Names not making the MS/AL All Star Roster

On Wednesday the Mississippi Association of Coaches along with the Mississippi High School Activities Association announced the roster for the Annual MS/AL All-Star Classic. Determining the deserving players for the game has always been a difficult task and it seems to become more difficult each year.

Mississippi is blessed with more than enough quality players to field a team that should be competitive with their counterparts from Alabama, but for some reason the Magnolia State hasn't been competitive in recent years.

Roster spots are limited, and there are certain rules that make selecting the best of the best more difficult like no team can have more than three players and each of the MHSAA's six classifications must have at least one player on the team.

We would never argue that any of the young men who have been included on the roster or not deserving because they certainly are, but each year we do scratch our heads a bit at some of the names who are not included. This year is no different.

In 2015, Mississippi will send a talented offensive group to face Alabama.

Two fine FBS level quarterbacks will lead Mississippi this year but it's interesting to note that despite passing for almost 3,000 yards in seven games Wilkinson County quarterback Desmond Hunter did not garner an invitation.

Maybe the biggest surprise of the day is that North Panola running back Justin Connor is absent from the list. Connor is ranked by Rivals as the #5 prospect in Mississippi and the #4 running back prospect in the country.

The offensive line features a talented group but absent from the list is Mississippi State commitment Greg Eiland from Philadelphia, MS.

Mississippi features a solid group of wide receivers this year but it's hard to imagine Crystal Springs stand-out ATH Jeriko Morris, a Southern Miss commitment, being left off the roster. Numbers may have caught Meridian's Daniel Crowell but he is another prospect that could have easily been named to the roster.

This may be the best group of defensive tackles to come through Mississippi in quite some time. With such a deep group of players and limited positions someone is bound to get left off and La Tech commit Julius Turner of Meridian was the odd man out this year.

At defensive end the the talent pool was not nearly as deep and that's a big reason why it's hard to understand how Lorenzo Dantzler from Starkville was not included.

The linebacker crop in Mississippi is down this year it's basically Racheem Boothe and everyone else. The committee even included Clinton safety Lamarques Thomas as a linebacker.

Two linebackers that we believe could have helped Mississippi that were not included on the roster are Ocean Springs Vincent Milanese and D'Iberville's Barry Leonardi. These are the big physical run stoppers that are needed to stop a very strong Alabama rushing attack. Boothe is the only LB on the Mississippi roster that's well over 200-pounds.

The defensive backs group is solid, but it was interesting to see that D'Iberville defender Jaquelle Green not included considering he is a Rivals 4-star prospect who is ranked in the Top 15 nationally at his position.

With so many talented players and not enough roster spots deserving players get left off each year, but Mississippi sure seems to be leaving a lot of talent at home in 2015.

Stay locked on BigGoldNation.com for complete coverage of Southern Miss football and recruiting.