A couple of Division I transfers are expected to be the muscle for Mountain State University this winter.

And muscle is the key word.

Both Ricky Jackson, a 6-foot-6, 210-pound wing from Canton, Ohio, and Rod Green, a 6-6 forward out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., favor physical play — a missing ingredient from last year’s team that lost in the first round of the NAIA national tournament.

Ask coach Bob Bolen about either and you get a similar response.

On Jackson: “He’s tough,” the coach said. “Although he’s a wing for us, he likes to get in there and mix it up with the 250-pound guys. He’s a warrior.”

On Green: “He’s a warrior,” Bolen said “He’s a physically tough player. He’s very strong in the low post.”

The athletic Jackson transferred to Mountain State when a class he had taken didn’t meet the criteria for admission to Duquesne, although he had met all the NCAA requirements.

For Green, his path to MSU was paved when his coach at Florida A&M;, Mike Gillespie, was fired after last season.

Either way, the two bring a physical nature to the Cougars, ranked No. 5 in The Sporting News’ preseason NAIA Division I poll.

Jackson just may be looking forward to the Cougars’ Nov. 10 exhibition game with West Virginia a little more than his teammates.

After all, it was new WVU coach Bob Huggins who helped him land at Cloud Community College.

Huggins became aware of Jackson when he was at Cincinnati and the player was a high school standout at Canton McKinley.

“Coach Hugs, he really helped out by getting me into my junior college (Cloud, Kan.),” Jackson said. “He’s a good person. It was always my dream to play for him. He’s one coach any player would like to play for. I may never get to do that, but it is my dream.”

He was the Jayhawk Conference freshman of the year last season before casting his lot with Duquesne.

After getting the bad news that he wasn’t going to play for the Dukes, coach Ron Everhart helped steer him to MSU.

Everhart, a close friend of Huggins, clearly liked what saw of Jackson prior to him coming to Pittsburgh in August.

“Ricky is coming off a very good season in one of the better junior college leagues in the country,” Everhart said upon Jackson’s signing in May. “He is a proven winner who loves to compete. Ricky would bring a high level of intensity and toughness to any basketball program and I’m proud to say he is going to bring that to Duquesne.”

And now, he’s bringing that to MSU.

With the words of Huggins ringing in his ears.

“He told me that coach Bolen was a good man and he wouldn’t steer me wrong,” Jackson said. “He has been right about that.”

Despite the perfect football name (another Ricky Jackson was a former NFL linebacker) and a gridiron disposition, Jackson never played for Ohio power McKinley.

“My grandmother wouldn’t let me,” Jackson said. “She even said in the paper there that her grandson wasn’t playing football. But I did run cross country. And that helped my endurance for basketball.”

Jackson said it was tough to see his dream of being a Division I player go by the boards.

“That door closed and another one opened; I guess it wasn’t meant for me to do there,” he said. “But I’m here and I want to win. Every guy (at MSU) could probably could play Division I. Now we have to show it.”

Green will be the final player in the Mike Gillespie pipeline of players that has included former NAIA national player of the year Zach Moss and All-America point guard Adrian Jackson.

Green, in fact, grew up in the same neighborhood as the former Cougar standouts.

“I always liked when they came back and showed me all the stuff they had picked up (at MSU),” Green said. “I’d say that Zach Moss was a big influence on me. I always looked up to him.”

When Gillespie lost his job, he referred Green to MSU.

“And I remember that Zach had played here,” Green said. “So I called him. He had a lot of great things to say. And he won a national championship here. I’d like to do that, too.”

He said Gillespie losing his job was a tough blow that had him reeling shortly before he rebounded at MSU.

“Everybody said I was a Division II player, but coach Gillespie gave me a chance to play Division I,” Green said. “He was the only one. When he lost his job, it was tough.”

Green is mature for his 21 years, Bolen said.

“I’ve always been that way,” Green said. “I always hung around guys who were older than I was. That really helps you improve your game.”

Green is married and his wife Kiera is in the nursing program at MSU.

“I’m just glad that she came this far with me,” Green quipped.

A criminal justice major, Green hopes to work one day for the FBI.

MSU opens the season Oct. 27, hosting Ohio Valley University at the Raleigh County Armory at 7 p.m.

— E-mail:

demorrison@register-herald.com