Mississippi State in reach of Top 25 class following Daniels commitment
Mississippi State landed their 19th commitment in the Class of 2021 on Saturday morning when George County (Miss.) defensive back MJ Daniels announced his decision to commit to Coach Jason Washington and the rest of the staff at Mississippi State.
Daniels adds 90 points to the Bulldogs' point total in the 2021 class, as they now sit at No. 28. The list of schools they jumped in the rankings includes Auburn, Florida State, Penn State, and several others.
That number is good enough for 9th in the SEC, ahead of Auburn, Kentucky, South Carolina, Ole Miss, and Vanderbilt.
Leach and his staff are not done yet, and the current class ranking does not account for the commitment of East Mississippi OL Nicholas Jones, who is currently unrated.
For more details on the Rivals rankings formula, click here.
Here's a breakdown of the class thus far-
5.8 (3) QB Sawyer Robertson, WR Theodore Knox, WR Malik Nabers
Not too long ago, MJ Daniels was committed to Ole Miss. The Lucedale (Miss.) George County backed off his pledge to the Rebels June 1, then was leaning towards leaving the state to play college football.
Georgia was looked at as a contender at one time and Texas A&M was always viewed as one of the favorites due to the connection with former teammate McKinnley Jackson, who's now in College Station.
Mississippi State never wavered. The Bulldogs stayed in pursuit of Daniels and it paid off.
"This was a tough, very tough decision," said Daniels. "It came down to Mississippi State and Texas A&M in the end. I went back and forth for a while, then last week, I woke up, had that feeling and I knew I wanted to go to Mississippi State."