No Better Place Than This
April 15, 2024 | Football
Makylan Pounders proud to finally wear Maroon and White.
STARKVILLE – The road to Mississippi State has been long and winding for offensive lineman Makylan Pounders, but he's finally reached his destination.
After eyeing MSU out of high school, Pounders ultimately took his first collegiate snaps in 2021 just a few minutes past the Magnolia State line at the University of Memphis. Pounders was a talented force at Memphis, appearing in 17 total games for the talented Tigers' offense. However, it simply didn't feel quite like home.
As Pounders looked to find his new home, he knew exactly where he wanted to be.
"This was something I dreamed of being a part of, just a family environment and [those] cowbells… I can remember vividly being on the other side of them," Pounders said. "To know they're on [my] side now, that's definitely something I'm looking forward to."
The Bulldogs were just as interested in the Byhalia, Mississippi, native as he was in them. It was as though the Dawg family was waiting for Pounders with arms wide open.
"When I came back on my visit, it was almost like a family reunion almost – like that cousin you haven't seen in a long time," Pounders said. "That's how I felt about it, and I honestly just didn't want to shy away from it [any] more. I knew this is where I wanted to be all along, and I went on ahead and went with it."
There was another aspect that drew Pounders to State and the SEC: the Maroon and White faithful. The fanbase has long proven itself as one of the loudest and most passionate in the country, and the small town is very proud of its university.
"I love the way that these fans treat their players, I love the way that this city embraces the team and that was one thing that stuck out to me above other schools in the portal, was just that feeling," Pounders said.
All of the emotions pointed the 6-foot-5, 205-pounder in the right direction. In his heart, he knew exactly where home was.
"When it [comes] to making decisions like this, it's always based off of feelings," Pounders explained. "Like, you go to a place and you know, or you go to a place and you're like, you know, saying that's not the fit for me."
Pounders took a leap of faith in his decision to bring his talents to Starkville, but it's evident that his decision is paying off. Lebby is reshaping the State program in his image, bringing a spark of energy to the locker room that will have a lasting impact on the team as the season arrives in just a few months. Pounders shared just a few of his skipper's words of wisdom.
"I've been really motivated and every day I come out here ready to get better because Coach Lebby emphasized for us, like, today's got to be the best day of our life and today's got to be the best day of our career," Pounders said. "We're in a race against ourselves right now. We're not worried about what the schedule looks like, we're ready to see how good we could be right now."
Despite being newcomers on the team, Pounders and many other upperclassmen who have joined the Bulldogs in the offseason are using their veteran roles to motivate their younger teammates. Not only is this leading to success on the practice field, but the team as a whole has grown closer together through their leadership.
"We're able to bring the younger guys on the team together and everybody messes with each other, everybody hangs out, everybody goes to church together," Pounders said. "[Those] types of traits are things you don't necessarily see in teams all the time."
Pounders' collegiate career has not come without adversity, but that hasn't slowed him down in the slightest. Rather, he's used injuries and setbacks as motivation to succeed, always turning to his faith to keep him going on the toughest days. On top of this, he has worked to balance life as a father with his busy career as a student-athlete.
His prayers have turned to praise as Pounders has been led to the place where he feels he is meant to be — a place that will help him develop as a player, embrace him and his family and love him wholeheartedly.
"I just knew whichever way God was going to take me was going to be the way that I went, and even now, I'm way older and I have a son now, so a lot of things get put into perspective," Pounders said. "Me having to raise my own family, I knew family was something that I wanted to go to and [there's] no better place than this. I truly believe that."
