10-29-2014, 06:51 PM
How No. 1 Mississippi State combed the back roads and small towns to build a roster of overlooked recruits
http://sports.usatoday.com/2014/10/29/mi...50GRS.uxfs
In a world where recruiting might be as popular as the national championship game, the vast majority of big moments for Mississippi State this season have been authored by players who were rated no better than three stars, were almost entirely overlooked by other SEC schools and often came to college without a defined position.
Whether it’s quarterback Dak Prescott (three-star from Louisiana who didn’t draw LSU’s interest until it was too late), running back Josh Robinson (Mississippi State beat out a bevy of Conference USA schools for him), towering receiver De’Runnya Wilson (he might have been a better basketball player in high school) or likely All-American Benardrick McKinney (hardly any other FBS schools bothered to offer a 6-foot-1, 210-pound linebacker), nobody in America has done a better job identifying and developing players who were off the radar of recruiting services.
“We really trust our own evaluations of how we look at guys,” Mullen said. “I’ve seen guys that are supposed five-stars that I’d disagree greatly with that rating. There are guys without that rating I think should be rated higher. We want to stick with what we believe in how we evaluate players. It doesn’t mean we don’t want five-star players, but we also want guys that aren’t satisfied with where they are now.”
http://sports.usatoday.com/2014/10/29/mi...50GRS.uxfs
In a world where recruiting might be as popular as the national championship game, the vast majority of big moments for Mississippi State this season have been authored by players who were rated no better than three stars, were almost entirely overlooked by other SEC schools and often came to college without a defined position.
Whether it’s quarterback Dak Prescott (three-star from Louisiana who didn’t draw LSU’s interest until it was too late), running back Josh Robinson (Mississippi State beat out a bevy of Conference USA schools for him), towering receiver De’Runnya Wilson (he might have been a better basketball player in high school) or likely All-American Benardrick McKinney (hardly any other FBS schools bothered to offer a 6-foot-1, 210-pound linebacker), nobody in America has done a better job identifying and developing players who were off the radar of recruiting services.
“We really trust our own evaluations of how we look at guys,” Mullen said. “I’ve seen guys that are supposed five-stars that I’d disagree greatly with that rating. There are guys without that rating I think should be rated higher. We want to stick with what we believe in how we evaluate players. It doesn’t mean we don’t want five-star players, but we also want guys that aren’t satisfied with where they are now.”