June 2003 Unofficial MSU Football Skuttle-Butt
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06/17/03 - Former MSU defensive lineman Alvin McKinley has really impressed the Cleveland Browns coaching staff. According to BerniesInsiders.com the Browns issued a press release on Friday acknowledging that McKinley had "extraordinary" participation in the team's off-season workout program. Forty-two players participated in over 80% of the workouts. With Cleveland head coach Butch Davis' tendency to ignore contracts and draft positions when deciding on playing time, McKinley's effort will likely help him get used even more in the DT rotation.
More info on former Bulldog....
Wes Slay, currently the head coach at Raymond (MS) High School, told me a couple of days ago he is engaged to be married on July 19th. His fiancee is Lindley Sumler, who like Wes is an MSU graduate. Lindley works with Nissan in Canton, Mississippi. Wes, while he was at Mississippi State, was a student assistant coach who was in charge of the scout teams and assorted other duties, including taking over the on-campus recruiting coordinating on an unofficial basis when David Wilson left to take a coaching position with Georgia Tech. Wes played a significant role in helping the MSU coaches have one of the top recruiting classes in the nation.
06/13/03 - Running back Gerrod Rivers info.
According to his coach Mike Newsom, Gerrod Rivers, a running back from Butler High School in Matthews, North Carolina, will be walking on at Mississippi State this fall. Gerrod, who is an invited walk-on, will come in at the start of two-a-days prior to the start of school. He is 5-foot-11, 210 pounds and runs a 4.3 to 4.4 forty and a 10.7 to 10.9 hundred meters.
Football season ticket sales info.
As of now, there is no news on the number of football season tickets sold. According to Mike Nemeth, the head of MSU's sports media relations department, an accurate count should be forthcoming by the end of the month. June 1st was the priority season ticket deadline. However, due to MSU baseball hosting the NCAA baseball regional, the ticket office got behind on the orders that have come in.
Last season, MSU sold 37,000 season tickets, of which about 11,000 were student season tickets. With a stadium that can hold approximately 55,000 people, MSU can sell upwards of 42,000 to 43,000 season tickets after you take into account the tickets allocated to visiting teams and a couple of other factors.
06/10/03 - Football tidbits:
Manuel Dickson, due to academics, is no longer on the football team.
06/08/03 - MS/AL football game summary of MSU signees (Alabama won the game 24-16):
QB Omarr Conner - Poorest performance I've seen from him. Looked like he and his receivers were not in tune with each other all game long. However, Omarr showed tremendous athletic ability, great running ability and a very strong arm.
OL Donovan Davis - The announcers praised him most of the night. Good quickness but could improve it even more. 90% of the time he handled the man he was blocking. On the first MS touchdown, he blocked two men, allowing the runner to score. However, he wasn't perfect. A few times he let his man get by him. In fact, his man was the one who caused Omarr to fumble late in the game when the MS team was on the 11 yard line near the end of the game, trailing by 8.
DB Rickey Wright - Along with Akeem Lofton, probably had the best night of all the MSU signees. Although he had only played DB 3 times in his entire career, in my opinion, his cover skills were the best of any of the MS DBs. Playing cornerback and free safety, he got beat a couple of times, although on the one or two times that were deep, the ball wasn't caught by the receiver. The television announcers said he got beat by star Alabama wide receiver Chad Jackson on 1 of the 3 TDs that Jackson caught, however, that was incorrect. He was playing free safety, not cornerback, at the time. Brandon McDonald (#30), the cornerback who was covering Jackson, was faked off by a pump fake by JaMarcus Russell. Rickey, after seeing the ball was thrown to Jackson, ran over to cover the play but was too late to prevent the TD. When Rickey covered Jackson one on one, I don't remember seeing him get beat a single time.
QB/KR/DB Akeem Lofton - Probably the most athletic player on the field for the Mississippi team. Extremely quick, fast and outstanding hands, as evidenced by a great catch of a punt over his shoulder while running full speed with his back to the ball and toward the endzone. Seemed to be a sure tackler, although I only remember him making one tackle.
DB Quinton Culberson - Loves to hit, good speed, good cover skills. Although he put himself in position to make a lot of hits, quite a few times he didn't wrap up his man and let him get away. His hip pointer seemed to bother him once during the game.
NG/DL Corey Clark - Strong and has fairly good quickness. Could lose a few pounds, which will help him get even quicker. Usually could beat his man one on one, but was double teamed almost all game long. Beat the double team sometimes, but appeared to be tired in the 4th quarter. Alabama had a hard time running against him. About the only time they did was on a QB sneak.
TE Eric Butler - Never had a pass thrown his way, but did show good blocking skills. Played with a groin pull.
OL Lance Fremin - Undersized but showed good blocking skills. Played center and guard.
WR Joey Sanders - Had a pass or two thrown his way but the passes were not catchable. Good blocker. Had a very good block on the goal line in the first half the wide receiver should have scored on, but the WR ran right into Sanders man instead of running around the block. Luckily, his team scored a few plays later running behind MSU OL signee Donovan Davis.
06/07/03 - Football tidbit:
No grey shirt for East Rankin Academy football player Steven Boozer. Boozer, who committed to a grey shirt with MSU this past recruiting season, recently signed a track scholarship with Alabama. That is the second grey shirt to sign with another team. Cory Jones, of Columbia High School, signed with Miami of Ohio after tentatively committing to a grey shirt with MSU.