As the weather grows colder, basketball season is heating up in the state of Mississippi. In our area, and on the state level, this just might become one of our more memorable seasons.
In the SEC, both Mississippi State and Ole Miss have jumped out to 8-3 records. The teams have combined for a 14-1 record in home games, putting the rest of the SEC on notice that wins will be hard to come by in the Sip. While neither team is yet ranked in the Top 25, MSU currently sits at number 28 in the BPI index. For both teams, the strength of schedule rating will increase dramatically on December 29, when each launches its SEC schedule. Mississippi State opens against number-19 Arkansas, while Ole Miss plays Florida, a team sitting just a few spots outside the Top 25. From there, the teams will spend the next two-plus months in the bruising battles and epic clashes that fans have been accustomed to.
And speaking of things we’re accustomed to, ESPN has once again named Oxford, Mississippi the number-one college town in America. Having spent time in most of the SEC towns, I remain convinced that if there were a Top 25 ranking for coolest college towns, the SEC would own even more spots in that list than they do in the football or baseball rankings.
And speaking of lists, a Clarksdale athlete has made one list that he would rather avoid: the one listing injured players. Watching the Packers game with family this past weekend, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Clarksdale’s Elgton Jenkins, the Pro-Bowl offensive lineman who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the last week of November. The injuries to the Packers’ offensive line have been almost beyond belief this year. We’ll let you know how his recovery progresses when offseason workouts draw near.
And speaking of the offseason drawing near, there is never an offseason for college recruiting. Arch Manning, the nation’s top high school player for the class of 2023, will attend the Sugar Bowl in his hometown of New Orleans. That New Year’s Day game features Baylor and Ole Miss, the team forever linked to the Manning family. So do the Rebels have a good chance of landing this quarterback and generational talent? Last week’s early signing day might have helped their chances. Texas and Alabama, two of the schools joining Ole Miss on the list of Manning’s favorites, each enrolled a five-star quarterback last week. The Longhorns signed and enrolled Quinn Ewers, the transfer from Ohio State. Alabama signed Ty Simpson from Martin, Tennessee. His dad, Coach Jason Simpson, is the head coach at the University of Tennessee at Martin and has been a finalist for national coach of the year four times. While Arch Manning will undoubtedly fear no competition, these guys will have a full-year head start on him if he signs with either program.
And speaking of competition, a son of Mississippi has joined the Auburn Tigers as their offensive coordinator. Austin Davis grew up in Collinsville (in Lauderdale County, near Meridian) where he starred in football and baseball. His path from rural Mississippi has been a storybook journey. No college offered him a scholarship, except for Southeastern Louisiana. He decided to defy the odds and become a non-scholarship player, a walk-on, at Southern Miss. After redshirting, the kid whom almost nobody had wanted became a four-year starter, breaking pretty much all of Brett Favre’s records for the Golden Eagles. Against Navy his senior year, he completed 21 of 23 passes and had a quarterback rating of 237.7. Even his last college pass became legendary, a game-winning touchdown in the final moments of his final bowl game.
So guess what happened next. Just like the colleges, no one in the NFL wanted him either. He went undrafted. Before that first season, he had signed with two different teams and had been quickly cut. But just like his college years, he quickly became a starter in the NFL, with the Rams. In 2014, the first-year starter posted the highest competition percentage in the history of the NFL against a reigning Super Bowl champion by going 17 for 20 against Seattle.
Davis played for six different NFL teams and later became quarterbacks coach for the Seattle Seahawks before Auburn came calling.
His NFL experience should help in recruiting, and his vast knowledge should help ignite an offense that has been, well, offensive.
So regardless of which teams we support, let’s cheer on the Mississippi kid who defied the odds many times.
My hope is that you are enjoying the holiday season, and that you will find your way to a local basketball game, high school or college, really soon.
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