Written by In The Bleachers | 19 January 2007

Before I get started I just wanted to thank the guys of In the Bleachers for letting me join up with them. It's an honor and a privilege to work with them. And while I promised to not just talk about West Virginia, I thought I would ease my way in with a little story about how being honest with recruits can gain you more than just the trust of said recruit. It seems that Mississippi St. is not exactly being honest with their recruits, and it may cost them for many years to come, or until Sylvester Croom is released from his contract. Whichever comes first. Considering my recent trip to Starkville for the WVU-MSU game, I'm leaning on the latter. Two juco players that were committed to MSU were cut loose from their commitment to the Bulldogs without warning. And it not only hurt the chances of these two players continuing their careers, it also pissed off the coach of the Jones Junior College (in Mississippi). And now Jones coach, Eddie Pierce is telling anyone and everyone that will listen that they should not trust one word out of MSU coach Sylvester Croom's mouth. And by proxie, they should believe everything coach Rodriguez says. Well, almost everything (Alabama).

“I called up there to Mississippi State during the middle of our season and told them Archie and Tim would probably not graduate in December,” said Pierce on Thursday afternoon. “They did not say anything about that. I had no idea about this until yesterday when Melvin Smith called us and told us they no longer had scholarships. “I called Coach (Sylvester) Croom yesterday and (assistant) Coach (Rocky) Felker called me back this morning. He told me that it’s a business and that’s just the way it goes sometimes. This makes me sick to my stomach and I have lost all respect in the world for Mississippi State. “Rashad had signed with West Virginia,” he said. “I called Coach (Rich) Rodriguez in October and told him it looked like Rashad would not graduate in December. He told me they could not take him if that was the case. He was honest with me and Mississippi State was not." Pierce said he had advised another Bobcat standout, defensive back Ellis Lankster, to strongly consider Mississippi State last month. Lankster committed to Mississippi State, but has since committed to West Virginia.

And Lankster will know one thing when he arrives in Morgantown, besides the fact that he should have been thinking about winter clothes before he got here, that he will be treated honestly and fairly. And with that, my West Virginia posting on here comes to an end. Or at least until some really juicy news comes out of Morgantown.

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