Starkville - Mississippi State added a valuable piece to its 2024 offensive line on Thursday with the commitment of former North Texas center Ethan Miner.
Miner, a First Team All-American Athletic Conference selection by PFF, was at Mississippi State for an official visit over the weekend. The 6-foot-2, 296-pound center committed to the Bulldogs over offers from Arkansas and North Carolina, citing the small town feel of Starkville and his relationships with offensive line coach Cody Kennedy and head coach Jeff Lebby.
"When me and my wife had moved to UNT we were basically anticipating it to be a lot like Starkville, and like just a small country college town. Dallas-Fort Worth is kind of far from that. It’s very busy, there’s tons of people and it’s pretty overwhelming," Miner said. "I loved all the coaches. Coach Kennedy seems like a great guy and so does Coach Lebby. Obviously, when you’re on visits like this people are going to give you their best and put on a show for you, but typically it’s pretty easy to see how genuine a person is. It was just really easy to tell that they truly mean what they say.”
Miner's relationship with Mississippi State tight end coach Jon Cooper was also a key aspect in his recruitment. Cooper was Miner's offensive line coach at North Texas, and his presence on the Bulldog coaching staff gives him a sense of comfortability when moving to a new team.
"I won’t know anybody, so it’s nice being on a team just having someone that you know. Just somebody I know I can trust already," Miner said. "It kind of gives me some assurance knowing that since he trusts Lebby and these guys then it’s somebody that I can trust also. If I had went to a new school where I didn’t know anybody I’d have to start making those relationships and feeling things out.”
Miner spent his first three college seasons at Arkansas State, making 24 starts, before spending the 2023 campaign at North Texas, and the West Hartford, Conn. native had a much different experience in the transfer portal this go around.
"It was a little different than it was last time for me. I felt like everything hit me all at once. It definitely seemed a little bit more dragged out this time, but it was definitely still a fun experience," Miner said. "I’m just glad I found a school that I know me and my wife are going to be happy at. Hopefully we can do something special at Mississippi State this year.”
Mississippi State was one of the first teams to reach out to Miner when he entered the transfer portal. It made things easy having Cooper on staff, who let Lebby know that Miner was someone they should be targeting.
"I was in the portal for about two days. Obviously, Coach Cooper had known me from UNT," Miner said. "When I had talked to him about it he had said that as soon as he had gotten to Mississippi State he had told Coach Lebby that I was somebody who could really help the team. Coach Lebby had watched my film and they decided to offer me.”
Miner's 2023 season was the best of his career, finishing the season as the #2 ranked center in college football according to PFF. He had an 83.2 PFF grade, an 88.3 pass blocking grade with zero sacks allowed and a 79.4 run blocking grade. It was a big improvement from his final season at Arkansas State, where he had a 48.6 PFF grade, and he takes a lot of pride in his development over the past year.
"I kind of struggled my last year at Arkansas State. There’s a list of things that were going on and it was probably one of my worst seasons," Miner said. "I think I had like a 48 overall PFF grade so I went from being one of the worst centers in college football to one of the best. Now the challenge is going to be moving to the SEC and continuing that, which is obviously going to take a lot more work. The American Athletic and the SEC aren’t even comparable conferences, but I mean, I have faith in my ability to do it.”
Miner credits his renewed faith in Jesus Christ for his improvements over the past year. Finding a great church at North Texas gave him a new sense of confidence that he was able to translate to success on and off the football field.
"I genuinely believe it’s just my faith. When I got to North Texas me and my wife found a great church and I just started believing again in Jesus Christ," Miner said. "It just truly changed my perspective and I think it gave me a lot of confidence and it gave me a bigger purpose than myself. Obviously at some point the game is going to be done for me. I don’t know when, but it’s kind of relieving to know that whenever that time does come that I still have a bigger meaning in my life.”
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