South Carolina Transfer Linebacker Commits To Mississippi State

Stone Blanton, the Madison, Mississippi native, will return home after spending his first two seasons at South Carolina. Blanton was a consensus 4-star recruit coming out of Madison-Ridgeland Academy. 

Blanton played primarily on special teams in his freshman campaign at South Carolina and collected seven tackles and one and a half tackles for loss. However, in his sophomore season, Blanton worked his way into the starting lineup for the Gamecocks and started at linebacker. 

Blanton immediately made an impact after being inserted into the starting lineup by collecting 52 tackles, one sack, one forced fumble, and one interception, which resulted in a touchdown. 

At 6-2 232 pounds, Blanton possesses the size needed to play linebacker in the SEC. While he can play Mike and Will linebacker, expect Blanton to stay at Mike at MSU.

MSU and Ole Miss were both after Blanton during his prep days at MRA, but he surprised people when he elected to head out of state. Blanton was a two-sport athlete in high school and was thought to play baseball in college. 

However, Blanton decided to focus on football and did not play baseball in South Carolina. The Bulldogs needed an experienced linebacker after the departure of Nathaniel “Bookie” Watson and Jett Johnson, and MSU successfully filled that need.