Moorhead appears to be getting talent to State
It didn't take long after Joe Moorhead's name surfaced as the likely choice by athletic director John Cohen to be Mississippi State's next head football coach for the praise to come in for Penn State's offensive coordinator.
Many in the media and coaching profession felt he was one of the best offensive minds in the game. Everywhere he had been, he won and his offenses put up big numbers.
There were two questions that people had for Moorhead in the Southeastern Conference, though: 1. How would his coaching philosophy as a whole translate on this much larger scale and 2. Could he recruit?
The first question is one that will still be up in the air for this season and moving forward, but he seems to be handling the recruiting just fine in the south. There
were some major wins within Moorhead's first few weeks and months on campus in the class of 2018 as he held most of the group together and held on to players like Marcus Murphy, Stephen Guidry, Nathaniel Watson and Malik Heath and he landed late signatures from Aaron Brule, Jaylon Reed, Fabien Lovett and Devonta Jason.
His first full-time class last year had its misses, but he filled holes and landed positions of need as well. The group finished 24th in the country led by five-star offensive tackle Charles Cross and four-star players like defensive linemen Nathan Pickering and De'monte Russell, twoway athlete Jarrian Jones and quarterback Garrett Shrader.
While many questioned Moorhead's decision to take just 21 players in the class instead of the allotted 25, he mentioned on signing day that he wanted graduate transfers and he delivered. Coupled with that top 25 class was Moorhead landing Louisville defensive tackle Allen Love, Kansas State wide receiver Isaiah Zuber, South Alabama punter Corliss Waitman and Penn State quarterback Tommy Stevens, who is considered the jewel of the group. Every players helped fill the gap in spots of need as Moorhead rebuilds some positions.
So now it's year two of Moorhead being fully on the job and recruiting seems to be moving right along. From a bird's-eye view, Moorhead appears to be taking a more hands on approach with the players than his predecessor and has been the main recruiter for several of MSU'S top targets.
On July 9, nearly two months away from kickoff, the Bulldogs already have 22 commitments in the class and are nearly full. They've landed four prospects rated four stars by the 247Sports Composite rankings and it's a diverse class in terms of needs.
Moorhead already has his running back situation set in Atlanta four-star Jo'quavious Marks and Greenville four-star Dillon Johnson, who might currently be the jewels of the class athletically. Brandon threestar quarterback Will Rogers is on board as well to keep that position growing. He has four wide receivers with three of those being from the junior college ranks.
Three of the players are on the offensive line and the defensive line is loaded with junior college talent led by the nation's top JUCO player in former Alabama signee Jordan Davis of Copiah Lincoln Community College, who flipped his commitment from Tennessee to MSU last week.
The defense has young talent from the state like Horn Lake sleeper linebacker Jakivuan Brown fresh off of his Nike Opening appearance, South Panola safety Janari Dean, cornerback Cameron Threatt of Lewisburg and Grenada's Emmanueal Forbes.
Moorhead has had no problem the last couple of years identifying talent and he sure hasn't had trouble getting players to campus. If anything, this has been one of the better stretches of getting elite talent to campus that MSU has had in recent years. Now, it's about holding on to this group and filling a few more holes. Finishing the season strong will be a big step.
Otherwise, we're seeing that one of those questions as to if Moorhead can recruit is being answered. Up next – proving it on the field for the long term.
Robbie Faulk is a sports writer for The Starkville Daily News. The opinion’s in this column are Faulk’s and not necessarily the views of The SDN or its staff.