It looks like we may have hit the jackpot with Hopson and his exceptional relationship with Mississippi high schools, because OM and MSU are signing out of state prospects in unprecedented numbers. In some prior years, they have signed from 30 to 40+ in Mississippi. This year their combined total for Mississippi was around a dozen. I certainly believe there were more than a dozen outstanding athletes in Mississippi high schools this year, and we signed some of them that would have been at OM or MSU in other times. With his relationships, Hopson is uniquely prepared to take advantage of this and out recruit most out of state schools. When some of the Mississippi players become stars, it should pay big dividends in fan interest and attendance.
I'm not being critical of Fedora and Monken because they used the relationships they had established in other states, but they had to establish relationships in Mississippi. According to a prominent Mississippi coach, there were more visits to his school from Minnesota than from USM.
