| Monday, August 18, 2014 |
| Mississippi State, MGCCC partnership will offer engineering courses | |
 | Mississippi State University and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College signed a partnership agreement last week to bring engineering courses to MGCCC's Jackson County Campus in Gautier. The agreement outlines the collaboration to offer two degree programs, and the institutions will jointly recruit students. MSU President Mark Keenum said four programs are being considered: electrical engineering, civil engineering, industrial engineering and mechanical engineering. The two selections will be finalized in the near future. |
| Residents gather for Miss Mississippi's send-off | |
| She's only worn the crown for a month or so, but if anyone is a natural at being Miss Mississippi, it's Jasmine Murray. Murray will compete for Miss America in mid-September, and Sunday brought a chance for friends and supporters to watch her talent and hear her speak about her platform as she prepares for the big trip. During her send-off party at the Vicksburg Convention Center, Murray performed "Something's Got a Hold On Me," which will be her talent song when she gets to Atlantic City. The 22-year-old Mississippi State University student said she's excited about putting a positive foot forward for America while representing Mississippi. |
| Mississippi State names two to deal with hog damage | |
 | Mississippi State University's Center for Resolving Human-Wildlife Conflicts has added two staff members who will focus on controlling the state's wild hog population. The university says Cliff Covington and Steven Tucker will coordinate and conduct educational workshops, field days and seminars on wild hog damage mitigation. |
| Barn quilt project connects Mississippi State art students with community | |
 | A community project by students in a Mississippi State art class may have a lasting local impact as part of a national Barn Quilt Trail program. Barn quilts began several years ago in Ohio and quickly became a trend that spread across the United States. Typically, an eight-by-eight-foot wooden square is painted to resemble a quilt block and positioned at the front of a barn or other structure. With a goal to put Mississippi on the national Barn Quilt "map," members of the Starkville Area Arts Council became interested in the project for Oktibbeha County. The organization was aided by the university's Center for the Advancement of Service-Learning Excellence that works to identify and develop ways to incorporate service-learning projects into course curricula. April Heiselt, CASLE director, said service-learning is a holistic approach to instruction that integrates meaningful community service and civic engagement into academic objectives. |
| Mississippi State student leads tours of Capitol as U.S. Senate intern | |
 | Mississippi State University student Mary Gates Talbot, 21, had to pinch herself when she realized that she was leading tours around the marbled hallways of the United States Capitol, where busts of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln lurk from the corridors. Talbot had only been to Washington, D.C. once before on an eighth-grade school trip. "It was just crazy that here I was leading a tour around the U.S. Capitol," Talbot said. The Northpoint Christian School graduate was one of several students from North Mississippi who worked as summer interns for U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from Tupelo. |
| Final instructions await MSU-Meridian student interns | |
 | Five student interns at MSU-Meridian got their final instructions at student intern orientation Friday at the university's College Park Campus. One student intern, Ellen Belk of Philadelphia, will be going into Union Middle School and Union High School to do her special education internship. Belk, a East Central Community College transfer student, chose to attend MSU-Meridian because she wanted to stay close to home and be on a small campus. Although she always intended to be an elementary education teacher, once arriving at MSU-Meridian -- those plans changed. "All my life, all I wanted to do was elementary education," Belk said. "But I took some special education classes at MSU-Meridian and got a job as a special education assistant at my local middle school and I fell in love with it." |
| MSU-Meridian Student Interns Heading to the Classroom | |
 | Classes start Monday for students at MSU-Meridian. But orientation was Friday for interns seeking their education degrees. The internships are a key for the final semester, before they graduate and head out to teach in school systems. This group will work alongside longtime educators, learning things that they can only acquire through time in the classroom. "We can give them theory; we can give them textbook," said Tory Shirley, program coordinator. "But until you get into that classroom and you have to differentiate instruction and differentiate with your students, it's very difficult. And there's really no way to prepare for that. You just have to get in there and do it." |
| Jumpertown's White, a Mississippi State sophomore, wins distinguished award | |
 | Tyler White's love of cars led him down a path toward a prestigious national scholarship. The Mississippi State University sophomore was among 100 recipients in the nation to receive the $25,000 annual scholarship given to college students pursuing careers in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as information technology and other fields related to the automotive industry. The 2013 graduate of Booneville High School is studying mechanical engineering. He plans to go into the automotive industry. |
| Merle Haggard to kick off concert series at Mississippi State | |
| Country music star Merle Haggard will perform Wednesday at Mississippi State University. The concert is the first in the university's Lyceum Series and will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Bettersworth Auditorium in Lee Hall on the Starkville campus. Ticket information is available at www.lyceum.msstate.edu. |
| Delta plantation succeeds with conservation efforts | |
| Conservation land management practices have made the Pleasant Lake Plantation in Leflore County a model of sustainability and functionality. Guy Ray, president of the company, has taken many steps to make the property beautiful, useful and sustainable. The property is a prime example of the type of synergy between agriculture and natural resources advocated by REACH, the Research and Education to Advance Conservation and Habitat program. REACH is housed at Mississippi State University and is an effort to scientifically support and raise awareness of innovative conservation practices throughout the state. REACH is a collaboration with MSU, Delta Farm, the Nature Conservancy and other agencies. |
| 45 years later: Coast natives, visitors remember Hurricane Camille | |
 | As heavy gray clouds loomed over the Sound on Sunday, South Mississippians gathered to remember a storm that swallowed parts of the coastline and spit out splintered, deadly destruction 45 years ago. The storm killed 141 people along the Gulf Coast and caused more than $1 billion in damage. Judy Guice, daughter of Wade and Julia Guice who were both civil defense directors and instrumental in creating the Biloxi memorial, incorporated younger generations of the family into this year' ceremony. "They have to start learning too," she said. She said the ceremony is also important to remind people not to stick around during a hurricane. |
| With Its Eccentric Owner Gone, What To Do With Graceland Too? | |
 | Holly Springs, Miss., is a postcard antebellum Southern town. The official motto is "All Kinds of Character." Newspaper reporter Sue Watson says locals put it differently. "We say, 'Holly Springs, All Kinds of Characters.' " she says. "I think Mr. MacLeod probably could fit in there pretty easily." She's talking about Paul MacLeod, who stood out from the moment he arrived from Detroit in the 1980s, driving a Cadillac and dressed like Elvis. He even named his son Elvis Aaron Presley MacLeod. In 1990, he opened his house to visitors to show off his enormous hoard of Elvis memorabilia. But it soon became clear that the real attraction was MacLeod. It did attract tourists -- some Elvis fans, but mostly drunk college kids from local universities. "It was like a rite of passage," says Amery Ewing Moore, an attorney in Holly Springs. |
| Mississippi Income Shifts Reflect National Trends | |
 | Incomes in many parts of Mississippi have not increased as fast as the national average. That's according to a new study that also shows how income inequality is shaping up in the Magnolia State. Economic analyst Pete Walley with Mississippi's Institutions of Higher Learning, says these numbers reflect a structural change in the national economy, as investment income grows, while middle income jobs are automated or sent abroad. "So the net result is that you shift a whole bunch of people that used to be in middle income or lower-middle income, and you shift them down to the lower-income groups," Walley says. "And the people who have money who know how to take advantage of the excess liquidity that is in all our financial markets right now, they're just doing really well." |
| Teen births down in Mississippi, other states | |
| Republican Gov. Phil Bryant has said for years that one of his top goals is reducing Mississippi's teenage pregnancy rate, long one of the highest in the nation. Now, he says his administration deserves credit for chipping away at the problem. "Our fight to reduce teen pregnancy is ...vital to our success as a state, and preliminary figures from the Mississippi Department of Health show teen pregnancy has fallen more than 15 percent from 2011 to 2013," Bryant said July 31 in a speech at the Neshoba County Fair. However, Mississippi is not alone in seeing a decrease of births to teenage mothers. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report this month that shows the U.S. birth rate among unmarried women, including teen moms, "has declined steadily since its peak in 2007-2008." That raises some important questions. |
| Tax cuts likely to top 2015 legislative agenda | |
| No politician talked much about tax cuts during his or her official speech late last month at the Neshoba County Fair. But perhaps the biggest news that came out of the event is that a tax cut will be seriously considered during the 2015 legislative session – an election year. On the first day of Neshoba speeches, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, answering questions from the media after he finished his talk, said he is studying possible tax cuts proposals for the 2015 session. "We think it is time to look at a pay raise for taxpayers," said Reeves. Only minutes after the words left Reeves' mouth, Gov. Phil Bryant's staff was emailing to reporters a letter he sent to Reeves and Speaker Philip Gunn earlier in the summer. "I believe it is time for us to provide significant tax relief to our citizens," the governor wrote. |
| Judge appointed in McDaniel case, hearing set | |
| Former Southwest Mississippi Chancery Judge Hollis McGehee has been appointed to hear Chris McDaniel's challenge of the June 24 GOP runoff he lost to incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran. McGehee has set a status hearing in the case for Wednesday in Laurel. A schedule for further proceedings is expected to be set then. State Supreme Court Justice William Waller Jr. appointed McGehee on Friday, after McDaniel filed his court challenge on Thursday, the deadline for him to do so. |
| Holder, President Obama to meet on Ferguson | |
 | Attorney General Eric Holder will brief President Barack Obama on the situation in Ferguson, Missouri, on Monday afternoon after perhaps the most violent night of demonstrations since the fatal shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown. The president, who arrived at the White House early Monday morning for a scheduled break in his family vacation in Martha's Vineyard, will meet with Holder at 1:15 p.m., according to the White House. Early Monday morning, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced he was deploying the state National Guard to Ferguson to address the "intensifying violent attacks" there. |
| Rick Perry claims indictment part of larger 'rule of law' problem | |
 | Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) insisted Sunday that a grand jury indictment alleging he abused his office and tried to coerce an elected official was unjustified, pointing to support he has received from political leaders to bolster his claim. In his first national television interview since the indictment was announced Friday, Perry defended his decision to veto funding for a state anti-corruption unit after a district attorney refused to resign even as he publicly asked her to do so. He also claimed the indictment was part of a larger "rule of law" problem in government. At issue is Perry's decision to veto $7.5 million in funding for an anti-corruption unit that is part of the Travis County district attorney's office. |
| Community Health Systems says personal data stolen in cyber attack | |
 | U.S. hospital operator Community Health Systems Inc said on Monday personal data, including patient names and addresses, of about 4.5 million people were stolen by hackers from its computer network, likely in April and June. The FBI warned healthcare providers in April that their cybersecurity systems were lax compared to other sectors, making them vulnerable to hackers looking for details that could be used to access bank accounts or obtain prescriptions. The company said it and its security contractor, FireEye Inc unit Mandiant, believed the attackers originated from China. Community Health is one of the largest hospital operators in the country with 206 hospitals in 29 states. |
| West's historic drought stokes fears of water crisis | |
| Across California's vital agricultural belt, nervousness over the state's epic drought has given way to alarm. Streams and lakes have long since shriveled up in many parts of the state, and now the aquifers -- always a backup source during the region's periodic droughts -- are being pumped away at rates that scientists say are both historic and unsustainable. The shrinking of the aquifers has added a new dimension to the concerns over the historic drought that continues to shatter records across the Western United States. The parched zone now spans a dozen states and nearly 600 counties, from southern Texas to the northern Rockies, and includes fields and grazing land that produce a third of the country's beef cattle and half of its fruit, vegetables and winter wheat. Prices for most of these products have soared this year. |
| U.S. Farmers Are Up to Their Ears in Corn | |
 | "We're going to drown in corn this year." The assessment, from Jeff Brown, 45 years old, a fifth-generation farmer outside Decatur, Ill., sums up the view of most people who grow, trade or process corn as they brace for another record U.S. harvest. Months of wet weather have fueled expectations for a corn crop so large that mounds of the grain will be a common sight across the Midwest after the harvest, which starts next month. The U.S. Agriculture Department projected last week that production will exceed 14 billion bushels, topping last year's historic harvest. Expectations of a glut have driven corn prices down by 13% this year, to near four-year lows. |
| Khayat wins 2014 Mississippi author award | |
 | The Mississippi Library Association has announced the winners of the 2014 Mississippi Author Awards. Robert Khayat, author of The Education of a Lifetime (Nautilus), was named Mississippi Author of the Year in the nonfiction category. Previous winners in nonfiction include Eudora Welty, Willie Morris and Margaret Walker. The winner in the fiction category was Michael Farris Smith for his novel Rivers. "The overarching goal of the book was to move the perception of Ole Miss and Mississippi from 1962 to the present. I felt it was my responsibility to help others understand us ...and for us to acknowledge our challenges," Khayat said. |
| Ole Miss Opens New Justice Center | |
 | The Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center, a public interest law firm that advocates for human rights and social justice through litigation, has opened an office at the University of Mississippi School of Law, where the new MacArthur Justice Clinic will provide law students with opportunities for hands-on experience under the direction of experienced litigators. Veteran Mississippi attorney Cliff Johnson has been named first director of the MacArthur Justice Center, and he has joined the faculty of the law school. He is an assistant professor of law and supervises law students participating in the MacArthur Justice Clinic. |
| Delta State opens year with general convocation | |
 | The official start for the 2014-15 academic year for Delta State University began with a general convocation at the Bologna Performing Arts Center Friday. Dr. Wayne Blansett, vice president for student affairs, introduced new provost and vice president for academic affairs, Dr. Charles A. McAdams, as the master of ceremonies for the morning's event. McAdams said, "I am so pleased to be here. The Mississippi Delta is an incredible place and Delta State has a unique role in the region. Our role is to make a positive difference in students' lives." He outlined some of the strategies for recruitment and retention that the university is initiating and reiterated that standards would not be lowered. |
| Rep. Snowden shares history with JCJC summer graduates | |
 | Life's journey is marked with mileposts, and this year's graduation is an anniversary for mileposts that changed the course of history, according to Rep. Greg Snowden, keynote speaker for Jones County Junior College's summer graduation ceremony. The speaker pro tempore explained to the graduates that their graduation year is shared with many mileposts throughout history, including the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the 45th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing and the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer. He pointed out that the biggest milestone occurred 100 years ago this month and was the event that shaped the modern world: World War I. |
| Southwest Mississippi Community College accepts bid on dormitory project | |
| Southwest Mississippi Community College trustees have accepted a bid of $6.7 million for construction of a 122-bed men's dormitory. The Enterprise-Journal reports the dormitory will be built behind the Baptist Student Union on the campus. The Board of Trustees awarded the bid to Chris Albritton Construction of Laurel, which submitted the lowest of eight bids. College President Steve Bishop says the bid came in at less than expected cost. Last year the board estimated the cost of the dormitory -- including beds, lighting and parking lots -- could exceed $14 million. |
| U. of Alabama offers Week of Welcome kickoff party for students | |
 | An estimated 6,000 University of Alabama freshmen packed Coleman Coliseum Sunday night for the Week of Welcome kickoff party, featuring free food from local restaurants, rock wall climbing, zip lines and booths from campus organizations. The event was meant to help introduce freshmen and transfer students to the University of Alabama and let them know what Tuscaloosa has to offer, said Latoya Scott, director of University Programs. The Week of Welcome has been held for the last several years, but last year was the first time that the kickoff party was held, Scott Said. Approximately 3,000 students came in 2014, and this year the numbers were expected to double. |
| More than 2,000 accept bids to U. of Alabama sororities Saturday | |
| Thousands of excited screams echoed through Bryant-Denny Stadium as a nearby man speculated that the women inside were ripping open envelopes to discover their sorority bids. Outside, family, friends and fraternity brothers swarmed the sidewalks flapping their hand fans emblazoned with Greek letters, snapping pictures and holding bouquets of wilting flowers and gift bags overstuffed with puffy pink tissue paper. Then, the women ran. Some ran in shorts, tank tops and flip-flops, and some ran in sun dresses and high heels, gripping their invitations like they were a lifeline and screaming all the way to their new sorority houses. A total of 2,054 of the 2,276 women participating in fall recruitment this year accepted bids to join sororities at the University of Alabama bid day Saturday. |
| LSU seeing a record rush week | |
 | More than 1,200 LSU students are going through sorority rush this week, as interest in Greek life continues to grow at LSU. It's likely a record for the school -- at least in recent decades, leaders say. Later this week, 872 guys will go through fraternity rush, another recent record. "At most every campus, especially in the SEC, we're seeing a real spike in interest," said Angela Guillory, LSU's associate dean of students and director of Greek life. "Greek is popular." Last year, 5,117 LSU students were members of Greek organizations, which is about 20 percent of the university's undergraduates. That's up from 3,534 just four years ago. The number of new members jumped from 1,586 in 2012 to more than 2,000 last fall. |
| Renovated U. of Florida reactor leading the way | |
 | When the $3 million renovation of the University of Florida Training Reactor is complete, all that will remain from the original 53-year-old reactor will be the concrete and graphite blocks surrounding the reactor's core, said James Barciak, the newly appointed director of the university's nuclear engineering program. The renovations have been going on for years, as part of a relicensing process, he said, but they are finally getting to the stage where they can bring the reactor back online after seven years. The reactor is expected to come back online either by the end of this year or early 2015, Baciak said. When it is running again, it'll be the first reactor in the U.S. -- research or commercial -- to be controlled with modern digital electronics. |
| Tour showcases U. of Kentucky's new Champions Court dorm | |
 | he University of Kentucky showed off one of its new dorms, Champions Court I, to students and families. The building is one of five new dorms opening with the fall term. The dorms -- Woodland Glen I and II, Haggin Hall, and Champions Court I and II -- are an $84 million piece of the ambitious housing plan to put 9,000 modern beds on campus. The Champions Court dorms with two private bedrooms cost $10,508 for the year for undergraduates while the traditional dorm rooms in older buildings cost $7,821 for a private room, $7,321 for double occupancy. |
| UGA lecture series to examine how humans are reshaping planet | |
 | The Anthropocene Lecture Series at the University of Georgia will begin with "Extinction in a Changing World" by professor of cell biology Mark A. Farmer 7 p.m. Aug. 28 in the UGA Chapel. The lectures are free and open to the public. First coined by ecologist Eugene Stoermer in the 1980s, the term "anthropocene" has come to stand for a geological time period in which the actions of humanity have had a significant impact on Earth's ecosystems. In an effort to better understand this period of unprecedented change, a number of leading scholars at UGA will present eight public lectures on the latest scientific findings on everything from how we are altering the planet's chemistry to what these changes will mean for billions of people around the world. |
| U. of Missouri students, administrators attend vigil spurred by Ferguson events | |
 | Holding signs saying, "Justicia" and, "Don't Shoot," scores of students and other members of the University of Missouri community attended a moment of silence and vigil Thursday evening on campus. The National Moment of Silence and Day of Rage event to honor the death of Michael Brown, who was shot and killed Saturday in Ferguson, occurred nationwide just after 6 p.m. The MU student organizers and participants hope that for Columbia, the event was just the beginning. "This is my life," Naomi Daugherty, one of three student organizers of the vigil, said about why she chose to get involved. Carl Kenney, adjunct professor in the MU School of Journalism and local pastor, spoke about the struggles black men face in America. "I am a black man. If you're a brother who carries that pain, raise your hand," he said. |
| Study raises questions about why women less likely than men to earn tenure at research universities | |
 | In discussions about the gender gap among tenured professors at research universities, there is little dispute that there are far more men than women with tenure in most disciplines. But why? Many have speculated that men are outperforming women in research, which is particularly valued over teaching and service at research universities. With women (of those with children) shouldering a disproportionate share of child care, the theory goes, they may not be able to keep up with publishing and research to the same extent as their male counterparts. A study presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association finds that those assumptions may be untrue in some disciplines. |
| Power Of The Peer Group In Preventing Campus Rape | |
| Many forces can drive a male college student to commit sexual assault. But one of the most important may be the company he keeps. A number of studies, on college campuses and elsewhere, have shown that having friends who support violence against women is a big risk factor for committing sexual assault. Now prevention efforts are exploring the idea that having male friends who object to violence against women can be a powerful antidote to rape on college campuses. "One of the things that matters most to boys and emerging adult men is the opinion of other men," says John Foubert, a researcher at Oklahoma State University who studies rape prevention among young men. |
| New study assesses humanities' impact by credits earned, not majors declared | |
| A new analysis from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences confirms a common fear: humanities majors and STEM majors dwell in separate academic silos. STEM majors, especially engineering students, take few humanities courses, the data show. And humanities majors take even fewer STEM courses. But the data also reveal that humanities courses are more popular than one might expect. College students, on the whole, earn more credits in the humanities than in STEM, even though science majors outnumber humanities majors. |
| Workforce Investment Act Leaves Many Jobless and in Debt | |
 | Millions of unemployed Americans have trained for new careers as part of the Workforce Investment Act, a $3.1 billion federal program that, in an unusual act of bipartisanship, was reauthorized by Congress last month with little public discussion about its effectiveness. Many have not found the promised new career. Instead, an extensive analysis of the program by The New York Times shows, many graduates wind up significantly worse off than when they started --- mired in unemployment and debt from training for positions that do not exist, and they end up working elsewhere for minimum wage. Split between federal and state governments -- federal officials dispense the money and states license the training -- the initiative lacks rigorous oversight by either. |
| LLOYD GRAY (OPINION): Primary purity or voter choice? | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Lloyd Gray writes: "Explicit in Chris McDaniel's challenge of the Republican senatorial runoff result is that only self-identified Republicans should be able to vote in a Republican primary. Let pureblooded Republicans select Republican nominees and hard-core Democrats pick who runs in the general election under the Democratic banner. Anything else is a defilement of the process, the argument goes. But this has never been the rule in Mississippi, and it's unlikely that the average Mississippi voter would buy into the idea of having to formally register as a Republican or Democrat before being allowed to vote in either party's primary, as some states require. Mississippians tend to want to vote for who they want to vote for..." |
| GEOFF PENDER (OPINION): Gun carry right hasn't brought 'wild West' | |
| The Clarion-Ledger's Geoff Pender writes: "About this time last year, there was furor about state House Bill 2, the 'open carry' bill. ...In late August last year, with opponents warning it would bring 'chaos' and 'the wild West' and with no-guns-allowed signs popping up everywhere, the state Supreme Court upheld the law. Since then, I've noticed... nothing. I've seen two people who I suspected were just citizens and not law enforcement wearing holstered pistols. Neither caused an uproar, and neither of their pistols jumped out of their holsters and committed a crime." |
| SID SALTER (OPINION): Musgrove's zeal over MAEP funding hasn't waned | |
| Syndicated columnist Sid Salter writes: "The push being spearheaded by former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove to gin up lawsuits against the state over the failure of the Mississippi Legislature to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP) is one that is understandable if one simply read his Wikipedia entry on his political views on education. ...Musgrove believes the courts will share his analysis of exactly what the MAEP legislation means. Critics believe Musgrove's litigation will pit K-12 education against the state's community college and higher education in the annual legislative budget battle. That's consistently been the case over the last 40 years when one facet of the state's education infrastructure sough a major funding increase." |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State holds Beefin' Up the Bulldogs | |
 | With the sound of the cows mooing and steaks cooking Mississippi State football players know its time for "Beefin' Up the Bulldogs". "We get all these football players, their coaches and their staff, we feed them a good meal and we basically show them what we do and how agriculture is important," said Animal and Diary Sciences Professor Trent Smith. While some players are use to the country life, for some players it was there first time touching a cow. Junior Linebacker Rufus Warren remembered his first "Beefin' Up the Bulldogs" feast. "My freshman year Coach Mullen made a rule that all the freshmen had to milk a cow, so that was my first time every milking a cow," said Warren. |
| Mississippi State Football Team 'Beefs Up' for New Season | |
| The Mississippi Beef Council teamed up the with Mississippi State's football team for a unique event to open the new season. The Fourth Annual "Beefin' Up the Bulldogs" event was held on campus at the Seal Jr. Football Complex. The football team enjoyed a steak dinner with milk and ice cream. The players also gained some insight into the state's cattle industry and learned about the benefits of eating beef. The event was also sponsored by MSU's Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences. |
| Mississippi State's Jones finally pain-free | |
| David Turner expected more, especially out of a senior. Mississippi State's defensive line coach pulled P.J .Jones aside at the start of camp and begged the tackle to play crisper and faster. Eight months of rust from sitting on the sideline with a leg injury bested Jones' experience and knowledge of the game. Jones was in a boot for the entire 2013 season and away from spring practices earlier this year. "I didn't realize until P.J. said something about it," Turner said. "I said, man he missed 15 practices in the spring. Sometimes it doesn't sound like a whole lot but it really is." |
| Bulldogs stocked with tight ends | |
| Mississippi State tight ends coach Scott Sallach has plenty of options this season. Sallach's squad features five scholarship tight ends ranging in size from 6-foot-2, 231-pounds all the way to 6-foot-7, 260-pounds and showcasing a wide range of skill sets. "I've got a nice mixture of older guys and younger guys," Sallach said. "I've also got the whole spectrum of body types in my room now, which is a good thing." |
| Trio of West Point stars bolster Mississippi State | |
| When Justin Cox, an All-America safety at East Mississippi Community College, signed with Mississippi State's football team after his two years at Scooba, MSU defensive lineman Curtis Virges swelled with pride. He did the same thing six months ago when Mississippi's Mr. Football, tailback Aeris Williams, signed with the Bulldogs. But the pride Virges felt wasn't solely because his former teammates at West Point High School would now be teammates with him at MSU. "Personally, I feel good when a West Point guy signs anywhere, it didn't necessarily have to be with us," said Virges, who enters his senior season in Starkville with 30 career tackles and three sacks. "Of course, it's a bonus that they signed with us. But I'm proud any time a West Point kid signs with a Division I school." |
| Bulldogs feeling safer at safety | |
| Mississippi State's plans at strong safety changed drastically on the sixth play last season. Jay Hughes ruptured his Achilles tendon and was lost for the year, forcing a shakeup in the secondary the rest of 2013. Although Hughes is back and healthy, he is now locked in a battle with junior Kendrick Market to regain his starting spot. "We're working and nobody is satisfied," Jay Hughes said. "Everybody is hungry and everybody has that look in their eyes." |
| Mississippi State basketball opens SEC play with Tennessee | |
| It won't take long for former Southern Miss coach Donnie Tyndall to return to the Magnolia State. Mississippi State hosts the new head coach of Tennessee in its first Southeastern Conference game of the season. The two meet on Jan. 7 at Humphrey Coliseum as the conference released this season's basketball schedules Friday night. MSU won't stay in Starkville long. After its SEC-opener the Bulldogs play three of their next four on the road. In the 18-game format, Mississippi State will play five teams twice. The teams MSU plays home-and-home games with are Tennessee, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Ole Miss. Mississippi State travels to Oxford on Jan. 28. It hosts Ole Miss on Feb. 19, which will be aired on ESPN2. |
| College Baseball Should Thrive In Autonomy Era | |
| It's an uncertain time for college athletics. The five football power conferences are on the verge of greater autonomy, and the ramifications could be sweeping but remain unknown for now. A court's ruling against the NCAA in the Ed O'Bannon lawsuit opens the door for athletes to receive additional payment for the use of their names, images and likenesses, which generate billions of dollars for NCAA member schools and their partners. Football is driving the college sports economic machine, with basketball sitting in the passenger seat and all the rest of the sports crammed in the back seat, or the trunk. But earlier this week, Mississippi State unveiled plans for a $40 million baseball stadium project, reminding us that baseball does really matter to the Southeastern Conference, the most powerful of all collegiate leagues. |
| LOGAN LOWERY: Mississippi State's baseball plan just the latest ambitious facelift | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Logan Lowery writes: "When I moved to Starkville in 2006 upon graduating from college to start covering Mississippi State athletics, the Bulldogs were well behind the rest of the Southeastern Conference from a facilities standpoint. But the job done by aggressive athletic directors Greg Byrne and Scott Stricklin during that span have helped MSU catch up in a hurry. If you haven't been on campus in a while, there's a possibility you might not even recognize it. Let's go through some of the changes that have taken place just during my time here." |
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