Jesuit grad lands at Mississippi State

Former tailback Kevin Valenti confirmed in a voicemail late Tuesday he will attend Mississippi State, join the football team.

By JOEY KNIGHT
Published August 2, 2007

Former Jesuit tailback Kevin Valenti, Hillsborough County's top rusher in 2006, confirmed in a voicemail late Tuesday night he will attend Mississippi State and join the football team as a preferred walk-on.

Valenti, who rushed for 1,600 yards in the regular season, could not be reached Wednesday. His father, Tom, said he began practice with the Bulldogs at 6 Wednesday morning - about eight hours after he decided to accept the Bulldogs' walk-on offer - as a defensive back.

"We got here at 3 o'clock Tuesday afternoon and got like a week's worth of work done in a couple of hours," Tom Valenti said. "But he's really happy, he's going to have a chance to play in the SEC."

All-Sports Community Service founder Tyrone Keys, who traveled to Starkville with Valenti's family, said the 5-foot-10 ex-Tigers workhorse met with MSU president Gen. Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong, and ultimately received a "leadership scholarship" that covers roughly half his tuition.

Valenti also had been considering Division I-AA Nicholls State.

"Nicholls State must have called 10 times (Tuesday)," said Keys, whose organization helped connect Valenti with MSU. "It was crazy."

Joey Knight can be reached at jknight @sptimes.com or (813) 226-3350.

[Last modified August 1, 2007, 22:59:14]