Mstate fan here...Been reading your board for a long time primarily for your very good recruiting information involving players we are/have been in competition for(Brown, Autry, Jacobs, Coman, etc). Excellent board and excellent posters, this meltdown notwithstanding. You guys have much more/better "insiders" than we do as a fanbase, that much is for sure.
Now, for "our side" on Autry in all this. I never got the idea that we were a serious player for him until he attended the Egg Bowl. That's when it changed, and it was due to his time spent with Pernell McPhee. Denico related well to Big Pern because of their almost identical background...an OOS signee playing JUCO football in small-town Ms(same school Pern went to), a LONG way from family/friends, a highly-sought 4-star recruit, etc. They are almost identical, other than Autry being a slightly more sought after guy. Pern was an all-SEC State graduate, was drafted last year, and is chest bumping with Ray Lewis now on Sundays. He's been the 3rd down starter at WDE for the Ravens all season...and alot like Ray Lewis is one of those personalities that people are naturally drawn to(natural leader). Pern showed Denico a recent blueprint of exactly where he is and wants to go, and he did it in Starkville.
Basically, it was a perfect storm of circumstances that worked in our favor...nothing more, nothing less. We are just excited that it actually went our way this one time(Newton, Brunetti, CJ Johnson, Nic Brassel, etc reference).
Knoxville is a great place...great fans...it's one of the sleeping giants of college football right now. Good luck on your season this year, the rest of recruiting, and for goodness sakes PLEASE reclaim some of the conference power to the East. They are killing us over here in the west. Can't wait to see you guys in Starkville this year(if the leaked sched info holds true)...hope we get you while your still down a bit. But, as our luck goes, we constantly rotate into the strongest two teams in the east(Ga and SC this year), so I expect nothing less from you guys this year!