Super Bowl champion Fletcher Cox and five-year NFL veteran Johnthan Banks headline the newest set of eight former Mississippi State athletes selected to join the university’s M-Club Sports Hall of Fame, the school announced Friday.
All eight Bulldogs will be celebrated at the 2026 M-Club Sports Hall of Fame Gala on Sept. 25, just before MSU’s football team takes on Missouri at home.
Here’s a look at who made the class:
Mario Austin (Men’s Basketball – 2001-2003)
Austin spent three years as a productive member of the Bulldogs’ men’s basketball team and finished his career with 1,199 points and 570 rebounds. During that stretch MSU captured the 2002 SEC Tournament Championship with Austin earning All-American honors. He averaged 15.5 points and 7.7 rebounds that year. Austin and the Bulldogs conquered the SEC Western Division championship the following year, making back-to-back runs in the NCAA Tournament.
Austin was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the 36th overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft before embarking on an overseas professional career.
Johnthan Banks (Football – 2009-2012)
Banks was a standout defensive back for the Bulldogs on the gridiron in a four-year career and piled up a school-record 16 career interceptions. His three pick-sixes are the second most in program history and he is the only Bulldog to intercept and pass and return it for a score twice in one game – and he did it his freshman year against Florida in 2009.
Banks closed out his career in the maroon and white as the first-ever Bulldog to win the Jim Thorpe Award, which is given to the nation’s best defensive back. He piled up 63 tackles, four interceptions, and seven pass breakups his senior season.
Banks was selected in the second round of the NFL Draft by Tampa Bay and made stops at Detroit, Chicago and Houston during his five-year career.
Daniel Boyd (Football – 1990-1992)
Boyd spent two years as a hard-hitting linebacker for MSU’s defense in the early 1990s, picking up All-SEC selection in both years. He helped lead State to an appearance in the 1991 Liberty Bowl and the Peach Bowl in 1992, a year he finished off as an Academic All-American selection. During that ‘92 season, Boyd led the team with 128 tackles, and finished his career with 339 stops.
Fletcher Cox (Football – 2009-2011)
Cox, a Yazoo City native, brought dominant play to the Bulldogs’ defensive front during his three-year career at MSU, earning All-American and First-Team SEC honors in 2011.
He helped MSU win the Egg Bowl three straight times along with a victory in the 2011 Gator Bowl. He finished his career with 114 tackles, 24.5 for loss, 8.5 sacks, and a school-record five blocked kicks.
Cox was selected with the 12th overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles, where he played for 12 seasons. Cox helped the Eagles reach two Super Bowls, winning their first ever in 2018.
Kathe Kingston (Women’s golf – 1982-1985)
As one of the best golfers in school history, Kingston won six individual tournaments during her career at MSU – the second most in program history. Kingston earned both All-American and All-SEC honors over each of her final three seasons before serving as the team’s head coach from 1985-1987.
Ted Milton (Baseball – 1969-1972)
Milton was a standout hitter for the Diamond Dawgs during his four-year career at MSU. During the 1970 season Milton racked up five triples to tie the program record and held the career triples record for over seven years with 14.
Milton was named the team’s offensive MVP following the 1969 and 1970 seasons, and he was a member of the first team in Mississippi State history to go to the College World Series in 1971.
Milton finished his career with a .311 batting average with 23 home runs, 18 doubles, 14 triples and drove in 96 runs. He also stole eight bases and scored 102 runs.
Milton was named Second-Team CoSIDA Academic All-American after the 1971 season, becoming the first academic All-American in school history.
Milton was drafted twice out of MSU, once in 1972 by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 26th round and again in the 1973 January Secondary Phase by the California Angels.
Kunshinge Sorrell-Howard (Women’s Basketball 1986-1988)
Sorrell-Howard, a First Team All-SEC selection in both of her seasons at MSU, averaged 20.8 points per game during her career and finished with a total of 1,292 points – the 15th most in program history. Her career average is the second-best in school history, just behind LaToya Thomas.
Aimee York Strickland (Volleyball – 1989-1992)
Strickland quickly raced up the record books during her time on the volleyball court for MSU. She received All-SEC, Academic All-American and SEC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors while setting the school’s single-season and single-game kills records. She finished her career in the top five in four different categories.
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