4-star LB Austin Howard decommits from Jeff Lebby's Mississippi State; says it's in his "best interest" 

Four-star linebacker Austin Howard announced his commitment to the Mississippi State Bulldogs in June this year. However, the Memphis native backed off from his decision on Tuesday and made the announcement via his social media account.

The 6-foot-3 athlete claimed that it was in his "best interest" to decommit from the program. Howard has received offers from programs such as Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Minnesota, Tennessee State, Marshall and Arkansas State among others.

"I would like to Thank Mississippi State and their entire staff for welcoming me into their family and all they have done for me," Howard wrote on his X account. "But after discussing with my family we have decided it would be in my best interest to decommit from Mississippi State."

The four-star recruit took an official visit to the Volunteers' campus in Tennessee over the weekend and has attended a few Vanderbilt and Ole Miss games this year. According to On3, Vanderbilt has a 93.9% chance of landing the four-star prospect.

Howard is ranked No. 541 in the country and is the 59th-best player at his position in the Class of 2025, as per On3. He is also the 20th-best overall prospect from the state of Tennessee.

How many recruits have committed to Mississippi State from the Class of 2025?

After Austin Howard's decommitment from the Mississippi State Bulldogs, the program now has 16 hard commits from the class of 2025, as per 247Sports. The Jeff Lebby-led side extended offers to 235 athletes from the class, but have managed to land only 16 of them so far.

Six of those 16 commitments are from four-star athletes. However, the program is yet to land a five-star recruit this year. Their Class of 2025 is ranked No. 34 in the country, which is a slight improvement from their 2024 ranking of 35.

Lebby and company will hope to land as many young athletes as they can by the end of the recruiting season.

The Bulldogs have started the 2024-25 campaign 1-6, losing all their four conference games so far this season. It has been a torrid start to the Bulldogs' campaign as they allowed more than 30 points in each of their seven games so far, while scoring less than 25 points in six of their games.

Their next game is against the 4-3 Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday, October 26. Mississippi State hopes to bounce back from its run of six consecutive defeats and win its second game of the season.