STARKVILLE — Inside the meeting room at the Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex on Sunday, Mississippi State enjoyed highlights from its win against Kentucky the day before.

The team watched how Christian Ford was put in motion, then cut up field when quarterback Will Rogers snapped the ball. They saw how Rogers lofted a pass Ford’s way, and how Ford made a lunging catch on an out-route near the sideline, keeping his feet in before he slid out of bounds.

“And then they were like, ‘Oh, and by the way, he’s on scholarship now,’ ” said Ford’s father, Glenn.

The meeting room erupted.

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“To be able to share it with the rest of the guys in there gave him a lot of joy and it boosted us up,” linebacker Nathaniel Watson said. “It means a lot for him.”

“Just to see one of our brothers get something he deserves,” wide receiver Makai Polk added, “it was a very joyful moment, and we were just so happy for him.”

Patience pays off

Christian Ford’s path to Mississippi State (5-3, 3-2 SEC) was one of self-belief, leaving Georgia Southern after his redshirt freshman season and finding himself at Iowa Central Community College, hoping to show enough for colleges to give him a chance.

The plan didn’t go directly as he thought. Ford, a three-star recruit from Marietta, Georgia, first had to accept being a walk on with the Bulldogs. He didn’t receive any playing time in 2020, but as he made his mark with the scout team, the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Ford soon convinced his coaches he belonged on the field.

The decision has paid off for Mississippi State, with Ford increasing the depth at the wideout position and giving Rogers another trusted target who’ll be on display again against Arkansas (5-3, 1-3) on Saturday (3 p.m., SEC Network).

He’s seen ample snaps this season, catching 14 passes for 160 yards — the same number of receptions he recorded in 2019 while at Iowa Central, albeit he’s now on a much larger stage. And Ford was announced as a nominee for the 2021 Burlsworth Trophy on Tuesday, given annually to the top-performing college football player who began his career as a walk-on.

“It was gratifying, knowing you deserved something, you just have to be patient and wait for it,” Glenn Ford said of his son, who Mississippi State did not make available for this story. “And you hope that the people around you appreciate what you do and kind of reward you for your work. And they did.”

'Same mentality'

As Christian Ford left the field following the Bulldogs’ 31-17 win against the Wildcats, inside receivers coach Dave Nichol approached him.

Nichol said Mississippi State's coaching staff had talked it through already, and he wanted to let his receiver know early what was on the horizon. That’s when Ford first learned Mississippi State would extend a scholarship to him the next day.

"He deserves it," Nichol said. "I think it also gives something for other non-scholarship kids to look at like, 'All right, that's what I've got to do.' (Ford) stays after practice, he gets there early. But at the end of the day, he deserved it."

Ford called his father as soon as he got into the locker room to tell him the news.

Glenn Ford said he expected his son to be put on scholarship eventually, what with the way he produced on the field and how coach Mike Leach brought his name up unprompted during press conferences. But the call from his son was still exhilarating, particularly after the roundabout path to the Bulldogs.

“It was a good treat,” Glenn Ford said in reference to Halloween. “They gave it to him on Sunday. I guess if you’re gonna get a treat, and can’t trick or treat, give him a scholarship.”

When Christian Ford arrived as a walk-on, he tried to take the mentality of a scholarship player. He felt he belonged in the SEC, after all.

But now that he’s achieved his goal of receiving a scholarship, Ford will embrace his walk-on roots.

“We’re still trying to take that same mentality, walk-on mentality,” his father said. “Work for everything you get. Because his ultimate goal is to play on the highest level, which he thinks he can. So it’s just like a checkbox type thing. It’s a great thing and it’s something we’ve been working toward, but just keep working like we’re the walk-on, because that kind of put a chip on your shoulder. Keep playing with that chip and see where it takes us.”

When Christian Ford caught the first pass of his Mississippi State tenure — a 9-yard completion from Rogers — most of the defense swarmed him when he got to the sideline. They had seen that production on the scout team each week.

“The defense knew who he was before he got a chance to show it to everybody else,” Glenn Ford said.

Now, opposing defenses know who Christian Ford is — and what he’s capable of. After Ford earned his scholarship, Polk offered his congratulations. Then he offered a bit of advice.

“Keep doing what you’re doing,” Polk said. “Don’t look back.”

But if Ford does look back, he’ll see an arduous journey not yet complete, but full of leaps of faith.

“He bust his tail, man,” Glenn Ford said. “He really has bust his tail.”

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: How Mississippi State football's Christian Ford earned his scholarship