College baseball in our state will open this week. Rust travels to Tuskegee on Wednesday while William Carey, Mississippi College, Delta State and Millsaps open play on Friday with Tougaloo traveling to Xavier for a doubleheader on Saturday. Belhaven will open on February 11 on the road in Texas at Letourneau. Alcorn and Jackson State will take part in the Andre Dawson Classic in New Orleans beginning on February 18 while Mississippi Valley will open at home by hosting Rust on that date. All of the Mississippi junior colleges will begin play next week. The three Mississippi Division 1 teams will open the 2022 season on February 18 as defending National Champion Mississippi State opens by hosting Long Beach. Ole Miss will open at home against Charleston South while Southern Mississippi will open by hosting North Alabama.
Former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz was the only player voted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers of America. Joining “Big Papi” in the 2022 Class will be Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Gil Hodges, Buck O’Neil, Minnie Minoso and Bud Fowler, all who were all elected earlier by the Veterans Committee. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and Sammy Sosa all fell short in their final year of eligibility by the sportswriters.
Former Northeast Jones basketball star Kenny Payne is presently a New York Knick assistant coach. Payne is also one of the highest-paid assistant coaches in the NBA. He has long aspired to be a head coach, and now his alma mater, the University of Louisville, has a vacant head-coaching opening. Payne served under John Calipari for a decade at the University of Kentucky and seems to be getting a lot of support from Louisville fans. Payne was a member of the Cardinals' 1986 National Championship team and was a first round draft choice of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1989.
Mississippi State took it on the chin twice this week, losing in overtime at Kentucky and then at Texas Tech in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The Bulldogs (13-6, 4-3) will play host to South Carolina and travel to Arkansas this week. Ole Miss won two-of-three games as they downed Florida and Kansas State but fell to Arkansas. The Rebels travel to LSU and Florida this week. USM fell to Rice and North Texas this week, and the Golden Eagles (6-14, 1-6) will play at Florida International and Florida Atlantic this week.
The Ole Miss Lady Rebels (17-4, 5-3) dropped games to South Carolina and Georgia this week while Mississippi State (13-7, 4-4) beat both Missouri and Texas A&M. USM (12-7, 4-4) split road games at North Texas and Rice and will host Florida International and Florida Atlantic this week. The Jackson State Lady Tigers are off to an 8-0 record in SWAC play. JSU will host Southern University and travel to Valley this week.
Ole Miss football was ranked No. 1 in the country by 247 Sports as the Rebels have 10 transfer commits. The Rebels have six former high school 4-star recruits and four 3-stars heading to Oxford. Southern Miss was tops in Conference USA rankings with 10 commits. Signing day is Wednesday this week.
The Super Bowl is set, as the L.A Rams will host the surprising Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, February 13.
Sean Payton stepped down as head coach of the New Orleans Saints last week after 15 seasons. Payton leaves his first and only NFL head-coaching job with a 152-89 mark. He guided the Saints to nine playoff appearances and led the Saints to a Super Bowl win in 2009.
Former USM football coach Larry Fedora has been named the head football coach for the New Orleans Breakers in the USFL.
Two Ole Miss wide receivers in Laurel’s Dontario Drummond and former Jackson Callaway’s star Braylon Sanders will suit up Saturday in the 73rd playing of the Senior Bowl in Mobile. Drummond will play for the American team while Sanders will suit up for the National team.
The MHSAA will hold soccer state championships this weekend.
Dale is a Waynesboro resident who has been writing sports since 1973.
