Mississippi State Bulldogs News: Andy Cannizaro has Baseball Program Looking Bright

Mississippi State dropped two games to LSU over the weekend in the Super Regional, but Andy Cannizaro is the right coach to take the Bulldogs to the promise land.

Here is the latest news on Mississippi State athletics on this Monday evening!

Brent Rooker: Andy Cannizaro is the best college coach in the country – The Clarion-Ledger

Following his (likely) last game as a Bulldog, Brent Rooker had some high praise for his coach. The SEC Player of the Year calls Andy Cannizaro “the best college coach in the country”. Here is just some of what Rooker had to say in his post game presser:

"“Let me start by saying that the guy sitting to my left, Coach Cannizaro, is the best college baseball coach in the country. That’s a statement that none of y’all should take lightly. He is the best college baseball coach in the country. He is going to take the Mississippi State baseball program to places its never been before.”"

That’s some high praise from one of the nation’s best players.

COLUMN: Cannizaro’s First Bulldog Squad Follows Coach’s Lead – Robbie Faulk, Bulldawgs247

Robbie wrote a great article on this year’s baseball team and coach Cannizaro that I highly suggest you take the time to read. He talks about the direction the baseball program is heading and how Cannizaro is the right guy for the job.

"Cannizaro’s team spent the entire year being underestimated. At times in his career, he was the same way. There were two schools that stood out to Cannizaro in his recruitment: Tulane and Southern Miss. Home state LSU didn’t seem to have the interest and he made them pay in 2001 when his Green Wave team beat the mighty Tigers to go to Omaha.His Alma Mater spurned Cannizaro from the head coaching job this past season only to see another door open several months later in the form of MSU. Call it fate, but both MSU and Cannizaro are now thankful things worked out the way they did.The future in Starkville is wide open at this point for baseball. One of the great stages of college baseball being Dudy Noble Field is undergoing a major facelift and it’s only fitting that it comes at the beginning of a new era.The new era is its larger than life, bench-pressing head coach that somehow found magic and a little duct tape to hold together a season that was destined to fail from the very beginning. Cannizaro entered already behind after arriving in the middle of fall ball with a roster that had been gutted by the MLB Draft and elbow injuries."

WATCH: Elite 11 Pro Day — Mississippi State commit Jalen Mayden – Tom Loy, 247Sports

Last month, Mississippi State landed a huge commitment from 4-star quarterback Jalen Mayden. The Texas native is regarded as one of the better signal callers around the country. Check out some of his Elite 11 highlights here:

Related Story: Reactions to Jalen Mayden committing to Mississippi State

How a lawsuit filed by Oxford retailer Rebel Rags could impact Ole Miss’s NCAA case – Pete Thamel, Sports Illustrated

The NCAA’s investigation into Ole Miss has been heating up recently. How does that affect Mississippi State? Well, it was reported last night that Rebel Rags has filed a lawsuit against Leo Lewis and Kobe Jones.

Here is some of what Thamel has to say:

"In order to prevail in a defamation lawsuit, Rebel Rags will need to prove that the defendants made relatively specific statements about the store that were factual-sounding. Statements asserting that recruits received free merchandise from Rebel Rags on specific dates and for certain values would, if untrue, likely embody defamatory remarks. In contrast, statements that are more accurately viewed as opinions or subjective depictions are less likely to be viewed by a court as defamatory. A description of a booster’s attitude or motivations would, for instance, probably not count as defamatory since it can’t be proven or disproven.The complaint’s two other claims—commercial disparagement and civil conspiracy—will similarly require persuasive evidence. Rebel Rags contends that the store has become unpopular with customers due to disparaging allegations made by the defendants. Such unpopularity poses commercial consequences: the store losing customers and sales. Rebel Rags also asserts that the store is the victim of the defendants having “conspired to concoct a false narrative of Rebel Rags providing free merchandise to prospective student athletes.” It will be interesting to see how evidence of a so-called conspiracy plays out and whether others connected to the NCAA investigation are implicated."

It will be interesting to see how this saga plays out.

Numbers Never Lie: Using Stats to Determine the SEC’s Best Returning Quarterback – Andrew Miller, Maroon and White Nation

Over the weekend, our own Andrew Miller broke down the three best returning SEC quarterbacks — Nick Fitzgerald, Jalen Hurts, and Austin Allen — to determine who exactly is the best. Definitely worth checking out.

"Unsurprisingly, the idea that Fitzgerald could be better than Hurts did not go over well with Tide fans. There were also several Razorback fans disgruntled that their signal-caller, Austin Allen, was left out of the discussion after a season in which he lead the league in passing.With all the bickering going on, I decided to settle, once and for all, who the SEC’s top quarterback is heading into the 2017 season. I myself advocate for the “Numbers Never Lie” school of thought. I’m a stat-nerd, so naturally, I dove into the statistics of Fitzgerald, Allen, and Hurts from last season in an attempt to rank the three.My methodology for these rankings was to compare the each’s numbers in several major categories (some of which have sub-categories) and award points to the leader in each category. Each category is worth a total of 1-point. If there are sub-categories, each “sub” will be worth a fraction of a point. In the case of a tie for a particular category or sub-category, the tying players will both be awarded the full amount of points available. The idea of making each category worth an equal value may not please everyone, but it is ultimately the best solution, as seemingly everyone values something different when evaluating quarterbacks."