Jackson Free Press

Another month is left until the finalists for the 2017 C Spire Ferriss Trophy is announced, but the race might as well be called right now. If this was a heavyweight fight, the official would need to call it for a technical knockout.

Mississippi State University outfielder Brent Rooker is putting up unreal numbers. He is having the type of season that will be remembered for years in the rich MSU baseball lore.

Make no mistake: Four-year universities and colleges in our state have plenty of great baseball players.

One example is Jackson State University Tigers third baseman Lamar Briggs, who leads the SWAC in hits (53), doubles (11), and total bases (70). He is fifth in batting average, third in runs batted in and fourth in runs scored.

In a normal year, Briggs would be a great candidate for the Ferriss Trophy. His play is one of the reasons that JSU is 26-11 overall and 12-3 in SWAC play, just behind Alabama State University in the conference standings.

The University of Southern Mississippi is leading C-USA with a 10-2 mark in conference and 26-7 record overall. But the Golden Eagles lead just four statistical categories in the conference in hitting.

USM outfielder Matt Wallner leads C-USA in slugging percentage (.699) and home runs (11). He is fourth in on-base percentage and eighth in RBI in the conference. Teammate Dylan Burdeaux is having a strong season for the Golden Eagles as well.

But Rooker’s numbers blow everyone away. He is leading the SEC in batting average (.448), hits (56), RBI (56), doubles (19), home runs (15), total bases (126), stolen bases (14), stolen base attempts (18), slugging percentage (1.008) and on-base percentage (.548).

Last week the baseball must have looked like a beach ball to Rooker. He went 10 for 16 at the plate with a .625 batting average and drove in 13 RBI, scored nine runs, and hit six home runs, earned five walks, one double, and a pitch hit him three times in five games.

Rooker’s efforts landed him SEC Player of the Week honors for the second time in a row. This is the first time a player has won the award in back-to-back weeks since University of Georgia player Gordon Beckham in 2008, and Rooker is the first MSU player to accomplish the feat since Rex Buckner in 1992.

This is the third time this season Rooker has been named SEC Player of the Week. With the season he is having, it almost seems like he is a shoe-in for SEC Player of the Year.

In the preseason, MSU was picked to finish fourth in the Western Division and seventh in the conference. Right now the Bulldogs are tied for first in the division and the conference with an 8-4 mark.

The University of Kentucky, Auburn University and the University of Arkansas are tied for …

Several major changes are in store for the upcoming 90th Academy Awards following a meeting of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Board of Governors on Tuesday, March 28.

No one can say the New Orleans Saints are standing pat after three straight 7-9 seasons. This offseason, the Saints have been busy exploring options, making deals and bringing in players for meetings.

New Orleans will be hosting another high-profile player on Monday, April 10, when former Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson comes for a visit. Peterson hit the free-agent market when the Vikings decided not to pick up his $18-million option in February.

The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks have already met with the running back. At this late stage of free agency, it doesn’t hurt to kick the tires on the 32-year-old future Hall of Famer.

Peterson missed most of last season with injuries and most of the 2014 season suspended due to legal issues. Sandwiched in between those years, the 2015 season saw him rush for 1,485 yards, leading the league in rushing.

Peterson has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in seven of his 10 seasons in the NFL and rushed for double-digit touchdowns in eight of those. He failed to reach the end zone in 2014 and 2016, however, and rushed for a grand total of 149 yards those two seasons. New Orleans will have to decide if they would be getting the 2015 version of Peterson or the injury-prone 2016 version.

It is no secret that running backs begin to decline after reaching age 30 in the NFL. Peterson is known to keep himself in great shape and once recovered from an ACL tear during the 2011 season to rush for 2,097 yards in 2012, winning league MVP honors. It isn’t out of the question for the running back to produce another bounce-back year for whichever team he signs with in 2017.

New Orleans currently features Mark Ingram as its No. 1 running back. The 27 year old rushed for more than 1,000 yards for the first time in his career last season. It was just the second time in his career that he played in all 16 games, and he is still under contract for two more years.

If the Saints are going to sign Peterson, the team might have to change its offense. Both running backs are better when they get 20 or more carries in a game. That means that New Orleans must not rely on quarterback Drew Brees to carry the whole offense.

New Orleans will have to become a “run first” team if it signs the former Viking. Otherwise, the team is just wasting money on a big-name player when it still has a slight opening for a deep playoff run.

Ingram and Peterson would be a great one-two punch at the running-back position, but neither has been a major part of the passing game. New Orleans would have to make sure that it has a third-down-pass catching back. Peterson has also never been good at pass blocking during his career.

There are plenty …

Finding ways to develop talent is one of the most important aspects of running a winning team. The teams that are better at discovering and building up young players are normally the best in their leagues.

Major league baseball uses the minor league to do that through the farm system, which gives players a place to get game experience as they hone their craft.

In basketball, the NBA began the D-League, or Developmental League, in the 2001-2002 season. It will be called the NBA Gatorade League, or NBA G-League, starting next season.

The D-League currently has 22 teams, all of which are affiliated with a single NBA team. That pro team either fully owns and operates its D-League outfit, or the developing team has a hybrid ownership in which the an NBA team funds and manages it, but local ownership controls business and manages community relations.

The Memphis Grizzlies purchased an expansion franchise in January that is set to begin play next season in Southaven, Miss. Memphis is one of five teams that has launched an expansion team or bought an existing D-League team.

On Friday, March 31, the New Orleans Pelicans announced their intentions to start an expansion team, as well. Pelicans owner Tom Benson, who also owns the New Orleans Saints, will own and operate the D-League team, which will begin play in the 2018-2019 season.

New Orleans sent a Request for Proposal, or RFP, to 11 Gulf Coast-region cities, which the Pelicans and the NBA selected based on market research.

Of those 11 cities, seven are based in Louisiana (Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, Shreveport and St. Tammany Parish), two are in Mississippi (Biloxi and Jackson), one is in Alabama (Mobile), and one is in Florida (Pensacola).

New Orleans starting a D-League team means it can call up players from that team and get them players on the same day. Players will learn the same plays that the Pelicans use, as well, meaning that they won’t have to learn a new playbook when they are called up.

The Pelicans can use its D-League affiliate to develop draft picks that need more playing time before joining the NBA team. It also allows the team to expand its fan base outside of New Orleans.

Jackson makes perfect sense for a team looking to widen its reach. New Orleans Saints fans are numerous around the capital city, but there doesn’t seem to be one NBA team that a majority of Jacksonians root for each season.

New Orleans can build a fan base in Jackson that will be as loyal to the Pelicans as it is to the Saints. Fans in Central Mississippi never stopped loving the Saints no matter how terrible the team happened to be during the season. These same fans could be just as loyal to the Pelicans.