Originally Posted by
Ronny
..into a Tyler Russell thread, here is my 2 cents on that:
1st, I blame the vast majority of Russell's shoddy play in the last 5 games on our shitty defense.
Against elite SEC competition, that was the worst display of MSU defense I have seen since the final years of Jackie's tenure.
They were constantly out of position, & when they were in the rare mood to hit somebody, they didn't know who to hit. And you call say all you want about Jon Banks, but he was constantly hamstrung by being force to play in a defensive backfield with a bunch of indecisive dumbasses.
Back to Russell: What Russell brings to the table is something rarely seen on a MSU football team: Leadership. And I mean leadership from the QB position. For all of Relf's positives, he didn't possess the personality to lead from the QB position. Russell possesses such a personality.
Add to Russell's 2012 woes a cadre of mediocre underachievers @ the WR position. Bumphis disappeared in every big game. The rest are utterly unforgettable in what they contributed to the 2012 campaign.
It looks like Mullen is going to use his big uglies to run the ball this fall. Sounds good to me, except he doesn't have a physical, punishing FB in the mold of Michael Davis. If Mullen wants to play Jackie-ball, I'm all for it. Just find you a 6'2" 210 lb FB who can wear out a defense.
As far as the passing, all I hear is how awesome our TE's will be, yet everybody acts like if we actually throw a pass to one of our TE's it will mark the defining moment in Mullen's downfall. From where I am sitting, Russell will have his 2013 WR targets locked & loaded. All I ask is there is no Chad Bumphis-type who fall off the face of the earth in games against LSU, aTm, Bama, Ole Miss, etc.
If you wanted a top-notch SEC QB, you will have it this fall. If you wanted an OL that is big & mean & can take over a game, you will have it this fall.
So I don't get all the bitching.
My only bone of contention is the defense. Will they finally hit somebody in 2013 after taking 2012 off? We'll find out vs. OSU.
Lastly, get the special teams up to snuff, Dan. Enough of having to endure that Circus Maximus year after year after year.