MSU News and Notes | Friday, August 3, 2012

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, currently we are cruising at 35,000 feet, but we will begin shortly to make our descent into college football season and please remain calNO PEOPLE SIT DOWN WE'RE NOT THERE YET NO I CAN'T GET THERE FASTER SIR STOP YELLING ROLL TIDE AT ME. Inside 30 days to football, you guys. Lots going on around the world of Mississippi State sports, especially as football reported to their first practice yesterday. Let's get down to it, shall we?

• Football players reported yesterday for the first day of fall camp, and afterwards when Dan Mullen came to talk with the media about it, he didn't seem to be too pleased with the team's work in day 1. Here's the video:

Somewhere in there, the media start asking Dan about the health of Nickoe Whitley and Tobias Smith, to which Dan promptly gets up to exit, citing the policy the team has had under him since day one on not commenting on injuries. Dan sat back down, but the rest of the time it was like a husband and wife that had been fighting: neither really wanted to be there, mood was awkward, etc. When Dan immediately got up to leave on the first question, this is the first thing that came to mind. Here's Brandon Marcello's and Bob Carskadon's wrap ups on the first day of practice.

• The following is a conversation between Dan and the media that I made up in light of yesterday's injury questions scaf:

Media guy: Dan what is the status of Nickoe Whitley and Tobias Smith? Healthy? Practicing? What's their status coach?

Dan: [gets up to leave] Guys you know we don't discuss injuries. 100% not happening. Nope, not here today. Absolutely can talk about anything else other than injuries.

Media guy: Okay coach no problem. So coach, how would you say Nickoe is feeling? You can talk about his feelings, can't you? That's not the same as injuries.

Dan: [sits back down] Hey you know what you're right, that is kind of different. Nickoe is feeling well, he's almost to 100%.....

• As first reported by Brandon Marcello, football signees Kivon Coman (DB) and Artimus Samuel (TE) have enrolled at Hargrave Military Academy. The two signees plan to play at Hargrave this fall, transferring to MSU in the spring of 2013 in time to participate in spring drills.
• State added yet another talented wide receiver to the class of 2013 Wednesday, as Dutchtown HS (Geismar, La) rising senior Shelby Christy gave his verbal commitment to MSU. Christy is another big receiver at 6'3" and 175 lbs, and along side Scott Austin, DeAndre Woods and B.J. Hammond, will give the Bulldogs length at the receiver position that they haven't possessed in quite awhile.
• Speaking of 'cruitin, have you checked out our new football Recruiting Central? It has an updated list of commits, their ranking on the major recruiting networks (24/7, Scout, Rivals), maps of their hometowns, stories, links, highlights, and much more. Check it out.
• The school announced Wednesday that State's September 8th 11am home game with Auburn will be broadcast by ESPN in 3D, in case you're fancy and rich enough to obtain such technology.
• Hey look, former Bulldog football player and Noxubee County product Omarr Conner has taken a job at Louisville High School just down the road from Starkville, joining the football staff there for the 2012 season.
• Dee Bost has signed a professional contract to play for Buducnost Podgorica in the country of Montenegro, according to Brandon Marcello.
  
• If you haven't already, you need to read this from Croom Diaries on the Robert Nkemdiche Vortex: sucking down coaches everywhere it goes.
• Another really cool piece on the blog this week came from a member who is doing a masters thesis on football games played between Cuban and American teams in the early 1900's. I don't know about you guys, but that is pretty darn cool. Anyways, he had a post on the site earlier this week about Mississippi A&M's 1912 game in Havana, Cuba. Really, really cool stuff in there. I highly encourage you to check it out.
• Another watch list made by Bulldogs, as Chad Bumphis and Johnthan Banks were named to the Paul Hornung Award watch list yesterday. The award is given each year to the most versatile player in college football. State was the only SEC team with two players on the list.

That's all I have for today guys. Hope you all have a great Friday and weekend, and remember, 4 weeks from tomorrow there will be football in Starkville!

BONUS: Your Friday bonus is footage from the 1941 Orange Bowl game - Mississippi State versus Georgetown.

1941 Orange Bowl Highlights (via sparky39762)