Congrtas De'Runnya Wilson, Mr. Basketball 2013

[fishwater99]

http://highschoolsports.al.com/news...l-hoovers-marques-webb-named-miss-basketball/

I sure hope he plays basketball for us next year.

We now have the 2012 and 2013 Mr. Basketball from Alabama on our team.

 

[Vv83]

Was he not recruited by other schools for basketball before he signed with us or did he just decide to play football or what? I'm curious because I tried to find his basketball profile on 24/7 basketball recruiting and couldn't find anything on him.

 

[Brad Stevens.sixpack]

This is awesome. I can only hope he decides to play both sports. I realize a lot of people are high on him in football, but we have so much depth there, it may be a few years before he has any impact on the field. However, he could be the best "walk-on" in MSU basketball history, and would probably get immediate playing time. To have a Mr. Alabama who averaged 18.4 ppg and 15.8 rpg as a walk-on is a luxury, no doubt. I just hope Mullen is kind enough to share him with Ray.

 

[dawgstudent]

If I had to choose, I would want him to play basketball honestly. I think we need the help there more than football.

 

[Brad Stevens.sixpack]

Yes -- agreed. And we could turn one of our biggest weaknesses (lack of depth) into a huge strength in one season. A team with the full allotment of scholarship players and quality walk-ons just sounds great.

 

[HailState39110]

since he will redshirt in football

This is awesome. I can only hope he decides to play both sports. I realize a lot of people are high on him in football, but we have so much depth there, it may be a few years before he has any impact on the field. However, he could be the best "walk-on" in MSU basketball history, and would probably get immediate playing time. To have a Mr. Alabama who averaged 18.4 ppg and 15.8 rpg as a walk-on is a luxury, no doubt. I just hope Mullen is kind enough to share him with Ray.

and probably wont see the feild until his redshirt sophmore year , I hope he is more involved with the basketball team early in his time with us and more involved in football by time he leaves :

Year 1 - Redshirt in football - concentrate on basketball
Year2- special teams and third string in football - concentrate on basketball
Year 3- concentrate on football
Year 4 - concentrate on football (basketball eligibility ends)
Year 5 - concentrate on football

 

[johnson86-1]

How does he compare to the other wide receivers in our class? No doubt he would contribute more in basketball next year than football, but if he is our only chance to have a 6-3+ wr that can jump and catch the ball, I'd rather have him in football, even if he is just learning the ropes next year or even for the next two years.

What's the knock on him? Too skinny? Bad hands? I'm assuming if he was Mr. Basketball he has the overall athleticism to be a star if he can get off the line and hold on to the ball when it gets to him. Why was he only a 3*?

 

[patdog]

If he's on football scholarship, he's going to be 100% football except from early January through the end of basketball season. Realistically, it's very difficult to play both sports and he will probably wind up choosing one or the other. I agree with dawgstudent, I'd rather he play basketball.

 

[HailState39110]

no knock on him football,just very raw

How does he compare to the other wide receivers in our class? No doubt he would contribute more in basketball next year than football, but if he is our only chance to have a 6-3+ wr that can jump and catch the ball, I'd rather have him in football, even if he is just learning the ropes next year or even for the next two years.

What's the knock on him? Too skinny? Bad hands? I'm assuming if he was Mr. Basketball he has the overall athleticism to be a star if he can get off the line and hold on to the ball when it gets to him. Why was he only a 3*?

i dont think he started playing football until his junior year .He hasnt had a lot of coaching and time to develop as a WR, but supposedly he has all the measureables to be a stud.

 

[121Josey]

Did anyone ever come to a conclusion of the two-sport scholarship rule? Someone said that it counts for both sports.

To be the best "walk-on" in MSU BB history, he'll have to be better than Varnardo.**

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

His scholarship will be counted toward football as long as he is on the football roster.

 

[DAWG61]

His ceiling is much higher in basketball it appears. He had over 1500 rebounds. Pretty impressive.

 

[notLBC]

How does he compare to the other wide receivers in our class? No doubt he would contribute more in basketball next year than football, but if he is our only chance to have a 6-3+ wr that can jump and catch the ball, I'd rather have him in football, even if he is just learning the ropes next year or even for the next two years.

DeRunnya 6-5 212 40 listed as 4.56
BJ Hammond 6-4 210 40 listed as 4.65
Fred Ross 6-2 185
Shelby Christy 6-3 190
Brandon Wells 6-2 175
Donald Gray 5-10 195 40 listed as 4.45

He's the biggest of the bunch, the only kid really close to being as big as him is BJ Hammond, who if you've watched tape really isn't as athletic as DeRunnya is. He's not "our only chance at having a 6-3+ wr that can jump and catch the ball", but a few years down the road he'll be our best chance provided we don't recruit somebody bigger.

To have a Mr. Alabama who averaged 18.4 ppg and 15.8 rpg as a walk-on is a luxury, no doubt. I just hope Mullen is kind enough to share him with Ray.

His ceiling is much higher in basketball it appears. He had over 1500 rebounds. Pretty impressive.

DeRunnya is a guy who outphysicals players on the rebound and at the rim in order to get his boards/points. He's not going to be able to do that in college ball when size wise he's a thicker Fred Thomas with maybe another inch. Throughout his sophomore, junior, and senior years he was a collective 9 for 31 on 3pointers. Anyone expecting DeRunnya to end up averaging 10+ rebounds a game when he gets older is expecting Wilson to be the next Charles Barkley. He'll be a great guy to switch in and out if we want to go to a more physical set, but unless I and every other basketball analyst who's looked at is wrong, he'll never be a guy that we can expect to get more than 8 or so boards a game and his ceiling is most definitely higher in football than it is in Basketball.

 

[fishwater99]

So you have been watching him play throughout High School or did you just look at his stats?
Please tell us more.. How are his defense and ball-handling skills?
What is his vertical, how are his dunking skills?

 

[notLBC]

Not sure if serious, but I've looked at some tape. I'm not educated enough in basketball to tell you how his defense/ball handling skills are unless they're really or really bad. His vertical is definitely enough to dunk, but after that I don't know.

Here's a good dunk of his
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYgHwUIN4oI

Here's a team highlight of Wenonah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC6OfMwBHfM

You can zoom past the first 25 seconds but it shows his offense really eating up the transition game and going hard to the basket. DeRunnya also had a couple nice passes and defensive plays there.

Here's some highlights of their state championship game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBR0w7sv7cw

I just haven't seen him take it out and shoot, and I don't remember ever seeing him not be biggest man on the court. He'll help us out no doubt, and I'm glad to have him play both sports, but unless he can develop a good shot(which I don't doubt he could) I don't think he'll ever be more of a back-up or a guy we switch in if we want to go to a more physical set. Which in my opinion would be great, especially considering he doesn't eat up a scholarship. I just don't think we should get excited about things like average 12+ rebounds or whatever it was when the kid has probably never played against a guy as big as Colin Borchert. It definitely shows he can do it, but we don't know if he can do it playing college ball, not to mention the factors saying he probably won't be able to do it as well in college.

When it comes down to it, he's been playing basketball for a while, and has been putting up pretty good stats while doing it, then he's also been playing football for only a little while and he had more offers for football than basketball. In basketball he'll be about midsize(I wanna say average height for the NBA is 6'7, so I'd assume for NCAA it's 6'5-6'6), but in football he'll probably never have to line up against a guy bigger than he is unless he gets moved to tight end. Slay and Banks were tall corners and he has 4 inches on Slay and 2-3 on Banks. I'd be hardpressed to think of a corner that carried more than 200 pounds. His body-type and skillset translate much better to football than to basketball, and I believe once we've gotten a couple years to catch him up he'll be something special.

 

[bonedaddy401]

Why are you being a dick? Dude offers a much better break down of him than you or anyone else has.

 

[Philly Dawg]

Most guys who think they have a future in basketball....

choose it over football. This guy may not be most guys, but it probably tells you something that he was recruited in and chose football over basketball.

 

[drummerdawg]

So, your a basketball analyst?

 

[fishwater99]

Funny how you can criticize the guy in basketball and say he will be no good at MSU from watching a few videos on the internet.
I will reserve judgement until I see him play in person, something I thought you had done already..
I was kidding about his dunking and vertical, but not his defense and ball-handling(both tough to tell from a few videos).

I also agree he has a bigger upside in football, but he could really help us next year in basketball, imo..
He could turn out to be much better in football, time will tell.

 

[o_Hot Rock]

His ceiling is much higher in basketball it appears. He had over 1500 rebounds. Pretty impressive.

Yes, 1500 rebounds is quite impressive. Wilson is 6' 4.5" with a 4.56 40 coming out of HS. Think Megatron at 6' 5" 4.50 40 at that age. You guys remember how Ga Tech would just stand up and throw in his general direction? Why wasn't Wilson more celebrated coming out of HS? You guys have already stated that he only played a year or so. Maybe that's why?

If a CB plays press coverage on a guy that big and fast, he will just blow by/through him. If he plays off it's a 5 to 10 yard gimme on first down, depending on how many yards he drags the guy. He will have to be zoned with a safety over the top. There is nothing a running team needs more than 2 defenders on one guy without the ball.

More upside? Not sure but me thinks there are a ton of basketball players 6' 5" and not many WR with that combination of speed and size.

1500 rebounds makes me think he will catch the **** out of a football. Now, if we can just get him bigger stronger and faster so he can dominate both, that would be sweet!

 

[notLBC]

Funny how you can criticize the guy in basketball and say he will be no good at MSU from watching a few videos on the internet.
I will reserve judgement until I see him play in person, something I thought you had done already..

How do you think players are analyzed and given rankings by recruiting services and coaches? And where did I say he'd be no good? He's gonna help us out a bunch and give us some nice depth at SF, but he's never going to be a rebounding machine at 6'6 and he'll need to develop a midrange shot if he wants to put up some serious offensive numbers. All I've said is that that 18 points and 12 rebounds a game in highschool doesn't mean anything about how good of a college player he'll be.

I was kidding about his dunking and vertical, but not his defense and ball-handling(both tough to tell from a few videos).

I've already said that I'm not qualified to give an opinion on his defense or ball-handling, and I haven't said anything to the benefit or detriment of either of those skills. I've merely stated he won't be able to score or rebound at will like he did in highschool.

I also agree he has a bigger upside in football, but he could really help us next year in basketball, imo..

Which is my opinion as well, but I'm not gonna expect him to play as well as a normal scholarship player just because he's put up some good stats and won some awards. Ray said in an interview after one of the first few games in the season that Fred and Chicken were going through some growing pains because all their life they'd been able to do whatever they wanted to just because they had never played anybody as athletic as they were. DeRunnya's like that as well, except he doesn't have the body to become a dedicated post player and he doesn't have a developed shot to rely on. Getting DeRunnya was a great boon for our basketball team, but we're not getting a scholarship player for free.

 

[DAWG61]

Only MSU would take the Alabama POY in basketball and use him for football instead. We had 6 basketball players last year. Let's take a proven basketball player and see if he can be a good wide receiver. That's brilliant!**

 

[o_Hot Rock]

Only MSU would take the Alabama POY in basketball and use him for football instead. We had 6 basketball players last year. Let's take a proven basketball player and see if he can be a good wide receiver. That's brilliant!**

You do know that some of the best TE's and WR's were former basketball players don't you? They have great hands and know how to use their bodies to block out instinctively and catch the ball in traffic really well. It's not just State, apparently, a couple other guys actually have tried it and very successfully. Most end up at TE but a few that had the speed ended up at WR. That 6' 4" to 6' 6" guy such as Wilson are usually the ones that transition to football because they aren't quite big enough to play the forward positon in college or pros and they don't score well enough or guard the perimeter well enough to play the guard position. Wilson is the prototype of that guy. It's been done before and several times well.

Could he help our round ball team? Of course, but he wasn't a top basketball prospect for a reason.

 

[skb124]

You do realize its his call right?

 

[DAWG61]

It sounds like the type of player he'd be on the court won't really be affected by his play on the field so let's see how he does in both. Maybe he can excel at both. Wouldn't that be awesome. Has there ever been a first team all-sec in two sports of the big 3?

 

[DAWG61]

Seriously doubt he has executive decision in it

 

[dawgman42]

Tony Gonzalez says "Hells Yeah".

 

[skb124]

You seriously doubt he has the authority to make his own decision on whether he plays basketball or football in college? Who does then?

 

[Walter White.sixpack]

He'll choose in two years

I think I remember reading earlier this week that the planned on playing both for his first two years and then choosing which one to play singularly.

 

[DAWG61]

Mullen, Ray and MSU have that decision over Wilson. You can't just pick and choose whatever sport you want to play. Nobody can. You might be good enough and they let you but they always hold that final decision over you. In your scenario Wilson is great at both. If he sucks at one or both though and his opening to play both will start to close very quickly.

 

[skb124]

He has the total decision at the beginning. If he wants to play football, then he can play football and give up basketball. If he wants to play basketball, then he can give up football. That is his decision. Well, that was his decision. And he decided to play football. So yes, now it is not totally his call, but you are wrong if you say that he didn't have the ultimate decision on what he played.

 

[DAWG61]

Haha I like your world.

 

[skb124]

So let me get this straight, you think he was forced to play football out of high school? He couldn't decide to go to college for basketball? My gosh there are so many idiots on this board.

 

[DAWG61]

He can decide to sow soccer balls in India if he wants. If he wants to play football and basketball for MSU though they decide to offer him that opportunity first and THEN he decides. What happens if DeRunnya Wilson decides to play football and basketball for the University of Alabama? Shouldn't be a problem right cause in your world it's all up to DeRunnya. Which idiots you speaking of?

 

[Coach Bully]

This is the best class of walk ons I have ever seen in Starkville. Not only do we have Mr. Basketball coming in but we also have 6 ft 5 Kenny Paul Geno (Booneville) 20 ppg 13 Rpg. Was considered for Mr Basketball in Ms, if not for Malik he might have won. Also 6 ft 4 PG Dallas Prater from St. Andrews. He won Region MVP over Laderrick Scott who has offers from several SEC schools.

 

[skb124]

The idiot that just wrote that. And made my point in the process. DeRunnya decided to come to Mississippi State. His choice. He knew what he was getting into when he signed, but it was absolutely his choice. As you said, he could have just as easily gone somewhere else. Again, his choice. Not Ray's. Not Mullen's. And not MSU's.

 

[DAWG61]

This is the best class of walk ons I have ever seen in Starkville. Not only do we have Mr. Basketball coming in but we also have 6 ft 5 Kenny Paul Geno (Booneville) 20 ppg 13 Rpg. Was considered for Mr Basketball in Ms, if not for Malik he might have won. Also 6 ft 4 PG Dallas Prater from St. Andrews. He won Region MVP over Laderrick Scott who has offers from several SEC schools.

Say what? We have 3 good walk-ons for basketball next year? How do you know this? Please let this be true. If true I take full credit for Ray seeing the light on walk-ons**

http://www.maxpreps.com/athletes/11...ball-winter-12-13/profile-kenny-paul-geno.htm

 

[Brad Stevens.sixpack]

He can decide to sow soccer balls in India if he wants. If he wants to play football and basketball for MSU though they decide to offer him that opportunity first and THEN he decides. What happens if DeRunnya Wilson decides to play football and basketball for the University of Alabama? Shouldn't be a problem right cause in your world it's all up to DeRunnya. Which idiots you speaking of?

Are you really that dense? If in 2 years the kid wants to play basketball, he can play basketball. He may lose his scholarship, which may limit that option (I don't know his financial situation), but to act like a collegiate athlete has no say in his future is naive at best. Coach Bully has a great point though. I had heard about the PG from St. Andrews, but didn't know Geno was going to walk-on at State. That would really give us 4 good walk-ons when you consider Cunningham. I know a lot of people on this board won't agree with that, but when you have 12/13 scholarship guys and then your walk-ons are Wilson, Geno, Prater and Cunningham, that really improves the quality of practice tremendously. It does NOT mean we will be an NCAA team next year, but it does mean we can have true competition in practice without wearing out the same 6 or 7 guys every day. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[skb124]

I know for sure about the St Andrews guy and DeRunnya obviously (that is if he decides to play basketball). I don't know anything about the Booneville guy. That would be great for sure.

 

[Steakonastick]

His future is in football. He's a great high school player. But I do no think will ever play many basketball minutes. He played the post in high school. Not much use for a 6'4 power forward in the sec. Don't see him taking minutes away from ware, Lewis, borchart, and Johnson.