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Mississippi State throws shade at rival Ole Miss about first-round NFL Draft success

On3 imageby:Dan Morrison•04/28/23•

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Mississippi State Egg Bowl
© Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

On Thursday night, Emmanuel Forbes Jr. was taken in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Washington Commanders. This was an important mark for the Mississippi State Bulldogs, marking the fifth season in a row where a Bulldog was taken in the first round of the NFL Draft.

So, Mississippi State decided to go on Twitter and create a nice graphic to celebrate that fact. Of course, the Bulldogs couldn’t help but take a shot at rival Ole Miss.

Take a look at the shot Mississippi State took at Ole Miss, here:

In the caption, Mississippi State wanted to make one thing abundantly clear. No other school in the state has accomplished this. That, obviously, includes Ole Miss, the school that they’re most often compared to in the SEC.

However, it’s not just Ole Miss that Mississippi State is outstripping with this stat. As noted in the graphic, going five years in a row with a first round draft pick is good for fourth in the SEC and eighth nationally. It’s an incredibly impressive stat for the Bulldogs.

Being able to have players drafted and drafted high in the NFL Draft is incredibly important to teams. It can boost a program’s reputation and lets recruits know that the program is capable of getting them to the next level.

Unfortunately, for Ole Miss, the Rebels didn’t have a player taken in the first round on Thursday night. However, wide receiver Jonathan Mingo is considered one of the best available prospects.

Looking back on Forbes as a recruit

Charles Power, On3’s Director of Scouting and Rankings, looked back at all of the first round picks compared to how he’d scouted them. As Power explained, Emmanuel Forbes was an outlier.

“Emmanuel Forbes was a notable outlier for us in the 2020 cycle. We rated Forbes as a four-star during the summer prior to his senior season and continued to move him up that fall. Forbes was and still is very skinny – he was around 150 pounds as a recruit. But the ball skills and anticipatory instincts are as good as you’ll see from a high school corner prospect,” Power said.

“Forbes was a complete ballhawk in high school, picking off 12 passes over his final two seasons. Though he was an outlier from a size perspective, the playmaking ability popped off the video. The cover instincts carried over to Mississippi State, where he set the FBS record for most career pick-sixes [six].