Cowbell Corner

Mississippi State's Ace Reese reportedly (again) to return to Starkville

The transfer portal window doesn't close until midnight though and as any sports fan knows, anything can happen when there's time on the clock.
Taylor Hodges|
Mississippi State Bulldogs Ace Reese at the plate in game against Florida.
Mississippi State Bulldogs Ace Reese at the plate in game against Florida. | MSU Athletics

If Mississippi State’s new baseball coach didn’t already know it, he definitely knows how passionate the baseball program’s fans can be.

For the last few days, the rumor mill has been spinning at full speed as whispers began trickling out about other programs trying to lure Ace Reese away from Starkville.

Just go look on social media or any of the message boards. You’ll find a wide range of comments and posts from “nothing to worry about” to “burn everything to the ground if he leaves.”

But coach Brian O’Connor and the rest of the Bulldogs’ fans can breathe a sigh of relief.

D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers has reported that Reese will be returning to Starkville for his junior season.

Reese, who is playing for USA Baseball College National Team right now, is worth the worry. He was named the SEC Newcomer of the Year and has been an All-American by five different organizations. Mississippi State fans were already starting to dream about a trip to Omaha next June with Reese and the nation’s top-ranked transfer portal class.

The rumors and speculation put a temporary pause on those dreams. However, it may not be time to totally relax.

The transfer portal doesn’t close until midnight tonight and anything can happen. That sentiment isn’t confined to on the field. It applies to off-field stuff, too.

Other reporters are reporting the same news, but the closest anyone has come to mentioning a direct source was Rogers’ initial post that said, “Ace Reese tells me he will not enter the portal.” We still have not seen anything from Reese nor has Mississippi State issued an official statement.

Will either of those things happen before the portal closes? Probably not.

Are the other reporters wrong? Probably not.

I don’t have any inside sources and I doubt a direct message to Reese on social media would go over too well. I’m just going by what I hear from others and see online and I never saw anything that made me too concerned about Reese entering the portal.

But I also know the reality of the situation and that ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN.

So, while I do think Rogers was actually told by Reese that Reese would be coming back to Starkville next season, I’m a big enough pessimist to wait until the portal closes before looking at hotel reservations in Omaha next summer.

But if Reese isn’t in the portal by midnight, I’ll be looking up reservations by 12:05 a.m.

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Taylor Hodges
TAYLOR HODGES

Award-winning sports editor, writer, columnist, and photographer with 15 years’ experience offering his opinion and insight about the sports world in Mississippi and Texas, but he was taken to Razorback pep rallies at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth before he could walk. Taylor has covered all levels of sports, from small high schools in the Mississippi Delta to NFL games. Follow Taylor on Twitter and Facebook.

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