Picayune football star is racking in D1 offers, becoming hottest college prospect in MS
Picayune running back Dante Dowdell has become a very popular man lately.
The 6-foot-2 star is enjoying the biggest offseason of his career, coming off an explosive junior campaign that saw him run for over 2,000 yards and earn MVP of the 5A state championship game.
Dowdell did it all not knowing when, or if, an opportunity to play at the Division I level was ever going to come.
And then it did.
One day after winning the title game in Hattiesburg, the host school made the first move. Southern Miss offered Dowdell a scholarship quickly following his 149-yard performance against West Point.
“The hard work finally paid off,” Dowdell told the Sun Herald. “I’ve always been good, but coming from Picayune you don’t always get the notoriety. It felt good to finally get the first offer and from a school from Mississippi.”
Then the dam broke for the 2021 MaxPreps Player of the Year. Dowdell has received 11 more offers since then, with 10 of them coming this month and one arriving from Auburn. His recruiting profile on 247sports.com finally received a rating with the service handing Dowdell an 87, which makes him a high-three star prospect.
The first Power Five offer arrived from Florida State and came as a surprise to Dowdell. His coach, Cody Stogner, told him Ole Miss and FSU were at school to see him and that the Seminoles were ready to offer. Dowdell didn’t believe him at first.
“It really felt good when I got that first Power Five offer from Florida State,” Dowdell said. “I always wanted to play in the Power Five. It’s been a lifelong dream of mine.”
Dowdell has pulled in a more Power Five offers in recent weeks from Boston College and Oregon, two of the furthest schools from Coast.
Distance isn’t a problem for Dowdell, though. He’s got his sights on playing professional football and will play for whoever can get him there.
“I’m not going to let how far away college is from me stop me from going,” Dowdell said. “I really want to go to the NFL and win the Heisman trophy and I can most definitely do that (at Oregon).”
Dowdell does not have any favorites yet, though, and says he’s going to wait until he starts taking visits to trim down his list.
In the meantime, he’s using his position and popularity to get some of his teammates some looks from college coaches. Notably, running back partner Chris Davis.
As a sophomore, Davis logged 10 yards per carry on his way to a 953-yard season that ended in a 139-yard outing in the title game.
“The biggest thing for me is that it’s opening the doorway for some of the other players,” Dowdell said. “We always have good players but exposure and different things can lead to them not going anywhere.”
Dowdell says when gets an offer from a college coach, he sends that coach Davis’ sophomore film. Dowdell is confident the offers will soon start arriving for Davis, too.
Both still have more football to play and will be the leading backs for the best 5A football team in the state. Dowdell figures to be one of the bigger names from Mississippi to keep an eye on while Davis could be South Mississippi’s next star.
This story was originally published February 20, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
