Mississippi State football recruiting notes and visitors list: January 30 - February 1, 2015

As we head into the final weekend of official visits in the 2015 recruiting cycle, Mississippi State has already hosted a  large portion of its commitments and targets for this class.  While that is the case, State does have a small but important group of visitors expected in this weekend ahead of wrapping up its National Signing Day class next Wednesday.  Let's take a look at who those visitors are then talk a little further about them as well as some other situations to follow this weekend.

Current MSU commits visiting

Notes for the weekend

• The first name you see listed above, Jamal Peters, is a very important one for this year's MSU class.  Peters committed last summer during Big Dawg Camp, and he's been a vocal leader and champion for the class since.  While there has always been an element of uncertainty surrounding his commitment, Peters has never officially wavered from MSU.  Most of the hullabaloo surrounding him can be chalked up to a teenager having some fun on his Twitter account.  With that being said, Peters visit to MSU this weekend is important for several reasons: 1) he has yet to make his official visit to campus; 2) if he does visit MSU this weekend, it would be his only official visit anywhere, making it all but certain that he will be an MSU lock for Wednesday.  Again, that hasn't ever really looked to be in doubt, but it certainly makes State fans feel better than, say, if Peters showed up in Baton Rouge this weekend.
• The other name on the visitors list has been one of the more curious cases in this recruiting cycle for MSU.  McNair has been committed for awhile now, yet since Manny Diaz came aboard following Geoff Collins' departure to Florida, there hasn't been a ton of communication between the "new" staff and McNair.  Are they quietly letting him go elsewhere as a part of this class?  That would make some sense, and yet McNair is still scheduled to visit Starkville this weekend, which could ultimately wipe out any previous doubts.  He visited Kentucky two weekends ago and Louisville last weekend so he certainly has options outside of MSU.  One way or the other, we should know more about McNair's status with this class after the weekend is complete.
• Off of MSU's campus this weekend, one visit to keep an eye on is that of Brookhaven LB Leo Lewis to LSU.  Lewis has kept his recruitment very close to the vest, but all indications seem to be that this will be a fight to the finish between Ole Miss, MSU and LSU.  My money would still be on Ole Miss, but who knows how things may swing for him after a weekend in Baton Rouge.  To me, the visit only hurts State's chances as LSU just crowds the field as another contender for his services.  It will be interesting to see how this situation shakes out once Wednesday comes around.  We may not know anything definitive on Lewis until then.
• One more important visit to watch this weekend is that of Pearl River CC DT Courtney Miggins to NC State.  Miggins visited MSU two weekends ago and left with the Bulldogs as his favorite.  He then visited Kentucky last weekend, and seemed to have a good impression of the Wildcats ($) leaving that visit.  Is this an MSU-UK battle, or will NC State swing him this weekend?  Miggins seems set to announce his decision either Sunday night or Monday, so we will know where he stands fairly soon.

• Where Peters is expected on campus and McNair is a possibility, two other targets are wild cards to possibly show up this weekend.  They would be College of San Mateo OL Kiola Mahoni and Knoxville OL Nathan Gilliam.  Both have flirted with the possibility of visiting MSU, but -- stop me if you've heard this before in recruiting -- nothing seems to be nailed down as to whether or not either or both are visiting this weekend.  The safe bet at this point would be to assume neither shows, but if that changes we'll do our best to let you know.