Assistant Football Coach Jim Tompkins:

7/28/00 - Official SEC Football Media Day link: Click here....

7/27/00 - For those of you who put any kind of trust in the Kevin Fant rumors, here is what Kevin told me during a premium site interview with him (the complete interview is published on the premium site).

GS: When you signed with State, you knew there was a young quarterback, Wayne Madkin, here already. Did that not bother you?
Kevin Fant: Not really. In high school I was behind Melvin Barkum, who was a good quarterback. I studied as a backup quarterback. I was just going to be a team player. Things just worked out. The way I see it is I want to be where I am happy. And I am happy here. If God sees that football is my career, then he will make the situation right for me. I'm not settling for the backup roll but if that is the way that it has to be, then I will accept my role and do the best that I can to help the team. I am still going to get my degree from here no matter what.

GS: Speaking about going somewhere, you've heard the Kevin Fant rumors. We have talked about them several times. Tell me about them.
Kevin Fant: I laughed at them. My mom works in the mall. She hears stories all the time. I don't know where they originate from.

GS: You are now a true MSU Bulldog.
Kevin Fant: Oh yea, definitely. I'm not going anywhere.

GS: When I first saw you and your dad at the Moss Point / South Panola game, I felt that you and your dad were Mississippi State people, not Ole Miss people. You pretty much said that earlier in this interview when you said that you are a down to earth type guy.
Kevin Fant: That's exactly right.

I will say this, I love Ole Miss because they represent Mississippi. I love the state of Mississippi. I will pull for Ole Miss when they are playing anybody but us. A lot of people will disagree with me but that's just how I feel. The only thing was Ole Miss wasn't me. It just wasn't my cup of tea. I have a lot of things in common with Mississippi State.

7/26/00 (1:35 p.m.) - Click here to check out the latest football stadium expansion pictures.

7/26/00 - Mississippi State's football game at South Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 23, will be televised by Jefferson-Pilot Sports, the Southeastern Conference announced Tuesday. Game time for the MSU-South Carolina game has been set for 12:30 p.m. (ET) to accommodate the broadcast.

The MSU-USC game becomes the Bulldogs1 fourth game of the 2000 season to have been slated for telecast, also the fourth on the road. State1s road swings at Memphis (Sept. 2, FOX, 2:30 p.m. CT), Brigham Young (Sept. 14, ESPN, 6 p.m. MT) and at Mississippi (Nov. 23, ESPN, 7 p.m. CT) will also be broadcast.

MSU was televised 20 times in 1998 and 1999 combined, including a school-record 11 showings during the 198 campaign.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU Athletic Department

7/25/00 (10:20 a.m.) - If you live in the Port Gibson, MS., area and you would like to visit with MSU coaches Melvin Smith, Glenn Davis and Joe Lee Dunn (main speaker at the event), then go to the Port Gibson court house (105 College Street) at 5:30 tonight. Cocktails and hors d'oenvres will be served. Admission is free. All alumni, students and friends of MSU are invited.

7/25/00 - Another player that looked good at the MSU football camp this past weekend was Canton Academy QB Woody Stringer. Woody, who is in the 6-2 to 6-4 range and about 190-pounds, is receiving attention from Delta State (his brother plays there) at the moment. He is one of those players who could become a legitimate D-I prospect with a breakout fall. Keep an eye on this youngster.

BTW, I keep hearing great things about Woody's teammate Marty Morgan. I was very impressed with Marty at the camp but I am also hearing that I was not the only one who was very impressed with him. Look for this youngster's recruiting status to grow as more and more college coaches see him play.

7/24/00 - In case you haven't read or heard it, Weir (MS) high school has a new head football coach; Junior Graham. Longtime Weir high school head football coach Joe Gant, a former MSU athlete, retired from Weir HS at the end of this past school year. Coach Gant, whose son Trey will be attending Holmes CC this coming school year, will work as a volunteer coach for Holmes CC this summer and possibly on into the fall.

A huge congrats goes out to Coach Joe Gant for such an outstanding high school coaching career and also for helping so many high school athletes live their dream of playing college ball and in some cases playing in the NFL. You will be missed by all fans of Mississippi high school football. I also wish Coach Junior Graham only the best. I know he will do an outstanding job.

Another player that showed excellent talent at the camp was Madison Central HS wide receiver Mike Espy. A source of mine said that he saw Mike make an incredible one-handed catch while jumping high off the ground.

I was also told that Meridian HS senior Mario Hill looked very good during the camp. My source said Mario got open just about at will.

7/23/00 - This weekend's MSU football camp attracted campers from as far away as Iowa and Ohio and as close as Starkville, Mississippi. States that were represented included Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, Oklahoma Arkansas and Texas. There may have been other states that had players attend the camp but these are the ones that I can confirm. Over 130 schools had over 1,200 players who participated in the camp.

Here are the names of a few top players that attended the camp:

7/22/00 - This weekend's MSU football camp has set the standard for football camps in the SEC. Approximately 1,200 high school players are presently at this weekend's football camp. There are also over 300 high school and junior college coaches either coaching teams or working the camp. More info later.

I have taken several calls regarding whether it is permissible for an individual to produce and distribute bumper stickers promoting an MSU football player for the Heisman Trophy. I forwarded those inquiries to the NCAA, and I wanted to pass along the response to all of you. This response came from the top:

"Yes there would be a problem," (producing and/or distributing the stickers)....."(NCAA legislation) sets forth promotional activities in which a student-athlete could be involved, and (the legislation) restricts them to institutional promotions. An institution can certainly ask another entity to produce an item (i.e. bumper sticker) for them, but the promotion and distribution needs to be handled by the institution from that point forward."

In short, it is not permissible for individuals or other entities outside MSU to produce and/or distribute bumper stickers promoting a student-athlete for any reason. If a booster/alumni/athletics representative distributes such materials and does not cease and desist at the request of the institution, that individual would be subject to disassociation from the university and/or the athletics department. If you are engaging in the distribution of the bumper stickers or any other similar item, you should consider this post as a cease and desist request. I don't wish to alarm anyone, but I have received several calls, so I thought this would be a good way to get the word out. Finally, the response from the NCAA was forwarded to Ole Miss by the Southeastern Conference.

Thanks for you attention and cooperation,

Bo Kerin
MSU Compliance

7/21/00 - I asked Fred Smoot at the Central Mississippi Extravaganza last night if he had a Smootism for me. Direct quote from Fred - "Antonio Hargro will be the next Randy Moss after I get through with him in practice this year."

7/20/00 - Notes from the workouts:

7/19/00 - I asked for info on a kicker from Gautier HS that I believe MSU is recruiting. Here is what I found out. His name is Mike McLaughlin. He has been kicking and punting for Gautier HS since he was a freshman. He can kick 50+ field goals. He has made the All-Coast team two or three times. He is also an excellent soccer player.

Click here to read an excellent Meridian Star write-up.

7/18/00 - Here is the latest on a youngster from Petal, Mississippi. I have heard from good sources that center Chris McNeil could very well be one of the best true centers to come out of the state of Mississippi in quite a few years. The rumor is MSU would absolutely love to have this youngster cast his lot with them. With current MSU center Michael Fair graduating after this season, the opportunity is obviously there for an incoming center.

7/17/00 - Just thought you guys would enjoy reading an interview that I did with former MSU football great Kent Hull. Click here to read the article.

Some things that Coach Sherrill mentioned:

Some things AD Larry Templeton mentioned:

7/16/00 - Click here to check out the latest football stadium expansion pictures.

7/13/00 - I watched the third football P.E. workout session yesterday. I primarily focused on a drill where the players worked on their lateral movement footwork. I was extremely impressed with the foot quickness of almost all of the players. (Note: I did not watch the first and second groups so there will be a lot of names that will not appear below.)

One player that surprised me with his lateral foot quickness was defensive end Mario Haggan. He really moves extremely well for a big guy. He rarely touched the bars that he was running through. Another player who looked good was defensive end Rob Knight. Rob has voluntarily gained a few pounds during the summer and he was a little curious how he would do in this drill. In my opinion, he passed it with flying colors.

One thing I paid particular note of was how the fifth group did during this drill after they had gone through the four other drills. I knew they would be very tired and how they did during this last drill would show their mental toughness. Knowing how tired he must have been, Pig Prather, in particular, impressed me with his foot quickness and ability to run through the metal bars while rarely hitting any. In fact, he showed quicker foot movement than anybody who went through the drill during the third session.

Here is a list of other players who looked good during the drill:

7/10/00 - The rumor is Fayette (AL.) HS quarterback Spencer Pennington has gotten even more interested in Mississippi State. I have heard the feeling is mutual as it appears MSU baseball and football are very, very interested in Spencer, who is one of the top two quarterbacks in Alabama as well as one of the top baseball players in the south. According to my sources, Spencer plans on playing both baseball and football in college.

7/09/00 - Add a couple of more football campers to the list of players that attended MSU's June football camp. Homewood (AL) HS's sophomore quarterback Parker Gargis (5-10, 160, younger brother of Phillip Gargis who is a DB at Auburn) and wide receiver Jake Collins (6-0, 175).

7/08/00 - The Mississippi State athletic department announced Friday that its ticket office has sold every available season ticket for the 2000 football season. The only tickets remaining to see the defending Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl champions this season are MSU student season tickets and Auburn, Arkansas and Middle Tennessee individual game tickets.

The State athletic ticket office announced that more than 30,000 football season tickets had been sold, a 15 percent increase over the previous school record for season tickets sold (25,560 last year).

Student season tickets will remain on sale until MSU's home opener with Florida, Sept. 30, and the limited individual game tickets for Bulldog contests with Auburn (Oct. 7), Middle Tennessee (Oct. 28) and Arkansas (Nov. 18) will be available as long as supplies last at the Bryan Athletic Administration ticket office, 662-325-2600.

MSU's games with Florida and Alabama (Nov. 11) are already sold out, marking the earliest announced sellouts in school history.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU Athletic Department

7/07/00 - For those of you who were not able to go to the MSU party known as the Bulldog Family Celebration, click here to read my account of it.

7/06/00 - Look for former MSU offensive lineman Wes Shivers to sign a pro contract with the Tennessee Titans. Wes will sign a three-year, $853,000 contract, the deal including a signing bonus of $27,000 and rookie minimum base salaries of $193,000 (2000), $275,000 (2001) and $358,000 (2002). The contract is likely to be officially signed later this week.

7/06/00 - The word is all of the veteran scholarship and walk-on players are back at State and ready to start their July workouts.

7/05/00 - Click here to check out the latest football stadium expansion pictures.

7/4/00 - Freshman punter signee Jared Cook and freshman walk-on quarterback Joe Judge are both on-campus. Joe is from somewhere outside of Philadelphia, PA. The word is more of the freshman players will be moving in the dorms over the next couple of days.

7/3/00 - Starkville has a new theater coming to town. CLICK HERE to read all about it.

7/2/00 - Bet you didn't know that Fayette (AL) HS quarterback Spencer Pennington (a player MSU is recruiting in football and baseball) hit 15 home runs this past baseball season.