High hopes remain for Leach, Mississippi State in first full class

Recruits in the Class of 2021 have had it rough thus far.

No visits since March, no camps, and no chance to show their talent to college coaches as they compete in their respective senior seasons.

Now, the Early Signing Period is just under two months away.

Going into the last part of October and into November, Mike Leach and the rest of his coaching staff have the Bulldogs sitting at No. 30 nationally in the Rivals Team Rankings.

For more details on the Rivals rankings formula, click here.

Leach spoke about the staff's recruiting efforts with the media earlier this week.

"It’s a unique circumstance with the rules on visiting and that type of thing being what they are," Leach told the media. "We’ve got to keep plugging away. I think the best is probably ahead. I don’t know what’s going to happen with the rules, the visits and all the rest with recruiting and with regard to contact."

While the list of commits is impressive and a solid mixture of raw talent and high upside, the list of names that have decommitted is an impressive one as well. The first two that jump out are Miami LB commit Thomas Davis Local WR and LSU commit Deion Smith.

Another former commit, Philadelphia ATH Kadarius Calloway is currently committed to Alabama.

He remains in contact with the staff, and is someone that could very easily end up in the class when all is said and done.

Leach was asked about what he's looking for in terms of recruiting, both as he aims to finish the 2021 class and beyond.

"We look at what they can do within the scheme that they’re asked to do and how we project them in what we’re going to ask them to do," said Leach about finding the right fit. "You look at the talent and the measurables. I ignore all the charts. Typically I’m not even aware of them unless someone tells me. We look at their talent base. The other thing that I think is often overlooked is toughness and their commitment to playing football. Just because a guy is really talented, toughness and commitment to being a good football player is important. And I think it’s really undervalued too"

Moving forward as the staff attempts to finish out the class and land in the Top 25, it seems there may be addition by way of subtraction in some areas, most notably skill positions.

Still, though, things are trending in a way that would have the Bulldogs adding an RB to the class, another WR, and as many OL as possible that fit the scheme offensively.

Defensively, they are looking to add to their depth on the DL both via the HS and JUCO levels, same at the LB position. Depending on what happens elsewhere on the board, the DB's could see some changes as well.