| Monday, October 7, 2019 |
| Mississippi State, MSMS partnership provides high school students hands-on experience | |
 | A longstanding partnership between Mississippi State University and the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science is giving high school students the opportunity to get hands-on research experience in a university setting. Since the early 2000s, MSMS students have been working with MSU faculty in their research labs to gain a better understanding of academic and professional opportunities in science. "These students are in labs talking to undergraduates, graduate students and faculty members," said Teresa Gammill, MSU assistant vice president for research. "They're getting additional mentoring that they would not have gotten otherwise, and they're getting involved in the research to the extent that they can discover which areas they like. This program couldn't run without our dedicated faculty, who work hard to get the students involved and make it a beneficial experience." The program is coordinated in Mississippi State's Office of Research and Economic Development by Gammill and Lynn Taylor, administrative assistant to the vice president, and Elizabeth Morgan, a chemistry instructor at MSMS. |
| Asylum Hill: Intriguing story of an old cemetery reaches close to home | |
| The coffins, made of pine, are decayed by time and clay soil. Simple wooden crosses thought to have marked each burial site have long since disintegrated. The mostly anonymous graves -- as many as 7,000 of them -- represent the final resting place of inhabitants who died at the Mississippi Insane Asylum in Jackson between 1855 and 1935 and were interred at the Asylum Hill Cemetery. Today, they occupy the only remaining undeveloped part of the main campus of the University of Mississippi Medical Center. An overview of that story will be shared in Columbus Friday, Oct. 11, when Dr. Ralph Didlake presents a free talk on the Asylum Hill Cemetery Project at noon at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library. Biological anthropologist Molly Zuckerman, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the MSU Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies. She is also a senior researcher at the Cobb Institute. Her research specialty is reconstructing evidence of health and disease from human skeletal remains recovered from archaeological sites. As part of the exhumation team and in curating the remains in her laboratory, Zuckerman has followed exacting preservation standards. |
| A Different Egg Bowl: Esports ignites familiar Mississippi rivalry | |
 | A persistent rivalry played out on a new stage Saturday as Mississippi State University took on Ole Miss in the second annual Esports Egg Bowl. Last year, the Esports Egg Bowl was held in Oxford, and the Bulldogs were able to come home with a win. This year, the event saw rosters from both universities square off at Humphrey Coliseum in a seven-game competition. In total, roughly 100 players contributed to the video game gauntlet. MSU President Mark Keenum opened the event by praising the student-led effort to expand the university's role in esports, comparing it to the efforts made in the past to expand other collegiate athletics, particularly the Egg Bowl itself. "Students led that effort," Keenum said. "When we look back at photographs of those early football games where the students were wearing leather helmets or no helmets and we think about how strange it looked to see the competition in those early football games, well, that was modern competition between those two schools, just like what we're celebrating today is modern, high-tech competition." |
| Late season heat and dry weather aid state cotton | |
 | Parts of Mississippi's landscape are turning white, but unlike some northern areas, this coloration is caused by cotton bolls opening for harvest, not snow accumulating. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that nearly a quarter of Mississippi's cotton crop had been harvested by Sept. 29. To date, 45% of the crop is rated in good condition and 39% fair. Cotton should be completely out of the fields by the end of October. Darrin Dodds, cotton specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said about 30% of the state's cotton crop was planted before May 20 and the rest planted later. Growers planted about 700,000 acres of cotton in Mississippi in 2019. "Early reports on the harvest yield have been outstanding, but it is the earlier planted cotton that is being harvested," Dodds said. "There is concern that yields may decrease a bit in some of the later planted cotton." |
| Unused railroad could become well-traveled trail through Starkville | |
| The railroad that bisects Starkville from southwest to northeast is part of Johnny Buckner's heritage. His house on Washington Street near the bridge with the tracks has been his home for most of his life. Before trains stopped using the tracks, his children and their grandmother would stand nearby when a train was coming and wave at the conductor, hoping to get a wave back. Now the city wants to turn the tracks into a biking and walking trail, and it could be "the most-used thing in Starkville," Buckner said. The trail would be part of the national network created by the nonprofit Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, the nation's largest trail organization, according to its website. Mississippi has 15 RTC trails, including the Columbus Riverwalk, the Kitty Bryan Dill Memorial Walkway in West Point and Tanglefoot Trail, which stretches 43.6 miles from Houston to New Albany. Starkville aldermen voted unanimously Tuesday to ask permission from the federal Surface Transportation Board to work with Kansas City Southern, the company that owns the railroad, to remove the rails and turn the route into a trail. |
| Highway 12 pedestrians say sidewalk project will increase safety | |
| The stretch of Highway 12 outside the Green Oaks neighborhood did not have a sidewalk when Timiko Rieves came to Starkville to visit relatives in the mid-1980s. When he moved to the same neighborhood from Chicago a couple of years ago, he wondered why the city still hadn't put in a sidewalk, he said, given people walk every day along the side of the highway next to the westbound lane. Rieves is one of many local residents who walk daily on the well-worn strip of dead grass along Highway 12 between the Twin Oaks apartment complex and the Maple Drive entrance to the Green Oaks neighborhood. "Some people choose to walk in the bike lane, but still, that's not safe," Rieves said. The city will address the issue in about a month by installing a sidewalk between Taylor Street and the Avenue of Patriots and in two other frequently walked sections of Highway 12, with the goal of making the road safer for pedestrians, city engineer Edward Kemp said. |
| Toyota will build SUV at Alabama plant with Mazda | |
| In a switch that could benefit the Toyota Mississippi in Blue Springs, Toyota Motor Corp. said recently it will build a new sport utility vehicle at a $1.6 billion joint venture assembly plant in Alabama rather than the Corolla. Toyota Mississippi, which began production of the Corolla in 2011, employs some 2,000 team members and builds the bulk of Corollas sold in North America. With the switch, Toyota will rely on the Blue Springs plant and a plant in Japan to supply Corollas. When Toyota and Mazda announced in January 2018 it would build the new plant, the automaker said Corolla production in Canada would switch to the new facility. Meanwhile, the Japanese automaker said Tuesday that overall sales in the U.S. in September dropped 15.5 percent. For the year, sales are down 2.5 percent. |
| Mississippi education adviser tapped for US Labor position | |
 | An education policy adviser for Mississippi's Republican governor is being nominated for a job in the U.S. Department of Labor. The White House announced Friday that President Donald Trump has chosen Laurie Todd-Smith to become director of the Women's Bureau in the department. Gov. Phil Bryant said on Twitter that he congratulates Smith. He says that for more than a decade, she has been "extremely successful in helping improve education for the children of Mississippi." Smith earned a doctorate from Mississippi State University, a master's from Western New Mexico University and a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona. |
| Analysis: Debate will show contrasts for Tate Reeves and Jim Hood | |
| The major-party nominees for Mississippi governor will spell out their differences on education, the economy and other issues in their first -- and possibly only -- debate before the Nov. 5 general election. The faceoff between Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood and Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves takes place in front of an audience starting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. It is hosted by WJTV-TV and will be televised around the state and carried live on two statewide radio services, Mississippi Public Broadcasting and SuperTalk Mississippi. |
| Jim Hood has an ambitious plan for public education in Mississippi -- but can he fund it? | |
 | Attorney General Jim Hood has big plans for education in Mississippi. He wants universal pre-K, teacher pay raises, and to fully fund the state's education funding formula --- which has only happened twice since it was created in the 1990s. Public education is a cornerstone of Hood's campaign for governor, and a teachers group recently endorsed him over Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, the Republican candidate for governor. Hood said he has a plan to pay for his education promises, which the Associated Press calculated to cost more than $500 million -- or nearly a tenth of the state's annual budget. In a sit-down interview with the Clarion Ledger last month, Hood said the money will come from cutting waste in state government and closing tax breaks that he says primarily benefit out-of-state companies. |
| If Rick Perry leaves Energy, his deputy seems likely to sustain his policies | |
 | The No. 2 man at the Energy Department is primed to carry on the agency's "energy dominance" agenda should his boss, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, step down. Perry is preparing to step down before the end of November, Politico and other media outlets reported Thursday, a decision that would end the service of one of President Donald Trump's longest-lasting Cabinet secretaries. Perry's departure would likely place Dan Brouillette, the deputy secretary, in charge of the Energy Department. Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes denied that Perry is planning to leave his job. "While the beltway media has breathlessly reported on rumors of Secretary Perry's departure for months, he is still the Secretary of Energy and a proud member of President Trump's Cabinet," she said in an emailed statement. "One day the media will be right. Today is not that day." The longest-serving governor of Texas, Perry has also been linked to the congressional impeachment inquiry of Trump due to trips he took to Ukraine in the spring. |
| Abortion, Guns And Gay Rights On The Docket For Supreme Court's New Term | |
 | The Supreme Court may be eager to portray itself as an apolitical institution. But this term, political questions writ large are knocking at the high court door. The upcoming term will almost surely be a march to the right on almost every issue that is a flashpoint in American society. Among them: abortion, guns, gay rights, the separation of church and state, immigration and presidential power. Also headed to the court are cases testing the power of Congress to get information from the executive branch and elsewhere, information that is relevant to congressional oversight and potentially, to impeachment. Clearly, President Trump had something like that in mind when he said of the current impeachment inquiry, "It shouldn't be allowed. There should be a way of stopping it, maybe legally through the courts." And if that isn't enough, pending before the court is a sleeper case testing the very structure of our presidential election system. |
| Mims digitization lab makes MUW history available worldwide | |
| The recently announced Martha Jo Mims Digitization and Conservation Lab brings a treasure of history to Mississippi University for Women. Mims, of Columbus, was present for the formal announcement and unveiling in her honor Sept. 26. "The Mims Digitization and Conservation Laboratory is a huge step forward for the university and takes the Fant Library to the next level," said Amanda Clay Powers, dean of the Fant Memorial Library. "Our mission is to be the center of research for the history and leadership of Mississippi women, and by digitizing our archival collections we can now share them with the world." Mims, a former teacher, an influencer and mentor, began her career at The W in 1967. She was a member of the Mississippi Hall of Master Teachers and recipient of the Faculty Member of the Year Award, Columbus-Lowndes Higher Education Faculty Member of the Year Award and the MUW Medal of Excellence -- the university's highest non-degree honor. Upon her retirement in 2000, she was awarded emerita status. |
| Outrage over new chancellor of U. of Mississippi | |
 | The appointment of the University of Mississippi's new chancellor was met with protests by students and faculty members. The Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees appointed Glenn Boyce as chancellor. Boyce had been tasked with consulting on the search committee for the new chancellor and was never formally submitted as a candidate. Boyce's name was not one of the eight candidates publicly presented. Boyce previously acted as commissioner of higher education, associate commissioner for academic and student affairs for IHL, and before that as president of Holmes Community College. Anne Twitty, associate professor of history, first heard about the appointment via a text from a colleague, who heard about it from rumors on Twitter. "One of the things we have all found so frustrating about so much of what has taken place is that it feels like not only was this an incredibly secretive process, and a process that didn't even accord to the schedule the IHL had laid out, but also we were having to find out about what was happening at our own university through social media and from the media rather than from the university or IHL," said Twitty. |
| 'You don't know my story:' IHL holds conference call after hiring of Glenn Boyce | |
 | Unable to formally introduce Dr. Glenn Boyce as the University of Mississippi's latest chancellor at a press conference that did not take place on Friday, Boyce and the IHL held a teleconference that afternoon. During the 24-minute phone call, Boyce and IHL Board member Ford Dye answered questions regarding the hiring process and how the IHL landed on the man hired to consult during the process of the job he eventually landed. Dye, vice president of the IHL Board of Trustees and chair of the Board Search Committee, stated there was no other candidate's name uttered or submitted to the search committee more than Ole Miss's newest leader. The search firm Buffkin-Baker contacted Boyce during that time about being a candidate. Boyce declined and requested to not be a candidate, according to Dye. "Dr. Glenn Boyce received more nominations in that nominating process than anybody else," Dye said. "We began a national search and continued through that process for four months. ... As the national search was conducted, it became evident that the most qualified candidate was Dr. Glenn Boyce." |
| East Mississippi Community College president links financial woes to drops in enrollment | |
| If all 15 community colleges in Mississippi were offered as a public company on the open stock market, no one would want to invest. East Mississippi Community College President Scott Alsobrooks, citing a private firm's recent economic study that looked at audits for 13 of the 15 colleges, shared that finding Friday with media members gathered at Lion Hills Center. His frankness seemed to betray the goal of buoying up the community college outlook during his State of EMCC presentation, but looking at the numbers in the handouts he provided, it's hard to argue his point. Enrollment is declining, meaning less tuition revenue. State funding is consistently dropping, making the task of balancing the bottom line without cutting services more difficult. "Many (community) colleges in the United States are experiencing a similar dilemma as us," Alsobrooks said. "We're having to adjust and make some changes." At EMCC, enrollment and funding are becoming particularly alarming. |
| Scott Alsobrooks addresses declining enrollment, Communiversity as EMCC financial concerns persist | |
| In the wake of highly-publicized financial woes, East Mississippi Community College President Scott Alsobrooks has listed the institution's decline in enrollment as his number one concern for the future. At a media event at the college's Lion Hills Center, Alsobrooks gave an address on the state of EMCC, sharing financial and enrollment data as well as an update on the college's Communiversity. This also included a discussion of some of the institution's future plans. In August, it came to light that the college had $710,000 in it general operating balance, with approximately $10 million there a decade ago. The college has shown a 5% drop in enrollment over the past four years with a 10th day headcount of 3,882 students, compared to last year's 4,086 and the 4,261 headcount recorded at the start of the 2016-2017 fall semester. Enrollment at the Golden Triangle campus is currently 2,536. In Scooba, the number is 933. He said the enrollment drop on the Golden Triangle campus was more severe than in Scooba. "Our numbers are tied to revenue," Alsobrooks said. "We need to turn this tide and we need to grow." |
| Texas A&M AgriLife helping digitize parasite specimens | |
 | Texas A&M AgriLife has joined more than 25 institutions to make 1.3 million parasites available for research and public study through digitization. The Terrestrial Parasite Tracker will be available through the Symbiota Collections of Arthropods Network, or SCAN. A&M's department of wildlife and fisheries sciences and department of entomology will help digitize 175,000 specimens -- including ticks, mosquitoes and mites -- from the Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collections and the Texas A&M Insect Collection. The effort is made possible by a three-year, $4.3 million National Science Foundation grant and leadership from Purdue University and the Milwaukee Public Museum. Researchers with Texas A&M AgriLife will digitize thousands of terrestrial arthropod parasites that are currently pinned, in vials or in slides for the Terrestrial Parasite Tracker network. |
| New vice provost for student affairs presents goals at U. of Missouri faculty council meeting | |
 | Bill Stackman, new vice provost for student affairs, introduced MU faculty to his priorities for the upcoming year during the MU faculty council meeting Thursday afternoon. Stackman, who has a master's degree in parks and recreation from MU, took over the job in July from interim vice provost Gary Ward. "This job opened up, and it seemed like a great reason to go home," he said. Stackman outlined his goals for the year, which focused on supplementing students' education. Changes are more effective when they are led by students rather than being driven by faculty, he said. The vice provost also said that he sees student health and well-being as a priority and that he wants to prioritize early detection and early intervention for students in crisis. He said that the percentage of students using MU's counseling and health services has increased in the last year. |
| US researchers on front line of battle against Chinese theft | |
 | As the U.S. warned allies around the world that Chinese tech giant Huawei was a security threat, the FBI was making the same point quietly to a Midwestern university. In an email to the associate vice chancellor for research at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, an agent wanted to know if administrators believed Huawei had stolen any intellectual property from the school. Told no, the agent responded: "I assumed those would be your answers, but I had to ask." It was no random query. The FBI has been reaching out to colleges and universities across the country as it tries to stem what American authorities portray as the wholesale theft of technology and trade secrets by researchers tapped by China. The breadth and intensity of the campaign emerges in emails The Associated Press obtained through records requests to public universities in 50 states. The emails underscore the extent of U.S. concerns that universities, as recruiters of foreign talent and incubators of cutting-edge research, are particularly vulnerable targets. |
| They enrolled in medical school to practice rural medicine. What happened? | |
 | The University of Kansas School of Medicine-Salina opened in 2011 -- a one-building campus in the heart of wheat country dedicated to producing the rural doctors the country needs. Now, eight years later, the school's first graduates are settling into their chosen practices -- and locales. And those choices are cause for both hope and despair. Of the eight graduates, just three chose to go where the shortages are most evident. Two went to small cities with populations of fewer than 50,000. And three chose the big cities of Topeka (estimated 2018 population: 125,904) and Wichita (389,255) instead. Their decisions illustrate the challenges facing rural recruitment: the lack of small-town residencies, the preferences of spouses and the isolation that comes with practicing medicine on one's own. But the mission is critical: About two-thirds of the primary care health professional shortage areas designated by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration in June were in rural or partially rural areas. And it's only getting worse. |
| N.C. State Professor Is Suspended After Reportedly Saying Women 'Are Useless' | |
 | E. David Davis, a physics professor at North Carolina State University, was suspended on Wednesday after students reported he had said women "are useless" during a lecture. "The faculty member has been immediately suspended from teaching while this incident is being further investigated," a university spokesman said in a written statement. "At N.C. State we take pride in our campus culture, which values and strives to live our commitment to diversity, inclusion, and equity." Students in the class, "College Physics I," recounted to a local television station that Davis, a research associate professor, had called on two female students who could not answer his questions about a recent assignment. Davis then said something to the effect of "I guess the women in this class are useless. I guess I should call on a man." When another student immediately confronted Davis about his comments, he claimed he had been joking and doubled down, reportedly saying, "Obviously women are not useless. If they were useless, we would not exist as a species." |
| College Students Just Want Normal Libraries | |
| Back in the 1940s, college libraries had something of an existential crisis. Charles Gosnell, a prominent library-sciences scholar and college librarian in New York, suggested that shifting academic priorities and space constraints threatened to deplete certain book collections, particularly those in highly technical fields such as chemistry, economics, and education. Libraries pulled through, of course, but then the rise of the internet renewed fears of obsolescence. So far, the internet has not killed libraries either. But the percentage of higher-education budgets dedicated to libraries has been dwindling since the 1980s. Likely in the hopes of proving that they have more to offer than a simple internet connection does, many college libraries are pouring resources into interior-design updates and building renovations, or into "glitzy technology," such as 3-D printers and green screens, that is often housed in "media centers" or "makerspaces." Yet much of the glitz may be just that -- glitz. Survey data and experts suggest that students generally appreciate libraries most for their simple, traditional offerings: a quiet place to study or collaborate on a group project, the ability to print research papers, and access to books. |
| Brain drain a gross problem for Mississippi | |
 | Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford of Meridian writes: Brain drain in Mississippi is gross. That's what Phil Hardwick wrote in the Mississippi Business Journal. Citing an April report by the U.S. Joint Economic Committee on the topic of brain drain in the United States, Hardwick explained, "Gross brain drain is defined as the share of leavers who are highly educated minus the share of adults who remain in their birth state ("stayers") who are highly educated." Huh? He went on to point out, "The report showed that in Mississippi in 1970 the excess of highly educated movers over highly educated stayers was 1.24. In 1980, that number increased to 1.87. In 1990, the number had increased to 4.63, and by 2017 had skyrocketed to 16.69. Add to that fact that there was net-outmigration in the state during the past 10 years." Sounds kinda gross, doesn't it? Well, it would be really gross if the exodus of smart people from our state was surging in comparison with other states. Uh, it is. The report shows Mississippi and Kentucky neck and neck with the highest gross brain drain changes from 1970 to 2017. |
| Tate Reeves, Jim Hood both talk tax breaks as state's largest-ever tax cuts just kicking in | |
| Bobby Harrison writes for Mississippi Today: In the 2015 legislative session, an election year, the Mississippi House rejected a $555 million tax break proposed by Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and other legislative leaders. The fact that the Republican-controlled House voted down the tax cut was surprising because election year tax cuts are normally popular with legislators and because in this super partisan environment the members seldom bulk their leadership. The 2015 elections occurred against the backdrop of the tax cut as a campaign issue. But in reality, issues, including the tax cut, mattered little during 2015 since the state Democratic Party fielded one of its weakest slate of candidates in modern history and did not have the funds to wage competitive campaigns. Consider the fact that the Democrats' nominee for governor was Robert Gray, a nice enough guy, but a candidate who did not care enough to even vote for himself in the primary election because he was at work -- making a long haul delivery in his 18-wheel tractor-trailer. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State's Anderson Peters wins world javelin gold | |
| Mississippi State's Anderson Peters is the undisputed king of the javelin in 2019. Competing on Sunday, the final day of the IAAF World Championships in Doha, the 21-year-old Peters took the lead with his first throw and defeated a field of the event's elite for his native Grenada. Peters' fourth attempt, 86.89 meters (285 feet, 1 inch) was icing on the cake after his opening 86.69m (284-5). "I didn't think 86 meters would be enough to win gold," Peters said. "I was up against 90-meter men throwing high 88s all season." Peters added the world gold medal to championships this season in the SEC, NCAA and Pan American Games meets. Two years ago, at the worlds in London, he finished 20th. "It's possible for everybody to become a world champion," Peters said. "You just have to want it as badly as I do." |
| Mississippi State's Anderson Peters becomes World Champion | |
| Mississippi State junior javelin thrower Anderson Peters is a world champ. Competing at the International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships in Doha, Qatar, Peters took home the title with a toss of 86.89 meters -- fending off second place finisher Magnus Kirt by just 68 centimeters. "Words cannot explain how happy and proud I am of Anderson Peters right now," associate head coach April Thomas said in a news release. "He has checked off one of his goals in life of being a world champion. He has a true gift, and no one can deny it. It could not have happened to a better young man. I tip my hat to him." Peters, a St. Andrews, Grenada native, became just the second ever world champion from the island nation in any event with his title Sunday. It was also the highest-ever finish for a Grenadan javelin thrower -- a title that previously belonged to Trevor Modeste's 18th place finish at the 1983 championships. |
| Back to School for Grenada's Anderson Peters After Shock Javelin Win | |
 | Grenada's Anderson Peters pulled off a shock win in the javelin at the world athletics championships on Sunday after an unpredictable event where Olympic champion Thomas Rohler failed to reach the final. Peters won with a throw of 86.89 as he gave the tiny Caribbean nation their second-ever world championship gold, following Kirani James' 400 meters win in 2011 -- an event which inspired him to take up athletics. However, he did not have much time to celebrate -- the 21-year-old studies at Mississippi state university and told reporters he had to sit exams next week. "I've definitely missed some classes, I have a test on Tuesday," Peters said. |
| Bulldogs, Rebels on road vs. SEC East | |
| Mississippi State and Ole Miss are both on the road this weekend against opponents from the SEC East. The Bulldogs will travel to Tennessee at 11 a.m. on Saturday for an SEC Network game, while the Rebels take on Missouri with a 6 p.m. kickoff on ESPN2. It will be the Bulldogs' first trip to Neyland Stadium since 2008. State has not played Tennessee since claiming a 41-31 victory over the Volunteers in Starkville in 2012. Tennessee leads the overall series 28-16-1; the Vols have won six of the last seven meetings. Tennessee is just 1-4 this year, 0-2 in conference play. The Volunteers have been outscored 77-17 in back-to-back losses to Florida and Georgia. "I watched the defensive side of the ball and kind of scanned through their offense and special teams," said MSU coach Joe Moorhead. "Obviously, they have coach (Jeremy) Pruitt's fingerprints on it, the Alabama feel to it with three-down personnel. You look at all the games and they've done some nice things." |
| Mississippi State's Jordan Danberry excited about her extra eligibility | |
| Jordan Danberry faced months of uncertainty as she waited to see if the NCAA would approve her waiver for another season at Mississippi State. In December 2016 -- six games into her sophomore season at Arkansas -- Danberry decided to transfer to MSU and sat out a full year before she suited up for the Bulldogs. She starred for a season and a half for Vic Schaefer and thought her career might end with last year's loss to Oregon in the Elite Eight. "It was kind of a weird feeling because I didn't know where I'd end up, where I'd be," Danberry said. "It was just playing the waiting game throughout the whole summer and staying focused. I knew I needed to stay in the gym and stay working out in case I did get approved. I was very anxious throughout the whole summer." Danberry's waiver approval finally arrived on the eve of the first day of classes for the fall semester. Schaefer decided to surprise Danberry with the good news and invited her to his office so he could deliver it in person. |
| What to expect from Mississippi State men's basketball in 2019-20 | |
 | If the "pay to play" conversation that has taken over college sports in recent weeks had come a few years earlier, Robert Woodard would be rolling in cash right now. MSU head coach Ben Howland apparently thinks so, anyway. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Pay to Play Act on Monday, which allows college athletes to reap monetary gains for their name, image and likeness. The law doesn't go into effect until 2023. It's only 2019, and Woodard is still a sophomore forward at MSU. He won't be getting paid to play any time soon unless he has a breakout season and is NBA bound. Had the push to pay college players come sooner, though, Woodard would be on a list of those who would probably benefit from it. Howland said he's never had a player in his 37 years of coaching with a body as "ripped" as Woodard's. He compared Woodard to a "Greek figure" and joked that he'd put him on the 'skins' team during Thursday's practice so the media could see what he was talking about. "We could make a lot of money with a poster of him," Howland said. "He is unbelievable." |
| State splits exhibition doubleheader | |
| Mississippi State split its exhibition doubleheader with Louisiana on Saturday. The Diamond Dogs let a four-run lead slip away in the opener as the Ragin' Cajuns roared back for a 7-4 victory. But MSU dominated the second game for a 13-2 win to close out the day. "In a game like those, you script it out so much and you don't go to certain guys at certain times because it's already laid out," said MSU coach Chris Lemonis. "It caught us in the first game and it probably caught them too in Game 2. MSU's top of the order -- Rowdey Jordan, Jordan Westburg, Tanner Allen and Justin Foscue -- combined to go 8 for 12 with two doubles, four runs scored and four RBIs in the first game. Westburg was 3 for 3 with a double and two RBIs while Allen was 2 for 3 with an RBI double and Jordan went 2 for 4 with a pair of singles. "Our first four hitters, we know a little bit about them and they were very good today," Lemonis said. "We're trying to figure out the next two to three hitters in the lineup and that'll be huge for us." |
| 3 takeaways from Mississippi State baseball doubleheader against Louisiana | |
| A few kids donning maroon and white shirts tossed a football around the BancorpSouth Berm along the right field line at Dudy Noble Field on Saturday. One errant pass later, the ball wound up on the warning track. It sat there until the half-inning was over in Game 2 of Mississippi State's doubleheader against Louisiana. Picking it up wasn't an urgent matter. During MSU's football bye week, baseball was the the flavor of the day in Starkville. Mississippi State split a pair of seven-inning games against the Ragin' Cajuns, losing the first one 7-4 and winning the second 13-2. |
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