Articles by Brandon Walker
MSU baseball team will start practice Saturday
STARKVILLE — A new college baseball season is almost here.
With opening day for a Mississippi State baseball season looming Feb. 13 against Cincinnati at Dudy Noble Field, the Bulldogs will continue preparations Saturday when it officially opens practice for the 2015 campaign.
It’s a day that can’t get here fast enough for some MSU players.
Ready emerges as leader for MSU men
STARKVILLE — For a season that began with uncertainty, Mississippi State point guard I.J. Ready is looking pretty sure of himself on the court these days.
Three MSU players will showcase skills at Senior Bowl
STARKVILLE — Preston Smith never had a day off.
That exactly the way the Mississippi State football team’s senior defensive lineman wanted it.
Smith, the team leader in sacks and tackles for loss in 2014, didn’t return from Florida following a 49-34 loss to Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 31, 2014. Instead, he stayed in the Sunshine State to begin preparations for a career in the NFL.
Ready’s play in final minute lifts MSU
STARKVILLE — I.J. Ready was true to his last name.
Catching a pass from teammate Fred Thomas with 47 seconds left Saturday, the Mississippi State men’s basketball team’s point guard took a deep breath and fired a tie-breaking 3-pointer. Forty seconds later, Ready added two free throws to preserve a 57-54 win against Vanderbilt at Humphrey Coliseum. The win was MSU’s first in the Southeastern Conference this season.
Heck provides it all for MSU
STARKVILLE — Life can be daunting for a freshman baseball player in the Southeastern Conference.
So when Ryan Gridley, a middle infielder from Macon, Georgia, arrived at Mississippi State last fall, he was looking for help.
That help arrived in the form of MSU’s team captain.
Sword’s struggles part of MSU’s offensive struggles
STARKVILLE — The 2014-15 season isn’t about wins and losses for Mississippi State guard Craig Sword.
It’s about becoming himself again.
That’s the battle Sword, who led MSU in scoring (13.7 points per game as a sophomore, is fighting as he recovers from offseason back surgery that sidelined him for the first four games of the season. So far, the ultra-athletic, 6-foot-3, 196-pound shooting guard from Montgomery, Alabama, hasn’t found his scoring touch or swagger.
Dak’s back!
Rest easy, Mississippi State fans.
On Wednesday afternoon, MSU quarterback Dak Prescott delivered the message Bulldog fans hoped to hear: He’s coming back.
Prescott feels MSU has chance to be even better in 2015
STARKVILLE — The most telling part of Dak Prescott’s press conference Wednesday, the one that saw the Mississippi State quarterback announce he would return to school for his senior season, was where he went when it was over.
After making his announcement and answering questions from reporters, Prescott ducked out of the media room at MSU’s Seal Football Complex and headed downstairs to a team meeting.
MSU QB Prescott will announce decision today
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State fans won’t have to wait much longer to find out about the future of quarterback Dak Prescott.
Prescott, a redshirt junior from Haughton, Louisiana, who broke 12 school
records this season, will hold a will hold a news conference at 1:30 today in the MSU Seal Football Complex to announce his decision.
Reports from multiple media outlets Tuesday night said Prescott planned to return for his senior season.
MSU men will aim for first SEC win tonight at Texas A&M
STARKVILLE — Rick Ray won’t pretend the numbers are pretty.
With his team having lost eight of its past 10 games, the Mississippi State third-year men’s basketball coach was asked to pinpoint where things have gone wrong.
Ray didn’t hesitate.
Starkville High’s McClain, Gwaltney showcase high-scoring ways
STARKVILLE — Cailee Helen McClain was already resting, sipping of a post-match Gatorade and receiving congratulatory messages from her teammates.
It’s not every day a high school soccer player scores three goals in a match to lead a team to victory.
On this day, though, it happened twice.
MSU baseball inches closer to season start
STARKVILLE – There’s nothing about the area’s current weather that suggests baseball season is coming.
MSU’s McKinney declares for NFL Draft
STARKVILLE – Four years ago, Benardrick McKinney was a lightly recruited high school quarterback from a tiny high school in the Delta with just one major scholarship offer under his belt.
MSU men will try to reverse fortunes at Florida
STARKVILLE — With the sting still fresh from a conference-opening loss to Tennessee on Wednesday night, Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Rick Ray was asked about his team’s chances to reverse its fortunes Saturday at Florida.
Ray wasn’t glowing about his team’s prospects at 6 p.m. Saturday at the O’Connell Center.
MSU football team works to finalize recruiting class
STARKVILLE — The work is never finished for Mississippi State football coach Dan Mullen.
One week after putting the final touches on his finest season since taking over the program six years ago, Mullen has turned his focus on finalizing the 2015 edition of the Bulldogs. With recruiting winding down, Mullen has less than a month to complete his team’s latest recruiting class prior to National Signing Day on Feb. 4.
Diaz eager for new beginning at Mississippi State
STARKVILLE — It’s a new beginning — not a return — for Manny Diaz.
That was the theme the Mississippi State football team’s new defensive coordinator followed Wednesday night when he was introduced to local media. In a news conference that lasted nearly 30 minutes, Diaz spoke about coming back to MSU after a four-year absence. On Monday, MSU coach Dan Mullen hired Diaz to replace Geoff Collins, who left MSU last month to take the same position at Florida.
Slow starts, free-throw shooting doom MSU
STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State’s men’s basketball team’s Southeastern Conference opener against Tennessee on Wednesday night was a chance for a fresh start.
Two dreadful starts turned that opportunity into a nightmare.
MSU plays Tennessee in conference opener
STARKVILLE – Moments after his team’s biggest win in more than a month, Mississippi State men’s basketball coach Rick Ray was already looking forward.
Diaz returns to MSU as defensive coordinator
STARKVILLE — In an effort to take his team forward, Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen decided Monday to take a step backward.
To do that, Mullen reached back four years and re-hired Manny Diaz as MSU’s new defensive coordinator. Diaz held the position when MSU went 9-4 in 2010.
