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Mississippi State football recruiting notes: January 5, 2015

We return in the new year with more notes on MSU football recruiting as the 2015 recruiting period begins to heat up.

By FWtCTrecruiting
Student Sports
CB commit Maurice Smitherman taking Carolina visit

Adamsville, Alabama cornerback Maurice Smitherman was a big part of Mississippi State's push into the state of Alabama earlier this year as he became one of the four commits MSU gained from its neighboring state this summer.  Smitherman stayed committed to State throughout the fall, and he still seems intent on signing with the Bulldogs, but he did announce last week that he would take a visit to South Carolina this month:

It's unclear what may have caused Maurice to decide to take this visit, however he is a kid, and he may just want to take the visit to check out an area, city or university where he's never been.  You certainly want these guys to utilize their visits while they can before they sign with a school.  No harm in weighing your options to make sure you've made the right decision.

Texas CB Antoine Stephens set to visit

With some late shifting to its already big 2015 recruiting class, MSU continues to evaluate prospects to fill a few final spots for this year.  One of those getting a look is Kimball (TX) cornerback Antoine Stephens, who detailed his recent discussions with MSU's Deshea Townsend to Paul Jones ($) last week.

4-star DT Adams updates recruitment

Fletcher Adams made a lot of State fans happy in September of last year when he committed to Mississippi State.  Adams' older brother, Nelson, is also a defensive lineman at MSU, so there was always an expectation that he would join him in Starkville.  Fletcher took some time recently to talk with 247sports, telling them that he is still "100 percent solid" with Mississippi State.

Adams goes on to say that he will still visit Ole Miss on an upcoming weekend, and he also plans to visit MSU and Georgia.  He hasn't detailed any other visits at this time, but does note that Miami and Alabama both are still recruiting him in addition to the Mississippi schools despite his commitment last fall.

Adams certainly seems to be a solid MSU commitment and a lock to sign with the Bulldogs in a month, but that won't stop other schools from taking a run at him in the final few weeks.  We'll keep an eye out for any inclinations that things may be shifting here.

Recruiting weekends beginning to take shape

With Christmas and the new year now behind us, recruiting season is kicking in to high gear as we start January, the last full month for prospects to make visits and ultimately decide where they will attend college.  The next several weekends will see schools play hosts to swarms of prospective new players, and the coaching staffs typically try to strategically align these weekends so that certain players come with other certain uncommitted players, and so forth.

For Mississippi State, it appears that two weekends from now will be the big recruiting weekend for Mississippi recruits, while three weekends from now will be when Bulldog targets from out of state come in to visit.

It's still a bit early for most players to confirm a visit in one place or another, but you should start to see those firming up as the 16th on January draws closer.  These update posts will also become more informative towards that time, as we'll start to see more substantive updates from the few final uncommitted targets on MSU's board for 2015.

Will there be a "mystery recruit" again in 2015?

This note is completely speculative, but given what Dan Mullen and the staff have been able to do in the last few years, you can't help but wonder if there is a player lingering out there again this season that they are looking to flip last second.  Two years ago it was Fred Ross, who has since become a big part of the Bulldogs' offense.  Last year, State took a run at Dallas defensive end Trey Carter, who was also an Oklahoma State commit, however they weren't able to get him to Starkville like Ross.  Two years doesn't necessarily guarantee a third is coming, however it's something to watch for.  Granted, we won't likely know anything about this mystery person until very late in the process.

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