NEW: Jeff Lebby's friendship with new Bulldogs TE coach Jon Cooper (
@Jcoop50
) dates back to Norman, where Lebby hosted Cooper as a recruit on his official visit.
That trust led Cooper back to Lebby in Starkville
"This is the perfect situation."
Next coach
@NDFootball
should be MARCUS FREEMAN - he’ll be ultimately a gr8 head coach / come on Father JENKINS & Jack Swarbrick / don’t let him get away.He knows the game,can motivate / can recruit & players RESPECT him . Let him hire an ex Head Coach like Nick Saban does.
For those that don’t know, I covered Notre Dame football last year. That atmosphere doesn’t sniff the jockstrap of what I experienced today.
It is DIFFERENT down here!
Tolu Smith in the locker room: “I have been here a while. Mississippi State basketball means everything to me. Hopefully I left it better than when I got here.”
Josh Hubbard: "(We) definitely laid a spark for the future. Expectations are just higher now for Mississippi State, as they should be. The program with Coach Jans, they can do a lot of important and special things. Yeah, the bar is definitely risen for sure for the future."
DJ Jeffries: "Coach Jans is a winner. He got us here back-to-back years. I had never been to the tournament before Coach Jans, so I believe the program is in a great situation."
Funny comments by Mike Brey after the game.
- He plans to continue standing on tables before every home game this year
- Has a goal to go crowd surfing this year through the
#NotreDame
student section, beginning on the baseline and going to the top of Purcell.
Lets do it!
Sam Purcell in tears: "People thought I was crazy. For us to have a magical night, where there is that support and energy. It felt like we had six players on the floor."
Final.: Mississippi State 77, No. 9 LSU 73
Mississippi State basketball (men's and women's) had two top-10 upsets at The Hump in the past 48 hours.
Insane.
NEW: Within hours of becoming Mississippi State’s new WR coach,
@_CoachBump
made four-stars
@JJHarrell_4
and
@BraylonBurnside
a priority.
An inside look how Bumphis' return to Starkville has made an immediate impact on the recruiting trail
#NotreDame
commit Rico Flores talking to
@MalikZaire8
on a Twitter space said that Notre Dame was not even in his top 10 when Del Alexander was the water receiver coach.
His relationship with
@ChansiStuckey
made that big of a difference in his recruitment.
Will Rogers was asked about the Mike Wright chants coming from the student section today
“I don’t really care. If it is not in our locker room, I don’t really care”
Tolu Smith: "People will say what they want to say, tweet what they want to tweet. At the end of the day, they are not in the gym with us, running sprints with us, in here watching film. They only see what the product is like. That's OK. But we stick to us and our roots."
Not a surprise, but was told from a close source that freshman WR Mario Craver was a major standout in the first week of spring ball for Mississippi State
Speed is showing in special teams work, too
Mississippi State's Shakeel Moore (
@TheShakeelMoore
) grew up an hour away from Charlotte in Greensboro, NC, where he spent two separate portions of his life homeless.
This trip back home is meaningful to him, both off and on the court
Nothing to be ashamed of from Mississippi State today
Three games in three days is a tough deal. Showed a lot of fight
Came to Nashville and did what it needed to do and will be leaving with confidence it didnt have at the end of the regular season
Two kentucky reporters doing a postgame
“They dont fill this place like that.”
Neglecting the fact that Mississippi State has, what, 7, sellouts this season now?
Can we for once not act like one loss is sending this team to the NIT
My god, they are projected 7-8 seed. A home RANKED loss at the buzzer is not changing that.
#NotreDame
OC Tommy Rees ahead of next week’s opener at Ohio State
“You are playing football at Ohio Stadium in the first week of the season. If that doesn’t get your blood going, you got to find another sport”
Tolu Smith: "I think being from Mississippi means everything. We're trying to build a legacy here. I think when Coach Jans came in, he had a blueprint for us. We try to follow the blueprint to the best of our ability. He's a Mississippi guy now, too. We open arms with him."
Also, Kentucky fans begging for Josh Hubbard, only for him to stay in Starville, and then losing their coach to an in-conference program, is legitimately hilarious
WATCH: After seeing the support from Nebraska’s outdoor volleyball game,
@SamPurcellMSU
says he wants to play a basketball game at Davis Wade Stadium in the future
Mississippi State now has offensive tackle commits from:
TJ Lockhart: 6-6, 365 lbs
Luke Work: 6-6, 285 lbs
Kison Shepard: 6-5, 315 lbs
That is some MAJOR beef
In his first Dawg Walk in his second stint as Mississippi State' interim head coach, Greg Knox stops his walk to the locker room to give Dak the Bulldog a bunch of pets.
He's locked in.
More from Tolu Smith:
"They are going to have a phenomenal year next year because of the guys, the core group they got. Coach Jans is going to make sure of that."
Antjuan Simmons just asked Mark Dantonio on his radio show what his favorite moment in his Spartan career is.
His answer was being named the head coach
Who knows with Will Rogers' health going into A&M next week, but Chris Parson should be Mississippi State's starter if Rogers can't go.
If the Bulldogs want any chance at going to a bowl game, that has to happen.
Column coming later.
Mark Dantonio has a chance to become MSU's all-time winningest football coach. I went back to 13 years of history to find out why he has been so successful in East Lansing.
On a man, not just a football coach, and his chase for success.
Mississippi State's Josh Hubbard: "My role is to facilitate, knock down shots when I am open. A lot of other players did their roles, too. we are grateful and super proud of each other."
Some small football news:
Mississippi State had a bond issue process of an additional $10 million to its budget for lower bowl renovations at Davis Wade Stadium approved by the IHL board during last night's meeting.
Original budget was approved for $25 mill...now $35.
Coach Knox is staying Home!
@Coach_Leb
has named Coach Knox the Director of Career & Professional Development and a leader of our new D.A.W.G. program!
📰 »
#HailState
🐶
Life Update!
I am excited to announce that I have accepted a sports reporter position at The Stockton Record in California. I cant wait to head out there and start after my graduation from MSU in December. I have a lot of people to thank put a couple deserve special recognition.
Hearing more good things from Mississippi State’s defense coming out of spring practice
Multiple sources named LB Javae Gilmore and DL Trevion Williams as standouts today
Also have heard great things on TE Seydou Traore and WR Stonka Burnside 👀
College football recruiting is the best
Jimothy Lewis, a 4-star OL from IMG, becomes Mississippi State’s fourth offensive lineman commit through an announcement by JJ Harrell because Lewis’ Twitter was hacked 🤣
He was named the Mississippi 5A Defensive Player of the Year and is a 4-star defensive line signee! Join us in welcoming Terrance Hibbler to our Bulldog family.
📰 »
𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 »
@THibbler22
#SHOWTIME
|
#HailState
🐶
Zach Arnett: "Winning aint easy. We are going to enjoy this one. Frankly, I dont think we had good enough plans. I didn't have a good enough game plan as a coach."
He finished his senior year with the second-most receiving yards in school history (1,213) to go along with 16 touchdowns! Join us in welcoming Ricky Johnson to our Bulldog family.
📰 »
𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 »
@rickyjohnson_14
#SHOWTIME
|
#HailState
🐶
EXCLUSIVE: Mississippi State's Pico Kohn (
@picoman03
) can feel his surgically repaired arm getting healthier.
But with a summer of rehab ahead of him, Kohn is in no rush to push his limits
On Kohn's recovery and potential return next season:
As Jeff Lebby tried to hold together Mississippi State's 2024 recruiting class,
@JJHarrell_4
stepped up as the face of the group.
Why was he the perfect leader to Lebby's first class?
Column:
Received this message from a high school coach preventing me from doing a story about one of his athletes’ successes this season.
Who does this help? This isn’t the pros. Be better.
Chris Jans on new football coach Jeff Lebby:
"Congrats to Jeff Lebby and his family. Don't know him personally but looking forward to meeting him and wishing him the best of luck"