New 2025 commit Derrion Horsley excited to be a Bulldog
The last few weeks have provided a couple of twists and turns for 2025 cornerback prospect Derrion Horsley. This weekend during his official visit, all of that came to an end for the East Coweta (Ga.) High School product.
Horsley committed to the Bulldogs on Saturday evening and reported his decision on social media. Horsley recently picked up an offer from Mississippi State in late May and didn’t need much time to act on that opportunity. He was one of several 2025 prospects that ended up joining State’s class by the end of Saturday evening. He also held offers from TCU, Minnesota and East Carolina among others.
“It was my first time there but man, it was great,” said the 6-foot-3 and 185-pound Horsley. “Coach Lebby and all of the coaches are new and most of them are young guys. All of the players brought me in like a family. Everything was smooth and I felt like it was the place to be. I had a visit to Minnesota set but now I am done and I am locked in.”
Horsley was actually the first official visitor to announce his decision on Saturday. Once he did, things got crazier in the moments following his decision.
“Saturday night was crazy,” Horsley recalled. “It was crazy because I was the first one to ring the bell. I knew if I did it first then the other guys were going to do it, too. I mean, we had 15 guys take official visits and 9-10 guys committed on Saturday night. So that was big and I was glad to be the first one to ring the bell.”
Of course, Horsley also had other enjoyable moments during his stay in Starkville. But besides his commitment, one of his highlights was just being around the Bulldog players, who will now be his future teammates.
“Besides my commitment, my favorite part of the weekend was how I connected with the guys,” noted Horsley, who is expected to be an early graduate. “They brought me in like they already knew me. So that made me feel at home right away.”
But there were other highlights to his weekend. He noted of those events he experienced throughout the weekend along with his time with his player hosts from State’s roster.
“The scavenger hunt was really cool,” Horsley mentioned. “They taught us how to cook and we went to Coach Lebby’s crib and the whole weekend was a lot. Tre Wright and Kelley Jones were my player hosts and they were great to me. Those are my dogs and I was also with Raydar (Jones) who came from LSU. They were telling me it’s some great corners that have come through Mississippi State like Darius Slay and I’ve talked to Darius before.”
It also hasn’t taken Horsley long to build a close connection with cornerbacks coach Corey Bell and head coach Jeff Lebby. And he was quick to note that Lebby simply “gets it” when it pertains to relating to recruits in this day and age.
“Coach Bell is my dog,” Horsley added. “He has produced a lot of guys that got to the NFL. So I feel like I need to be with the best coach that can help me get to the NFL. So Coach Bell is my dog and I like him a lot. Coach Lebby is also a great guy. He is a young so he knows what a player wants and we are all going to work together to get it done.”
