Jackson Free Press

After a less-than-stellar freshman season at Mississippi State University, guard Malik Newman decided to test the NBA waters. Newman chose to return to school once it was certain that he wouldn’t get drafted late in the first round or early in the second.

Signs showed that Newman might not have heard his named called on draft night in either round.

As one of the top recruits in the nation and the top recruit in Mississippi, it was expected that the star guard would spend one season in college. Instead, he averaged just 11.3 points per game and only shot 39 percent from the field.

After withdrawing from the draft, Newman has ultimately decided to leave MSU. Newman informed ESPN that he will be transferring to the University of Kansas.

The Jayhawks, along with Kentucky, were one of several schools vying for Newman’s college commitment. The six-foot, three-inch playmaker decided on Kansas after trips to North Carolina State University, Western Kentucky University and the University of Oregon.

Currently, the starting Jayhawks guards are senior Frank Mason and junior Devonte’ Graham. Newman will have to sit out next season under the NCAA transfer rules.

In Mississippi tennis news, Jackson State University won the 2016 SWAC Men’s Championship, but the actions of a former coach have put the program in hot water with the NCAA. The Division I Committee on Infractions placed the program on one-year probation from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2017.

The violations occurred when former coach Scott Pennington used an ineligible student athlete under the name of a student who was eligible to play. The NCAA cited that the former coach failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and knew the student wasn’t eligible to practice or take place in competitions.

Still, Pennington allowed the player to practice and reimbursed the student for travel-related expenses on at least two occasions. The NCAA determined that the student received impermissible recruiting benefits.

The NCAA’s other penalties and corrective measures include a public reprimand and censure of the university, a two-year show-cause penalty for Pennington from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2018, a $5,000 fine, and the forfeiture of any wins that the ineligible student athlete participated in.

Pennington committed these violations in 2015 before Lois Alexis replaced him. In her first season as the men’s and women’s coach, Alexis earned the honor of the SWAC Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year after leading the JSU men to a title.

*CORRECTION: In a previous version of this story, Mississippi State was incorrectly named the University of Mississippi State. Also, Malik Newman committed to MSU after Rick Ray was fired, not before.

If you are running a mock draft of the 2016 NFL Draft, it might be time to just tear up any guesses at this point with the Philadelphia Eagles trading up to the second spot. The Eagles got the Cleveland Browns second pick in the second blockbuster trade before the draft.

The common theory is that both the St. Louis Rams, who have the first pick, and Philadelphia will draft a quarterback.

Two types of NFL teams exist: those who have a franchise quarterback and those who don’t have one. Quarterback is the most discussed and visible position on every NFL roster. Essentially, it is the face of the franchise.

When a team picks the spot correctly it can mean 10 to 15 years of success. When teams muck it up, it seems like it takes forever to fix that mistake.

Just how hard is it to pick a long-term starting quarterback? Let’s take a look back at the draft from 1998 to last year to see.

Every football fan old enough probably remembers the 1998 NFL Draft. The question before it happened was who should be the first pick: Peyton Manning out of Tennessee or Ryan Leaf out of Washington state?

The Indianapolis Colts picked Manning with the first pick of the draft, and he turned out to be a Hall of Fame quarterback now that his career is over. Leaf was selected No. 2, and he is now considered one of the biggest busts in NFL Draft history.

Eight quarterbacks were picked in 1998, and most ended up with short careers. Only Charlie Batch, Brian Griese and Matt Hasselbeck had some sort of success in the league.

The 1999 quarterback draft class produced the top three picks, though two didn’t pan out. Tim Couch, who the Cleveland Browns drafted first overall, did achieve a lot of success in the league.

He was the Browns' first pick upon their return as a franchise, and he didn’t have much help on a team starting over. The third pick of the draft was the Cincinnati Bengals choosing Akili Smith, who was pretty much a bust.

The Philadelphia Eagles used the second pick in the draft to select Donovan McNabb who was the most successful quarterback in the 1999 class. The Eagles hope the No. 2 pick is just as good to them this year.

Other notable picks in that class were Aaron Brooks, who had some success in New Orleans, Daunte Culpepper, who stuck around the league for awhile, Cade McNown and Shaun King.

Brock Huard from this class might be better known for his work with ESPN.

In the 2000 draft class, 12 quarterbacks were picked, but the must-known person was taken in the sixth round out of the University of Michigan. You might have heard of him: Tom Brady.

Yep, the guy picked in the sixth round was more successful than the six quarterbacks picked ahead …