Mumphrey excited about heading north to Michigan State

It’s 921 miles from Keith Mumphrey’s doorstep in Vienna, Ga., to Jenison Fieldhouse in East Lansing, Mich. But he felt more at home up north at Michigan State University than he did at any of the number of colleges that recruited him in the South.

So earlier this week, Mumphrey made it official. He committed to the Spartans and will sign with them in February.

“You know how you just get a vibe about people?,” said Mumphrey, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound wide receiver and defensive back at Dooly County. “I just really liked how the coaches treated me and how they made me feel about things. I had done a lot of research and stuff and I liked the education there and the football there. I just felt like it was the best situation for me.”

Mumphrey, a three-star rated recruit who will play wideout for the Spartans, had opportunities closer to home. He received scholarship offers from Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Oklahoma State and Wake Forest and virtually every mid-major school in the South. But he never received an offer from Georgia or Georgia Tech.

Mumphrey said he attended a Nike camp at UGA and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo came to Dooly County to evaluate him. But he never heard anything back from the Bulldogs.

“To be honest, Georgia is letting a lot of the talent get out of the state,” said Mumphrey, who has 16 catches for 297 yards and 7 TDs, five of them as a receiver. “That’s the way I see it. You hear about Georgia players playing well for teams all over the place. Well, I’m going to be another one.”

Mumphrey cites the standout wide receivers that have come through Michigan State, rattling off the names  Plaxico Burress, Andre Rison and Charles Rogers. In fact, he said he wears the No. 17 because of Burress. But he said he no longer idolizes the former New York Giants star after the gun incident that landed Buress in prison.

“You’ve got all the money in the world, then you do something like that,” Mumphrey said. “That’s just stupid.”

Mumphrey said he’s actually embracing the notion of being almost a thousand miles from home.

“It was a better opportunity and situation for me,” he said. “I had a chance to go closer to home, but sometimes it’s best getting away from home. Start over,  meet new people, make new friends, nobody knows anything about you, I like that. I really think it’s a great move for me, moving forward and being surrounded by positivity instead of negativity. It’ll teach me to be a man without my mother around.”

Mumphrey said his commitment to Michigan State has actually reignited the recruiting interest in him. But he intends to stand firm on his decision.

“My mind’s made up and nothing’s going to change it,” he said. “They were the first team to offer me so why not think about them? When it came down to making a decision, they were the first ones to give me a chance. So now I’m just going to concentrate on showing other teams what I’ve got.”