shared a similar signing day experience. They were overlooked.
“OK y’all worried about recruiting and stars remember Me (Darius) Slay and Dak (Prescott) were 2 and 3 stars,” former MSU corner and Tampa Bay Buccaneer Johnthan Banks tweeted.
Dan Mullen and his staff entered signing day with a class of 16 prospects. Fifteen were three-star players. The additions of five-star talent Jeffery Simmons and four-star defensive tackle Kobe Jones stole the headlines from an otherwise mediocre class, according to recruiting web sites.
In eight years at Mississippi State, Mullen has never won signing day. He’s never reeled in a class ranked better than eighth in the SEC. He’s broken into the top 20 nationally once, which was last year coming off MSU's most successful season in 70 years.
This year’s class ranked 31st in the country and fifth among Mullen’s recruiting classes at MSU, according to 247Sports.
“We’re all kind of battling for those same kids,” Mullen said. “I guess in the end, you’re going to win some and you’re going to lose some.”
The 2011 class tied as Mullen’s worst at Mississippi State ranking 35th in the country. It produced NFL draft picks Slay, Josh Robinson, Preston Smith and Benardrick McKinney as well as Prescott, who is expected to be selected this year.
“At Mississippi State they develop players for the next level/future. I went from 2 star to a second round pick what more proof is needed,” Smith tweeted.
In classes eligible for the NFL draft (2009-2011), at least two Bulldogs per class have been selected that came to campus with two or three-star ratings. Will Redmond, a four-star prospect, emerged from the 2012 class and is slated to go in the second round of this year’s draft. He was a borderline first-rounder prior to tearing his ACL.
The 2013 class featured De’Runnya Wilson, a three-star wide receiver that declared early for the draft in January. He’s expected to be picked in the third or fourth round.
“The part to me that I look is most important is you get the guys that are right for you," Mullen said. “The guys that fit your program, and for us, that want to be developed, that want to be coached hard, want to be much better players when they leave than when they came.”
The majority of Mississippi State’s signees won’t see the field until 2017. They may not contribute until 2018.
Prescott and Robinson didn’t start full-time until they were redshirt juniors. Smith wasn’t on NFL scouts’ radars until his senior season.
Mullen’s track record allows for a safe assumption that at least a couple of those three-star players that no one is talking about will be heard from in the Southeastern Conference and beyond.
“Stars make u a good player,” Slay tweeted. But the school system makes u a great player and Mississippi State is the best system.”
Contact Michael Bonner at mbonner@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @MikeBBonner on Twitter.