.......

....... .......

06/29/01 (5:15 p.m.) - The Mississippi State athletic ticket office announced Friday that it had sold in excess of 35,000 football season tickets for the 2001 Bulldog campaign, a school record for season ticket sales.

The only remaining full-schedule season tickets available to MSU fans are approximately 500 of the new club-level seats. Those seats may be purchased for $1,000 per seat plus the cost of the ticket.

A limited number of full-price, maroon mini-packs, which include tickets to MSU games against BYU, South Carolina, Troy State (homecoming) and LSU, remain on sale. Those tickets are available for $104 apiece.

The ticket office also announced that no individual game tickets to the annual season-ending Mississippi State-Mississippi contest remain. Individual game tickets for the other six Bulldog home games go on sale Monday, July 2.

The athletic ticket office will continue to accept MSU student season ticket orders by mail through its Bryan Athletic Administration office, or via phone, 662-325-2600 or 1-888-GO-DAWGS (1-888-46-32947).

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU Athletic Department

06/29/01 - Here is an update on Jack Cristil. His surgery was a success. He has been moved to a private room and is resting as comfortably as a person could be after undergoing major surgery.

06/28/01 - For the 10th straight year, Mississippi State is one of a handful of schools nationwide to be recognized by the American Football Coaches Association for graduating 70 percent or more of its football student-athletes.

MSU is joined by 29 other schools nationally which reached that graduation percentage. State is one of just four Southeastern Conference institutions to hit the 70 percent figure. Vanderbilt tied Notre Dame for the top graduation rate (100 percent), while LSU and South Carolina also made the list.

Mississippi State is one of just five schools in the country to earn AFCA recognition in each of the last 10 years. Duke, Notre Dame, Rice and Virginia have also each been cited over that time frame. MSU and Virginia represent the only two public schools in the nation to reach the 70 percent figure during the past decade.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU Athletic Department

06/27/01 - Here is a small excerpt from the most recent premium site article by recruiting analyst Kevin Henderson.

A Clarksdale High School prospect who has made a name for himself because of his sideline to sideline play is 6'3", 225-lb linebacker Kenny Kern. Kern, pretty much an unknown until the football camps this summer, might have played himself into a possible scholarship, because schools such as ALA, MSU, MISS, TULANE, LSU, ARK, and USM have really taken a liking to this hard-hitting linebacker.

A defensive lineman that few fans have had the chance to see much less read about is 6'4" 265-lb Willie Evans of Wayne County High School. Evans played one year under legendary head coach Bobby Hall who has now moved on to my alma mater Northeast Ms. C.C. Hall tells us that Evans has tremendous quickness and surprising speed and that he expects Evans to grow into his frame and become a solid division I player in time. I have no schools on Evans, but you can bet there are several schools who already know about Evans and his big time up-side and are hoping they can sneak this one out of state.

06/26/01 (4:05 p.m.) - Mississippi State has been selected second in the Southeastern Conference's Western Division by the Birmingham News in its preseason poll and preview. The newspaper also selected six Bulldogs to its first and second, all-league teams.

Seniors Courtney Lee (Austin, Texas) and Dicenzo Miller (Weir, Miss.) earned first-team selections at offensive guard and tailback, respectively. Junior Mario Haggan (Clarksdale, Miss.) and senior Pig Prather (Falkner, Miss.) were picked to the first team at linebacker and safety, respectively. Miller was named the league's best running back, while Prather was honored as the conference's best safety.

Seniors Conner Stephens (Ackerman, Miss.) and Dorsett Davis (Cleveland, Miss.) were chosen to the newspaper's second-team defense. Senior quarterback Wayne Madkin (Huntsville, Ala.) was named the league's most-underrated player.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU Athletic Department

06/25/01 - Here are a few tidbits from the Phipps and Regions Bank SEC Football Preview Magazine.

Pre-season All-SEC selections:
Mario Haggan - First-Team LB
Conner Stephens - Second-Team DE
Dicenzo Miller - First-Team RB
Dontae Walker - Second-Team RB
Tommy Watson - Second-Team OL

Phipps rankings of Western Division teams.

1 - Alabama
2 - LSU
3 - Auburn
4 - MSU
5 - Arkansas
6 - Ole Miss

While you may not agree with the rankings, Phipps magazine is very in-depth. As an example, he has the schedule, returning starters, recruiting class info, offensive, defensive and special teams outlooks, key games, games we should lose and win, and many, many other tidbits about MSU.

Tomorrow, I'll post a few more items that I feel will interest you.

If you are interested in purchasing the magazine, you can contact Larry Phipps by email at lphillps@axs2k.net or call him at 803-568-4643.

06/24/01 - Several Bulldog fans are trying to organize an MSU Alumni Association Chapter for Grenada and the Montgomery County area. If you are interested in joining, please contact Jimmy Sykes by email at jsykes@watervalley.net. You do not have to be a graduate of MSU to join, just a Bulldog fan.

06/23/01 - Our very own Jack Cristil will be having surgery for an abdominal aortic aneurysm on Tuesday. If you would like to send a card or note (no plants or flowers per Jack), you can mail them to the North Mississippi Medical Center, 830 South Gloster, Tupelo, MS 38801, Attn: Mr. Jack Cristil.

You can also send a message through a link that msudog has set up. Click here to go to it.

06/22/01 (2:15 p.m.) - Mississippi State head football coach Jackie Sherrill announced Friday that Starkville native Ken Smith, founder of Ken Smith Ministries in Leesburg, Fla., will work with the Bulldog football team this season.

Smith, who has previously worked with football teams at both Florida State University and the University of South Carolina, will serve as the team's chaplain in 2001 and work with the players in the areas of spiritual and social development.

For the past nine years, Smith has been staff evangelist for First Baptist Church in Umatilla, Fla., and as director of Ken Smith Ministries, he has preached in preparation for Billy Graham events, at summer youth camps throughout the South, and at various Fellowship of Christian Athlete meetings.

In the 18 years prior to establishing Ken Smith Ministries, he served at five churches in the state of Florida. Smith has also served on the National Board of Trustees for FCA.

Smith earned a graduate specialist degree from Mississippi State University in 1974. A graduate of the Southern Baptist Seminary, Smith earned a bachelor's degree in religion and communication from Baylor University in 1965.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU Athletic Department

06/22/01 (11:15 a.m.) - Mississippi State has been picked to win the Southeastern Conference's Western Division in football this fall by The Southeastern Post magazine, a Knoxville, Tenn., based publication.

In addition to being selected for a berth in the SEC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, the publication also awarded MSU a preseason ranking of 15th nationally.

The magazine also named four Bulldogs to its preseason all-SEC team, including Dicenzo Miller (tailback; Weir, Miss.), who was cited as the league's offensive player of the year. Joining Miller were defensive standouts Dorsett Davis (tackle; Cleveland, Miss.), Mario Haggan (linebacker; Clarksdale, Miss.) and Pig Prather (defensive back; Falkner, Miss.).

Other features in the magazine included the five toughest places to play in the SEC (MSU's Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field ranked fourth), the top five coaches in the SEC (MSU's Jackie Sherrill ranked third), and the SEC's top five coordinators on each side of the ball (MSU's Joe Lee Dunn [first on defense] and Sparky Woods [fifth on offense] were the only coordinators from the same school on the list).

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU Athletic Department

06/22/01 - Here are the latest stadium expansion pictures. They were taken Thursday, June 21st. Click here to view them.

06/21/01 (7:45 p.m.) - Just need to correct something that I wrote yesterday, the actual capacity of the stadium, including endzone bleacher seats, will be approximately 54,000 when the expansion has been completed.

06/20/01 (6:05 p.m.) - According to the latest Bulldog REPort, MSU has sold 24,546 season tickets as of June 15th. When you add the remaining full priced season tickets available for sell and the student tickets, I'm guessing that MSU will sell between 36,000 and 37,000 season tickets this year.

Also in the Bulldog REPort was the fact that the capacity of the stadium will be almost 54,000 between the goal lines. If I'm reading that correctly, that means with the addition of the student bleacher seats, the stadium should be able to hold upwards of 56,000 to 57,000 fans when the entire project is complete.

06/17/01 - MSU's four signees that played in the MSU-ALA All-Star game, Chris McNeil, Johnny Wadley, Rico Bennett and Brandon Downing, all played well in the first half. (My recorder stopped prior to the second half.) Offensive lineman Chris McNeil's man made one tackle in the first half, while offensive lineman Johnny Wadley's man also made one tackle in the first half. Chris and quarterback Damarious Bilbo had problems with the snap a couple of times. Both times the ball was fumbled and recovered by Alabama.

06/15/01 (2:45 p.m.) - Here are the latest stadium expansion pictures. They were taken Wednesday, June 13th. Click here to view them.

Some of you may not have noticed when viewing my stadium expansion photos, but you can click on the same numbered photo for separate weeks and it will show you how the stadium expansion has progressed week to week from a certain vantage point. As an example, click on this week's photo number 10, then click on the same numbered photo for last week, or any of the week's previous, and you will notice that I am standing at the same location, or very close to it, when taking the photograph.

06/15/01 - Mississippi State has been ranked No. 15 nationally by Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook preseason magazine, the publication announced Thursday. State was the highest ranked SEC Western Division team in the magazine's preseason listing, the third-ranked league team overall.

Individually, Bulldog players Tommy Watson (Thomaston, Ga.), Dicenzo Miller (Weir, Miss.), Mario Haggan (Clarksdale, Miss.) and Pig Prather (Falkner, Miss.) earned first-team, all-SEC recognition by Blue Ribbon.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU Athletic Department

06/12/01 - Five Mississippi State seniors have been named captains for the 2001 football season, Bulldog head coach Jackie Sherrill announced Monday.

Quarterback Wayne Madkin (Huntsville, Ala.), tailback Dicenzo Miller (Weir, Miss.), and center Tommy Watson (Thomaston, Ga.) were elected offensive captains by the 2001 Bulldog team. Tackle Dorsett Davis (Cleveland, Miss.) and Dog safety Pig Prather (Falkner, Miss.) were selected defensive captains.

Madkin (6-4, 227) is Mississippi Statešs all-time leading passer.

Miller (5-10, 200) became just the fifth back in school history to exceed 1,000 yards rushing in a single season last fall.

After starting last year at offensive guard, Watson (6-4, 303) made the switch to center last spring and will play his senior season in the middle of the Bulldog offensive line.

Davis (6-6, 314) has played in 23 games during his State career, starting 10 times last year.

Prather (6-2, 195) earned all-America recognition last year.

Reprinted with the permission of the MSU Athletic Department

Coach Davis, how about talking about the running backs first, then we can discuss the fullbacks.
Coach Davis: I thought that Dontae had a great spring. He has matured and is getting a better feel about everything that is going on. I try not to tell them where to run the football because I want them to use their natural instincts and their eyes. However, it helps them when they understand where blocks are going to happen.

Freshman Fred Reid is getting better and better. He is going to be a guy who will be a good player for us. He improved during the spring because I challenged him to get better with things such as his pass-protection. The longer he is here, the stronger he will get.

Justin Griffith, a fullback, had a really good spring and has really settled into and accepted his roll. He made a lot of strides toward becoming a complete player and a team player. He has a great attitude and works hard.

Freshman fullback Darnell Jones is getting better. I want him to stabilize his weight and quit fluctuating so much. He needs to work hard on his flexibility and catching the ball.

06/08/01 - The Memphis Maroon Club is sponsoring buses for the Memphis and South Carolina football games next fall. The fare is $20.00 per person if received by June 1 and $25.00 after June 1. If you live in the area and are interested in the bus trips, you can contact them by email at memphismaroonclub@yahoo.com and they will be glad to contact you with details.

06/07/01 - Here are the latest stadium expansion pictures. They were taken Wednesday, June 6th. Click here to view them.

06/06/01 - MSU once again has dipped into the Mississippi high school ranks and received a commitment from one of the top players in the state. This time it is Neshoba Central HS kicker Scott Shurden, one of the top two kickers in the state.

06/05/01 - For those of you who haven't heard, Weir HS defensive lineman Markell McKinley, potentially one of the top two senior defensive linemen in the state of Mississippi this coming season, has committed to Mississippi State. Markell, who is 6-3, 265 and has quick feet, is the cousin of former Bulldogs Dennis and Alvin McKinley.

Check out the pictures below.

... ...
... ...

06/04/01 - I was at State this past Saturday while the first summer football game was going on. Several of the state's top players attended, including Clarksdale HS defensive back Darren Williams, Brandon HS running back Jerious Norwood and offensive lineman Richard Burch, Gulfport HS quarterback Chris Smith, Neshoba Central kicker (formerly of Noxapater HS) Scott Shurden, Weir HS defensive lineman Markell McKinley, South Panola HS linebacker Chris Herring and defensive back Broderick Pounders, Corinth HS kicker Baxter Wilder and Warren Central (Vicksburg) HS quarterback Brett Morgan.

There were between 350 and 400 players that attended the camp.

06/01/01 - A little more info about MSU football signee tight end Keith Walker. The 6-5, 250-pound Walker was recruited by MSU, Georgia, South Carolina and several other colleges early in the recruiting process. MSU kept a close eye out on Walker after signing day. After it became obvious that he would qualify, MSU, along with Syracuse, heavily recruited the very athletic Walker, with MSU winning out for his signature.

06/01/01 - Here are the latest stadium expansion pictures. They were taken Thursday, May 31st. Click here to view them.