Mississippi State, coming off its 4th straight NCAA Tournament appearance, is one of just 5 teams that had three signees listed among the top 49. The others include Duke, 2005 National Champion North Carolina, Kansas and Oklahoma State. MSU actually had 4, but one, Monta Ellis, has declared for the NBA draft and signed with an agent, hence disqualifying himself for college ball. Only 4 other SEC teams had signees ranked among the top 49; LSU, Georgia and Alabama had two each, while Auburn had one. One of Georgia's signees has declared for the draft, but hasn't signed with an agent.
The highest ranked Bulldog signee was shooting guard Jamont Gordon (6-3.5, 215, Lutheran Christian by way of Oak Hill Academy), who remains ranked 32nd overall. Next up was center Vernon Goodridge (6-9, 220) also of Lutheran Christian. Goodridge is 38th after being ranked as high as 21st. Moving up 10 notches to 49th is shooting guard Reginald Delk (6-5, 190) of North Side HS in Jackson, Tennessee.
The Mississippi State recruiting class is currently ranked 6th in the nation by ScoutHoops.com, but that could drop 2 or 3 spots with the loss of Monta Ellis.
Mississippi State's 2005/2006 roster, with the addition of the 6-man signing class, will consist of 6 true freshmen, 1 redshirt freshman, 1 or 2 sophomores (depending on whether Walter Sharpe returns), 3 juniors and 2 seniors.
Gene Swindoll is the publisher of Dawgs' Bite, Powered by GenesPage.com, the source for Mississippi State sports on the Scout.com sports network. You can contact him by email at swindoll@genespage.com.