STARKVILLE — Lost in the whirlwind of Manny Diaz leaving Mississippi State to join the staff at Texas was the Bulldogs” addition of four early enrollees.
Defensive end John Harris; quarterback Dak Prescott; and offensive linemen Nick Redmond and Joey Trapp are enrolled for the spring semester and will begin workouts with the team on Jan. 18.
Harris, Prescott and Trapp graduated high school in December, giving the Bulldogs five prep signees to enroll in the spring in head coach Dan Mullen”s last three recruiting classes.
“We”re happy to welcome these young men into our family,” Mullen said in a release. “It”s great to have them here for the offseason program and spring practices, and it will help their development and their chances to contribute this fall. This is a great start to what we anticipate being an outstanding signing class in 2011.”
Harris (6-6, 230) is perhaps the most notable of the bunch, as MSU must replace three defensive ends from last year”s team.
The Bulldogs enter the spring with senior Sean Ferguson, juniors Trevor Stigers and Shane McCardell, sophomore Corvell Harrison-Gay and redshirt freshman Kaleb Eulls listed at defensive end.
Harris, a native of Boynton Beach, Fla., native had over 20 offers nation-wide, choosing MSU over Boston College, Wisconsin and West Virginia.
Harris had 65 tackles, six sacks and 14 tackles for a loss in his senior season. He had three-star ratings from Rivals.com and Scout.com.
MSU”s quarterback group will be four-deep with scholarship players next season, following the arrival of Haughton, La. star Dak Prescott (6-3, 225)
Prescott threw for 2,860 yards and 39 touchdowns last season at Haughton High School, leading his team to an undefeated regular season clip and and a berth in the Class 4A state quarterfinals. He also added 951 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns.
Prescott chose MSU over LSU and TCU. He”ll join senior Chris Relf, sophomore Tyler Russell and redshirt freshman Dylan Favre in spring camp.
MSU”s offensive line, which must find replacements for All-American left tackle Derek Sherrod and center J.C. Brignone, welcomes immediate competition in junior college transfer Joey Trapp, who played the last two seasons at Los Angeles Harbor Community College in California.
Redmond (6-5, 305) starred at tackle at Harrison Central High in Gulfport and was MSU”s first verbal commitment in Sept. 2009.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.