STARKVILLE — With his senior football season a fading memory, it had been a while since Brookhaven High School linebacker Leo Lewis received a standing ovation.
He earned two Wednesday morning.
The first came at the auditorium at Brookhaven High when Lewis, the nation’s top inside linebacker prospect, according to 247sports.com, announced his intention to play football at Mississippi State.
The second came within the halls of MSU’s Seal Football Complex, and it sprang up when MSU coach Dan Mullen informed his coaching staff that the Bulldogs had landed the state’s top uncommitted player.
“Today has been a great day,” said Mullen, who brought in his most highly rated recruiting class in seven tries at MSU. “Every signing day is great for us because you’re welcoming new members into your family. I think all of the rankings have us as one of the top classes in the country. I think that’s fantastic.”
Lewis was the final piece to a puzzle that had been assembled for several months. Entering National Signing Day, the first day high school seniors could sign National Letters of Intent to play with their school of choice, Mullen had 27 commitments lined up for the 2015 recruiting class. One by one, those 27 trickled in, leaving one question knocking at the Seal Complex: Would the Bulldogs get Lewis?
Lewis answered that question at 10:30 a.m. With Lewis on board, MSU’s class surged to as high as No. 14 nationally on Scout.com. A four-star prospect on all three services (Rivals.com and 247sports.com), Lewis is ranked as the state’s No. 2 prospect and the No. 1 inside linebacker in the country, according to 247sports.com. Lewis had 176 tackles in his final two seasons at Brookhaven High. He was committed to Ole Miss as recently as Friday.
“He’s an explosive football player, but the thing that’s the most exciting about him is he has a tremendous work ethic,” said Mullen of Lewis, who became MSU’s 28th and final signee. “The most exciting aspect of that is he’s going to improve a lot. He’s going to get a lot better. He’s already got great size, great athleticism, great instincts, and explosiveness, but because of his work ethic and the attitude he has, you know he’s a guy whose ceiling is much higher than where he is today. I expect him to have a tremendous career here.”
Even before Lewis joined, MSU’s signing class was among Mullen’s best, as the Bulldogs’ recruiting haul entered Signing Day ranked in the top 20 nationally among all three major recruiting services.
But Lewis was the exclamation point that gave the Bulldogs an instant impact possibility with Bassfield High safety Jamal Peters and Brandon High defensive lineman Fletcher Adams.
After his pledge, MSU shot to No. 14 on Scout.com and No. 16 on Rivals.com and 247sports.com.
Lewis visited MSU, Ole Miss, and LSU on consecutive weekends in January, and after decommitting Friday, he eliminated the Rebels and chose between the Tigers and Bulldogs. Sitting at a table adorned with a MSU hat and a LSU hat, Lewis calmly picked up the maroon cap and started the new chapter of his life.
With Lewis in the fold, MSU signed eight of the top 10 players in the state Mississippi, according to ESPN.com. That fact wasn’t lost on Lewis.
“As you know, a lot of Mississippi kids, we come together,” Lewis said. “We are going to go and do something special. I want to be a part of that. I want to stay in state. We’re going to do something special for the next three or four years. We can take the roof off. We can win national championships. We can win SEC championships.”
Lewis’ signing ended a whirlwind recruitment. At one time, he was committed to play at Alabama, a pledge he disavowed July 8 while attending MSU’s Big Dawg camp. He then committed to Ole Miss in September, which lasted until last Friday, setting the stage for the MSU-LSU battle that unfolded Wednesday morning.
“I’m glad it’s over,” Lewis said. “It’s been a long, frustrating, stressful and all of the above. I made up my mind this morning. I was really considering LSU at one point. I build great relationships with the players. I had to do what was best for me.”
For Mullen, the back-and-forth recruiting battle for Lewis doesn’t matter now.
“We recruited him for more than a year,” Mullen said. “I’ve always had great conversations with Leo. The one great thing, even through all of this, was he was always really humble. I would always ask, but it was hard for me to find anyone who had a bad thing to say about him.
“Everything he’s told me, he’s followed through with, even through the whole recruiting process. When he said something was going to happen, it’s happened.”
With Lewis signed and delivered, MSU’s class lacked any signing day drama, as each member of the 28-man recruiting crop had faxed in his National Letter of Intent by 11 a.m. That left Mullen with plenty of time to reflect on his latest batch of Bulldogs.
“We wanted to mix offensive and defensive guys,” Mullen said. “We’ve got a little bit of everything in this recruiting class. We want to see how these guys develop before we judge this as the greatest recruiting class ever. But I will say this, I know I’m very happy with the guys coming in. Our coaches are very happy with the class that we put together.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
