The overhaul of the DB room continues, as MSU adds LSU transfer Jeremiah Hughes. This follows the earlier announcement of Nikai Martinez transferring in at the Safety position.
Hughes (6-0 / 193) hit the portal after coming off a strong season as a true freshman. I feel like I've said this about almost every portal commitment we have, but Hughes once again checks the boxes of onfield production and multiple years of eligibility.
Hughes played in all 13 games last season and proved to be a Special Teams stud, logging 180 snaps on ST and a handful at Corner. Don't let the low Corner snaps fool you, if you're a true freshman playing 180 snaps on Special Teams, you're legit.
Where does he fit in at CB?
Hughes now joins a revamped Corner group. A few weeks ago, we added Ed Woods, a grad transfer from ASU, who is likely our new CB1. This week, we added Lejond Cavazos, a transfer from UNC. Cavazos who is coming off a Spring where he was projected as UNC's starting CB. While coming off an injury, Cavazos figures to be in the CB2-3 tier. With two years of eligibility, Cavazos figures to play a role this year and next.
And now we add Hughes, who likely fits into the 2-deep at CB in the CB3-4 Range, but with upside.
He's likely in the same tier as Rucker, Coley, Brantley and Willie. My expectation is this group can be better than the long list of recent underwhelming CBs we've trotted out the past few years. Including Ronald Williams, Amir Speed, Chester Kimbrough, Lowrey, and others.
Looking Ahead to 2025
Hughes has 3 years remaining. We should have a good veteran core returning for the 2025 season including Cavazos (a Senior next year) and Rucker, Coley, Brantley, and Willie (all Juniors in 2025).
TL;DR
With Hughes's addition, the staff has totally overhauled the CB room. On paper, it seems they added CB1-3 from the portal.
This pushes Rucker, Coley, and Brantley down the depth chart to CB4-6 slots. In my opinion, those are good CB4-6, so we should have solid depth, pending any pre-season departures.
With the three portal additions, I give the CB room a solid B grade.
Behind them at Safety we have Spencer and Tatum, and another great portal pick up in Martinez (see blog on him here).
This is a great CB pickup, adding young depth with SEC game experience. Well done, Smith and Staff.
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