For the third straight year, it appears Mississippi State will be signing at least one Itawamba Community College football standout. This time, it's 6'4, 330 pound defensive tackle Jeff Howie of Chester, PA.

After visiting MSU this past weekend, Howie, who signed with Temple University out of high school, confirmed Thursday morning that he has verbally committed to head coach Dan Mullen and his program in Starkville.

"I had a great visit and I'm really looking forward to playing with Pernell next year on the defensive line," said Howie referring to the all-SEC defensive end, Pernell McPhee, who was a two-time NJCAA All-American at ICC. "I gave Coach Mullen my word that I will sign with Mississippi State on national signing day (Feb. 3) and that's what I will do."

Howie, who was an all-state offensive lineman last year for the Indians, missed the final four games of the year after suffering a broken hand against Mississippi Delta and still finished with 38 tackles, 12 of those were for a loss and registered five sacks.

"Those are some really nice numbers for a defensive tackle that basically played four and a half games for us this past season," said ICC head coach Jon Williams. "Jeff has taken his game to another level these last two seasons for us. The only question was which side of the ball he was going to play on at the D' 1 level."

Last year, McPhee and fellow ICC all-American Heath Hutchins of Saltillo signed with MSU. The year before, it was another Indians all-American, Tyson Lee, who headed to Starkville.