Mississippi State perhaps has its QB of the future in four-star Jalen Mayden.
Jalen Mayden, 4-star QB, picks Mississippi State. Watch him spin it.
Dan Mullen gets a good one.
Mayden comes from a sports family. His oldest brother, James, played the last three years as a receiver at Rice and is currently at New Mexico Highlands. The family’s middle brother, Jared, is a sophomore safety for Alabama. Their father, also named James, was a center on Oklahoma’s basketball team in the 1990s. Uncle Tyrone Washington was a Houston Rockets draft pick and played professional hoops overseas.
Jalen’s the next Mayden up, and in 2018, he’ll be the third of three brothers to play college football in the FBS. He’s a four-star quarterback in the class of 2018, with 20 listed scholarship offers and counting. The No. 12 dual-threat QB in the class, according to the 247Sports Composite. Mayden chose between five schools: Nebraska, Tennessee, Baylor, Louisville, and Mississippi State. The Bulldogs were the leaders in the eyes of many recruiting experts.
Mayden is a unique prospect in a few ways. The most obvious is that he’s a left-hander; there are few southpaws starting in the major college ranks these days. Because Mayden is a mobile QB, he can roll out to his left and then throw in a manner that’s not across his own body. Mayden’s handedness, in the right circumstance, could be used to put a college defense pretty well off-balance.
He’s a good athlete. At the Dallas regional for Nike’s Opening recruiting showcase earlier this year, he measured in at 6’2 and 214 pounds. He can move that big frame, recording an impressive 4.65-second 40-yard dash time. That physical profile could make him a real danger on inverted-veer or other inside-running option plays.
