#STATEF17M: MSU Football Hauls In Top 25 Recruiting Class Headlined by Hill, Gay
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi State football closed with one of the Top 25 recruiting classes in America headlined by local blue-chip prospects Kylin Hill and Willie Gay as head coach Dan Mullen announced the signing of 11 National Letters of Intent on Wednesday.
Mullen’s ninth signing class at MSU was tabbed No. 24 nationally by 247Sports.com and Rivals.com and No. 25 by Scout.com. The rankings include the school-record 13 early enrollees who will go through spring drills when the Bulldogs start practice on March 2.
“It’s been an exciting day for us, getting a bunch of new guys into our family,” Mullen said. “We had a Top 25 recruiting class and hopefully they pan out that way too. Hopefully they end up being a Top 25 football team. We’ll see how these guys continue to grow and continue to develop.”
For the third straight year and the fourth time in five recruiting periods, the Bulldogs inked the state’s top defensive player when Gay, the nation’s No. 3 outside linebacker, announced to a raucous crowd at Starkville High School. Gay will join fellow Starkville High School standouts Kobe Jones and Gabe Myles on the 2017 MSU roster.
“Willie is a special player,” Mullen said. “We expect Willie to come in and play right away for us. He has size, speed and athleticism. He’s a productive player on film. One of the things that we have to do is really work to accelerate him. I expect him to be in the rotation week one of next season.”
Hill made his pledge official shortly after. The Columbus High School standout is considered the nation’s sixth-best running back and is the highest running back signee for the Bulldogs since Jerious Norwood in 2002. Norwood was a five-star prospect and ranked No. 5.
“I thought when we looked at him that he was one of the best, if not the best, running back in the country,” Mullen said. “I think he had seven or eight touchdowns called back, but it’s not about the touchdown being called back to me. It’s about the next play. And I watched the intensity that he goes out with on the next play. There wasn’t a head down. He continues to play hard every single play. He’s a physical runner that has great skills once he gets into the open field. He’s going to be a weapon for us early in his career.”
MSU brought in the nation’s top-ranked punter and one of the elite kickers in America in Tucker Day of Brentwood, Tenn. Day became his school’s first-ever U.S. Army All-American.
“We have three (high school) All-Americans, and he is one of our All-Americans in the group,” Mullen said. “We are excited to have him. There’s a good chance, he will be our kicker next year. I know in his mindset that’s the attitude he has to come in and take that job.”
Including the early enrollees, MSU signed 15 defensive players and eight on offense. They addressed a key need with eight defensive linemen, five of which will go through spring practice. The Bulldogs also signed five offensive linemen and five defensive backs.
Quarterback Keytaon Thompson, the 2016 Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year, is already on campus participating in drills and in the film room.
“We are very fortunate to have a large number of guys enroll early,” Mullen said. “A large part of the recruiting class was already on campus today. Look at a guy like Keytaon Thompson, one of the premier quarterbacks in America. Instead of going through signing day and putting on hats today, he was up doing mat drills at 6 a.m. this morning. He’s getting ready to throw some balls and learning how to read coverages.”
Head Coach Dan Mullen February 1, 2017
Opening Statement
“It’s been an exciting day for us, getting a bunch of new guys into our family. They came here to play football and be a part of the Mississippi State Bulldog family. We had a Top 25 recruiting class and hopefully they pan out that way too. Hopefully they end up being a Top 25 football team. We’ll see how these guys continue to grow and continue to develop. We are very fortunate to have a large number of guys enroll early. A large part of the recruiting class was already on campus today. Look at a guy like Keytaon Thompson, one of the premier quarterbacks in America. Instead of going through signing day and putting on hats today, he was up doing mat drills at 6 a.m. this morning. He’s getting ready to throw some balls and learning how to read coverages. We are very excited. We couldn’t be happier to see Willie Gay and Kylin Hill stay home. Two local guys get to make their hometowns proud and make the people of Mississippi proud by playing for their home state. If you watched their signing day ceremonies, I think you saw just how proud and excited that everybody was. We have a wide range of guys, including some big offensive linemen including Josh Cooper, Montravious Richardson and Cordavien Suggs. We have some girth coming in with this class. Big Josh is an enormous human being. That’s us being very nice with him weighing 355 pounds. Montravious is a big guy and really athletic and Cordavien is really getting to come home. He’s from Jackson, Miss., even though he graduated from Fletcher High School in Jacksonville, Fla. He grew up here in Mississippi. We are really excited about them. We also signed Aaron Odom, who is a defensive end and a great pass rusher. He had 28 sacks last year. He’s going to help us immediately as a pass rusher coming off the edge. Again, this guy decided to stay home in the state of Mississippi and represent the people of the state. Tyler Dunning, a signee from Florida, is a national prospect from a national program out of St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale. Noah Elliss is a premier defensive lineman in the country coming to play for us from all the way out in Colorado. I’m pleased with our coaches when you look and see what our coaches have done. Brian Baker did a great job of getting Noah Elliss for us. Greg Knox did a great job of helping us get Aaron Odom. He was also the primary recruiter for Willie Gay and Kylin Hill. John Hevesy helped us get those offensive lineman. I’m pretty fired up.”
“As always in recruiting, how will this class turn out? We’ll find out three years from now. I remember standing up here a long time ago now- this building wasn’t even here- and everyone was worried about a recruiting class that had a bunch of no-name players like Preston Smith and Dak Prescott. Who are these guys? We’re never going to win with these guys people said. But I know this, these guys came to Mississippi State because they want to work hard and want to be developed just like guys in the past. They want to push themselves. They came here to work, both on the field and off the field, in the classroom and in the community. That’s what we take a lot of pride in. They see our program and see how we develop young men. They understand the hard work that goes into it. For them today to believe in that and to buy into that says a lot about the character of who these young men are and the futures that they are going to have.”
On a school-record 13 early enrollees in this class…
“It just played out that way. I think a lot of people will question was it a plan to have this? We don’t ever have a set number of junior college players or high school players. It just kind of played out that way. The first thing is, let’s look at home. Let’s look at great players in the state of Mississippi and there were a bunch of guys there. There were also some in the junior college ranks that we had placed there that can come in and make an immediate impact on our team. We had four high school guys enroll early, three from Mississippi. When I first came here, if you even suggested that a high school player should graduate early, they would throw you out of the school. I got thrown out of a high school once when I suggested that. The principal threw me out of the school saying ‘We don’t do that here. We aren’t letting you graduate players early.’ So to have three guys from Mississippi graduate high school early is huge. It lets them accelerate their career. Maybe it took some of the excitement out of today or maybe the craziness out of today because we only signed a small number of players today.”
On the job done by recruiting office staff, including Brad Peterson, Pat Austin and Rod Gibson…
“They did a good job. They learned a lot. Being on the other side of it, I think that they have a better appreciation of what goes on as it gets closer to signing day. I thought they did a great job in their first year. We’re trying to expand our recruiting department, trying to keep up with some other schools in the SEC. Those guys came in and did a great job of getting things done and helping us set the table in recruiting. I can guarantee you that they learned a lot. They knew the high school side, but they didn’t know it was like this on the college side.”
On the offensive linemen signees in this class…
“Well it’s a good thing that we have some tall quarterbacks. I think sometimes as an offensive lineman, you’re going one of two directions. Very rarely do they come completely ready to go coming out of high school. We normally have to either get them bigger or get them smaller. Some guys this year we’re going to have to get them to slim up to get a little bit smaller. What we evaluate is the athleticism. We are fortunate to have guys this athletic with the size that they have. It should help us have a bigger offensive line to help us run the football in the future.”
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Mississippi State football closed with one of the Top 25 recruiting classes in America headlined by local blue-chip prospects Kylin Hill and Willie Gay as head coach Dan Mullen announced the signing of 11 National Letters of Intent on Wednesday.
Mullen’s ninth signing class at MSU was tabbed No. 24 nationally by 247Sports.com and Rivals.com and No. 25 by Scout.com. The rankings include the school-record 13 early enrollees who will go through spring drills when the Bulldogs start practice on March 2.
“It’s been an exciting day for us, getting a bunch of new guys into our family,” Mullen said. “We had a Top 25 recruiting class and hopefully they pan out that way too. Hopefully they end up being a Top 25 football team. We’ll see how these guys continue to grow and continue to develop.”
For the third straight year and the fourth time in five recruiting periods, the Bulldogs inked the state’s top defensive player when Gay, the nation’s No. 3 outside linebacker, announced to a raucous crowd at Starkville High School. Gay will join fellow Starkville High School standouts Kobe Jones and Gabe Myles on the 2017 MSU roster.
“Willie is a special player,” Mullen said. “We expect Willie to come in and play right away for us. He has size, speed and athleticism. He’s a productive player on film. One of the things that we have to do is really work to accelerate him. I expect him to be in the rotation week one of next season.”
Hill made his pledge official shortly after. The Columbus High School standout is considered the nation’s sixth-best running back and is the highest running back signee for the Bulldogs since Jerious Norwood in 2002. Norwood was a five-star prospect and ranked No. 5.
“I thought when we looked at him that he was one of the best, if not the best, running back in the country,” Mullen said. “I think he had seven or eight touchdowns called back, but it’s not about the touchdown being called back to me. It’s about the next play. And I watched the intensity that he goes out with on the next play. There wasn’t a head down. He continues to play hard every single play. He’s a physical runner that has great skills once he gets into the open field. He’s going to be a weapon for us early in his career.”
MSU brought in the nation’s top-ranked punter and one of the elite kickers in America in Tucker Day of Brentwood, Tenn. Day became his school’s first-ever U.S. Army All-American.
“We have three (high school) All-Americans, and he is one of our All-Americans in the group,” Mullen said. “We are excited to have him. There’s a good chance, he will be our kicker next year. I know in his mindset that’s the attitude he has to come in and take that job.”
Including the early enrollees, MSU signed 15 defensive players and eight on offense. They addressed a key need with eight defensive linemen, five of which will go through spring practice. The Bulldogs also signed five offensive linemen and five defensive backs.
Quarterback Keytaon Thompson, the 2016 Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year, is already on campus participating in drills and in the film room.
“We are very fortunate to have a large number of guys enroll early,” Mullen said. “A large part of the recruiting class was already on campus today. Look at a guy like Keytaon Thompson, one of the premier quarterbacks in America. Instead of going through signing day and putting on hats today, he was up doing mat drills at 6 a.m. this morning. He’s getting ready to throw some balls and learning how to read coverages.”
Head Coach Dan Mullen February 1, 2017
Opening Statement
“It’s been an exciting day for us, getting a bunch of new guys into our family. They came here to play football and be a part of the Mississippi State Bulldog family. We had a Top 25 recruiting class and hopefully they pan out that way too. Hopefully they end up being a Top 25 football team. We’ll see how these guys continue to grow and continue to develop. We are very fortunate to have a large number of guys enroll early. A large part of the recruiting class was already on campus today. Look at a guy like Keytaon Thompson, one of the premier quarterbacks in America. Instead of going through signing day and putting on hats today, he was up doing mat drills at 6 a.m. this morning. He’s getting ready to throw some balls and learning how to read coverages. We are very excited. We couldn’t be happier to see Willie Gay and Kylin Hill stay home. Two local guys get to make their hometowns proud and make the people of Mississippi proud by playing for their home state. If you watched their signing day ceremonies, I think you saw just how proud and excited that everybody was. We have a wide range of guys, including some big offensive linemen including Josh Cooper, Montravious Richardson and Cordavien Suggs. We have some girth coming in with this class. Big Josh is an enormous human being. That’s us being very nice with him weighing 355 pounds. Montravious is a big guy and really athletic and Cordavien is really getting to come home. He’s from Jackson, Miss., even though he graduated from Fletcher High School in Jacksonville, Fla. He grew up here in Mississippi. We are really excited about them. We also signed Aaron Odom, who is a defensive end and a great pass rusher. He had 28 sacks last year. He’s going to help us immediately as a pass rusher coming off the edge. Again, this guy decided to stay home in the state of Mississippi and represent the people of the state. Tyler Dunning, a signee from Florida, is a national prospect from a national program out of St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale. Noah Elliss is a premier defensive lineman in the country coming to play for us from all the way out in Colorado. I’m pleased with our coaches when you look and see what our coaches have done. Brian Baker did a great job of getting Noah Elliss for us. Greg Knox did a great job of helping us get Aaron Odom. He was also the primary recruiter for Willie Gay and Kylin Hill. John Hevesy helped us get those offensive lineman. I’m pretty fired up.”
“As always in recruiting, how will this class turn out? We’ll find out three years from now. I remember standing up here a long time ago now- this building wasn’t even here- and everyone was worried about a recruiting class that had a bunch of no-name players like Preston Smith and Dak Prescott. Who are these guys? We’re never going to win with these guys people said. But I know this, these guys came to Mississippi State because they want to work hard and want to be developed just like guys in the past. They want to push themselves. They came here to work, both on the field and off the field, in the classroom and in the community. That’s what we take a lot of pride in. They see our program and see how we develop young men. They understand the hard work that goes into it. For them today to believe in that and to buy into that says a lot about the character of who these young men are and the futures that they are going to have.”
On a school-record 13 early enrollees in this class…
“It just played out that way. I think a lot of people will question was it a plan to have this? We don’t ever have a set number of junior college players or high school players. It just kind of played out that way. The first thing is, let’s look at home. Let’s look at great players in the state of Mississippi and there were a bunch of guys there. There were also some in the junior college ranks that we had placed there that can come in and make an immediate impact on our team. We had four high school guys enroll early, three from Mississippi. When I first came here, if you even suggested that a high school player should graduate early, they would throw you out of the school. I got thrown out of a high school once when I suggested that. The principal threw me out of the school saying ‘We don’t do that here. We aren’t letting you graduate players early.’ So to have three guys from Mississippi graduate high school early is huge. It lets them accelerate their career. Maybe it took some of the excitement out of today or maybe the craziness out of today because we only signed a small number of players today.”
On the job done by recruiting office staff, including Brad Peterson, Pat Austin and Rod Gibson…
“They did a good job. They learned a lot. Being on the other side of it, I think that they have a better appreciation of what goes on as it gets closer to signing day. I thought they did a great job in their first year. We’re trying to expand our recruiting department, trying to keep up with some other schools in the SEC. Those guys came in and did a great job of getting things done and helping us set the table in recruiting. I can guarantee you that they learned a lot. They knew the high school side, but they didn’t know it was like this on the college side.”
On the offensive linemen signees in this class…
“Well it’s a good thing that we have some tall quarterbacks. I think sometimes as an offensive lineman, you’re going one of two directions. Very rarely do they come completely ready to go coming out of high school. We normally have to either get them bigger or get them smaller. Some guys this year we’re going to have to get them to slim up to get a little bit smaller. What we evaluate is the athleticism. We are fortunate to have guys this athletic with the size that they have. It should help us have a bigger offensive line to help us run the football in the future.”
