Mixon Looking to Prove In State Schools Wrong as MSU Gives Him a Chance

It was a wild day in Starkville on Friday as seven new 2015 commitments joined the fold. Just as all of the fireworks of the day died down and the Bulldogs finished up their annual Big Dawg Camp, Dan Mullen had news for one youngster who was just waiting to hear from him. Shortly after Shades Valley three-star athlete Keith Mixon saw a scholarship opened up for him, he jumped on it.

"It's just a lot of relief. I'm just happy for it to be over," Mixon said of his commitment to the Bulldogs. "I love coach Collins and Mullen and they've been pretty honest with me from the start. (Mullen) talked to my coach and told us to meet him at elevator. He came to me and said I had a scholarship to play for MSU. I told him I was ready to commit and he was pretty excited about it."

"The campus is really nice and it's not too far from home," Mixon said. "It's just a great place to be."

Mixon is a fantastic playmaker for Shades Valley and emerged as one of the top breakout stars in the state a year ago. In his junior season, Mixon totaled 35 touchdowns with nearly 3,000 yards on the year and his work in Starkville the last two months gave MSU no choice but to take him. With legit 4.3 speed in the 40 in each of his last two times at MSU, Mixon is a special talent.

"After coach Mullen saw me play yesterday he said that I play like Percy Harvin, so that's a good thing I guess," Mixon said with a laugh. They said I did pretty good on my 40. I have good break-away speed. I can make plays. They really like me."

It's no surprise that his size is something that the in state schools at Alabama and Auburn tend to pass on. Their loss is MSU's gain as the Bulldogs look to create more playmakers in their offense and Mixon should be one of those. Coaches have him starting at receiver.

"They're going to use me at slot," Mixon said. "Coach Mullen told me to go to running back and slot at Big Dawg Camp so I tried both of those out. It doesn't matter to me to be honest. I like the slot but I'll take running back if that's where they want me to play.

"I always have a chip on my shoulder," Mixon said. "I've had to work really hard at these camps and it's already getting noticed by Mississippi State and they've always believed in me. I'm going to continue every game to show other schools what they're missing."

Joining him on that list of Alabama players that are being passed over by their home state schools are commitments Nick Gibson, Maurice Smitherman and Kendall Jones. Mixon said that the in state schools will be sorry.

"It's going to be a good one," Mixon said of the 2015 class. "It's a good group already committed and Nick Gibson committed yesterday so we're ready to roll. It's going to be good because our in state schools didn't really want us, now we get to play them for four years and beat them."

"Now that I'm committed I'm working hard on (five star defensive tackle) Daron Payne. He said they're in his top three now so I'm going to be working on him to jump on board."