STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State University football program simply dealt with losing the commitment of a running back prospect by the one that was on the top of their list.
MSU landed a major verbal commitment Monday when Itawamba Agricultural High School star tailback Ashton Shumpert told the Bulldogs coaching staff he would sign with them in February during National Signing Day.
MSU now has 21 commitments for 2013, including December junior-college signees Jeremey Chappelle and Justin Cox. National signing day is Feb. 6. The Southeastern Conference pasted legislation last spring to limit schools recruiting classes to no more than 25 players per year.
Shumpert is rated a four-star “athlete” prospect by Scout.com, ESPN.com and 247Sports.com. He is likely to first get a shot to be on the MSU depth chart at running back since LaDarius Perkins only has one year of eligibility left and sophomore Nick Griffin suffered his second anterior cruciate tear since arriving on the Starkville campus.
“I think (Shumpert) was the top priority for this staff’s recruiting class and there’s no doubt that it’s possible this tailback depth at MSU could’ve gotten real thin without him,” MSU’s 247Sports.com reporter Paul Jones said. “This is a major get for MSU not only because of his talent but because of need as well and people don’t realize this enough.”
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Shumpert rushed for 1,796 yards and 25 touchdowns while averaging 11.5 yards per carry as a senior in 2012.
He missed the first three games of the 2012 campaign due to injury and is coming off a junior season in which he suffered a serious knee injury but proved with his production that he’s 100 percent recovered.
The transfer from Tupelo High School earned Gatorade Player of the Year honors for the state of Mississippi. He added four touchdowns receiving, on kick returns and on defense.
Shumpert’s pledge to MSU follows West Bolivar High School tailback Kailo Moore decommitting from MSU after his recruiting coach, cornerbacks coach Melvin Smith, took the same position under Gus Malzahn at Auburn University.
Shumpert is a completely different style of back that is much more suited to in-between the tackles running as compared to the 4.2-second speed that Moore had shown in the 40-yard dash this past summer during prospect camps.
Shumpert played for former IAHS head coach Jamie Mitchell at the Mississippi-Alabama All Star game last month and the current Starkville High School coach told The Dispatch he thought the player he called “one of the better athletes he’s ever coached” was leaning toward MSU the entire way after being recruited by Bulldogs running backs coach Greg Knox.
Shumpert also had offers from the University of Mississippi, University of Alabama, University of Georgia and Vanderbilt University.
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