Tuesday’s Dawg Biscuits: Updates on 2025 prospects King Grace, Mario Nash and Cortez Thomas

Step inside for the latest on several 2025 prospects on Mississippi State’s radar in football and basketball along with team news and the transfer portal:

First Biscuit – Starting the day with basketball and the transfer portal, on Monday I talked to sources about a couple of transfers on Mississippi State’s radar. As noted, Mississippi State is showing some interest in Jackson State graduate transfer and combo guard Ken Evans. I am not sure who else is on Evans and for now, things are not overly serious with Mississippi State and evans for now. So we will see how things develop down the road. Also, I talked to sources about Michigan transfer and sophomore center Tarris Reed, who has already taken an official visit to Kansas State and is waiting to see up other official visits. We already knew that UConn was a serious player for Reed and sources noted that Purdue is now making a serious contender for Reed, as well. Obviously, those are two great programs pursuing Reed and it makes State’s job a lot tougher.

Also basketball-related, on Monday I talked with sources about Mississippi State sophomore forward KeShawn Murphy. Sources noted that his decision remains up in the air on whether he will return or enter the transfer portal. The transfer portal window closes May 1st so he still has time to enter the portal. But for now, there’s is no clear answer as to what Murphy will do one way or the other.

Second Biscuit – Moving to basketball recruiting in the high school ranks, on Monday I talked with 2025 guard and On3 four-star prospect King Grace of Waxahachie (Texas) High School. Since unofficially visiting Mississippi State in late January, the only other unofficial visit he took was to Texas A&M. Grace said in the near future, he will start planning out official visits and for now, the ones he has in mind are Mississippi State, Kansas State, Houston, LSU and SMU. He noted that head coach Chris Jans and assistant Dave Anwar have treated him like a priority since that January visit, and he likes the fact they focus on defense in Jans’ program. He added that he likes the success Jans has had in Starkville in his first two years and said they won a lot of tough games that nobody thought they would win. Grace still wants to make his decision before his senior season begins, which likely means he will sign in the November period, too.

Third Biscuit – Moving to football and team news, on Monday I talked to sources regarding Mississippi State’s linebackers and where they are lining up this spring. Of note, there is not a sam linebacker in Coleman Hutzler’s alignment and it is the jack linebacker, will linebacker and mike linebacker. We’ve noted before that the guys at jack linebacker include Donterry Russell, Ty Cooper, Joseph Head and Branden Jennings. At mike linebacker it is Stone Blanton, Javae Gilmore and Khalid Moore, and at will linebacker it is John Lewis, J.P. Purvis, Nic Mitchell and Marcus Ross. I also had other sources tell me that Purvis is able to also play mike and so far, several players have told me Purvis is having a good spring so far, and was really good in last weekend’s scrimmage.

Fourth Biscuit – Moving to football recruiting, on Monday I talked with 2025 offensive lineman and On3 composite four-star prospect Mario Nash of Kemper County High School. Nash was back at Mississippi State recently for another unofficial visit and said he liked the energy and pace of their practice. He said offensive line coach Cody Kennedy told him where he stands with Mississippi State and said head coach Jeff Lebby also talked to him about their expectations of Nash. Regarding unofficial visits, Nash is not sure where he is headed to next but he has summer official visits set for Mississippi State, Southern Cal, Missouri and Arkansas (I also expect him to officially visit LSU this summer). Nash said he is still looking to make his college decision before his senior season but added he is not in a rush, either. He put out a Top 10 last month and said his next step would be to make a commitment.

And for the gravy on top – And lastly on Monday, I talked some with 2025 defensive back and On3 composite four-star prospect Cortez Thomas of Holmes County Central High School. Thomas unofficially visited Mississippi State last Thursday and I plan to talk to him more about that later this week. But he did note that he has set up an official visit with Mississippi State for June 21st and will officially visit Kentucky on June 14th. So far, that means Thomas, Mario Nash, Kevin Oatis and Carde Smith are planning to officially visit Mississippi State that weekend (however, Smith may end up committing to Auburn soon and may not keep that visit). I expect State will have other official visitors that June 21st weekend and I may be missing someone else that has planned to visit that weekend.

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