H.S. FOOTBALL: MSU’s Mullen visits 2 local schools
University School of Jackson offensive lineman Trey Smith is still a little more than two years away from the day he officially signs his letter of intent to play college football, but his list of choices of where he’s been offered to play grew on Thursday when Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen was in West Tennessee.
Mullen stopped at the North Jackson school and in Brownsville at Haywood to try to gain interest from local players to help the future of the Bulldogs on both sides of the line of scrimmage as he visited Tomcats senior Emmit Gooden for the 2016 class.
Smith said he and Mullen spoke for about 15 minutes Thursday morning.
“It was my first contact with Mississippi State of any kind, and it was just a quick conversation for Coach Mullen and I to get to know each other,” Smith said. “He told me if I showed interest in them that they would show interest in me back and invited me down for their spring scrimmage.”
Smith, who is 6-feet-5-inches and weighs 285 pounds as a sophomore, now has six offers from NCAA FBS schools. Mississippi State joins Ole Miss, Tennessee, Clemson, Kentucky and Vanderbilt as programs who have gone on record as being interested in having the Bruin join their program.
“Right now I’m just taking it all in and keeping my options open,” Smith said about his offers. “Every offer as far as I’m concerned is even with every other offer at this point because I still have two years before I have to sign with anybody.
“I’m nowhere near committing or even deciding on a list of choices to commit. I’m still too young to make that decision.”
Smith’s father, Henry, said the Smith family isn’t trying to direct the lineman in a way he should go, but they are letting him know more about each choice.
“We’ve gone to the campuses and looked at them and visited with the coaches, because we want Trey to get to know the coaches he may play for,” Henry Smith said. “We want him to have as much information as he can get to be as informed as he can be to make the decision.”
Smith said he knows a student-athlete’s junior year in high school is viewed as critical in the recruitment process, so he plans to work on improving his skills as much as possible this offseason.
“The coaching staff at USJ, Coach [Mickey] Marley and everybody, are working with us hard to get better as a team, and I’m working hard to get better as a lineman – jumping rope, ladder drills, hitting the weights,” Smith said. “Getting better at all of that will only help me and the team because Coach Marley tells me all of this interest can disappear if I don’t produce on the field.”
Smith is listed on 247 Sports’ Web site as a four-star prospect and the No. 6 player in Tennessee for the 2016 class.
Gooden, a 6-feet-3-inch defensive lineman listed at 269 pounds, is also rated as a four-star and the No. 1 prospect in the state for 2015.
He said earlier this month Mississippi State is in his top five choices.
Brandon Shields, 425-9751