It was around July of 2014 when my life changed as a sportswriter.

I entered this realm a bit unexpectedly in the fall of 2013. I was a year into marriage, finishing up college, and interning with Mississippi State media relations in hopes of having a career in public relations. While my wife urged me to get “a real job” at Lowe’s or Walmart so we could pay the bills, something else had fallen into my lap.

An email came through about a beat writing position at Rivals.com covering the Bulldogs. It was the perfect opportunity for me because I thought it paid extremely well ($24,000), and it was a chance to be around the program and do something that I’d love.

After a few months on the job, the publisher of the site tore up the contract. He could no longer pay me what had initially been agreed upon, and I was working the site for a fraction of that contract.

During my first few months in that job, Paul Jones had become somewhat of a mentor to me. I was a decent writer, but I had never run a website or a message board before, and I certainly had never covered recruiting. Paul shared information with me, put me in touch with people to build relationships and contacts, and gave me thoughts and ideas.

As someone who was essentially thrown to the wolves in this business competing with two established websites and seasoned recruiting writers in this market, that was greatly appreciated.

When Paul found out about my situation, he began working to bring me on with him at Bulldawgs247. We worked well together and each were running websites on our own, so it only made sense. Initially, the only thing our growing site could afford was to pay me slightly more than what I was currently making after that contract dispute. Paul promised me we would grow, and grow we did.

At Bulldawgs247, we built an organic community of State fans unlike any other. Our message board was a unique group of people who could dish it out to each other but still share enough mutual respect that it hardly ever crossed the line. To put it simply, it was a collection of the most rabid, knowledgeable Bulldog fans on the internet.

For three years, our site continued to grow, and we accomplished goals every month that took us to new heights. That growth hit a whole new level as we merged with Scout’s Genespage following Shannon Terry’s purchase of the network back in 2017.

Lord knows there were some bumpy roads and some hard days during that merger, but we all made it work. It took the site to the top of the market at State, and we became the leaders for all things Bulldog athletics with record subscription numbers that may never be topped. Our site owned the market, and our only competitors were ourselves.

Still, Paul and I missed what we had when we first began our journey back in ’14. When we got a call from On3 to come join Shannon and so many people we had worked with over the years, we jumped at it.

We started Maroon and White Daily back in 2023, and it was a pretty big risk for both of us. Paul jumped on board first in September with his contract running out prior to mine, and I came aboard in January of 2024.

A site that we began from scratch quickly became one of the highest-trafficked sites on our network. It has been a tremendous help to have Stephen Agostinelli and the infamous SixPackSpeak as part of our website working as our free board, and all of our old members have found their home again on the True Maroon message board.

As amazing as these last 11-plus years have been, it’s time for me to move on to something new.

One of the hardest decisions of my life has been stepping away from this venture, but I’ve taken on far too many duties over the years, and it’s wearing me—and my family—down. I need more time to reset my brain and body, but most of all I need to continue to grow as a husband and a father. My wife and two little girls NEED me present.

Just so we know it’s no April Fools, my last day with MWD will be March 31.

I wish all of our readers and members the best and hope that you’ve enjoyed the journey with me. Some of us have had our differences, but know that I appreciate even those who might have interacted or clicked just out of spite. If you’re a Bulldog, we share the same goals.

You’ll be seeing me around. My next venture will be known very soon, and I won’t be far. Exciting things are ahead, and onward we go.

Catch you folks down the road!