Patterson was six recruiting classes ago. And this coaching staff wasn't even involved in his recruitment.
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You mean how we "lost" Gabe in order to get TD Moton? Or do you think it was all coincidence and TD just "fell back into our laps" about the time Gabe committed to Oklahoma. Same way we "lost" Danley and got Rankin.
Dontea Jones wasn't even considering MSU at this time last year either. Sometimes you've got to let this stuff play out -- and use history as your guide to the most likely outcome.
People can make of it whatever they want -- but anyone "freaking out" about MSU in regards to receivers and receiver recruiting right now is either just concern trolling or off their meds. When we miss on JaQuay Williams, Corey Smith, Quantavius Leslie, Jonathon Rumph, etc -- we have to settle for guys like De'Runnya Wilson, Fred Ross, Gabe Myles. Think about it....
Jonathon Rumph! I had forgotten about him. Looked him up, and the 6'5" 220lb WR from Holmes CC (composite 4 star) had 297 yards receiving and 1 TD over his two seasons at Georgia, 98 of those coming against Appalachian State in 2013 and 67 yards against Charleston Southern in 2014.
Quantavious Leslie, the 6'4" WR from Hinds, #5 WR in the country per 247, finished his two years at LSU with 1 catch for 11 yards.
If I was saying we "passed" on Campbell -- that's what I would have said. But it wasn't. We would have taken Danley too. Hence the example. We didn't make Campbell a huge priority though as evidenced in several interviews from him throughout the process. The point is -- as long as we got one of them, to go along with Fletcher Adams and Kendell Jones -- we were going to be set at DT for the class.
My overriding point was that it is almost always ridiculous to flip out over individual recruits unless they are Cam Newton-level elite or if we are whiffing on overall position groups over multiple years. 2010 and 2011 when we whiffed on 10+ JUCO guys and ended up taking distant backup plan bust Joey Trapp to fill a glaring immediate need at OT while having the position destroy a season for us -- good reason to flip out a little. Missing on QB priorities in 2 of the first 3 seasons, and having the priority go pro in baseball in the 4th -- excellent cause for concern.
Worrying about WRs and RBs -- 12 months out in recruiting -- when we've stockpiled the most talent we've ever had at WR and arguably at RB and absolutely loaded up at those two spots in the class that isn't even on campus yet is simply not on the same planet concern-wise...
Like I said earlier, a question was asked and an answer was given. Also, I believe Vincent Sanders would be an answer to the same question. Certainly no "freak out" going on here. This crew is certainly doing a better job of recruiting than they did the first three years here. Still some bumps in the road like losing Campbell this year when we could have wrapped up Jalen Bates early. Because we definitely would have taken Campbell and Moton. That was not an either or situation. That was more of a we got lucky Bama dropped Moton situation if anything. Also our development speaks for itself. Love this staff because it is probably one of the best overall staffs we've ever had here. BUT no staff gets a pass any year on any recruit when you compete in the SEC or you'll get left behind.
Gotcha. Not trying to argue just trying to understand. Why wouldn't they have taken both Mullins and bates? Was it because they thought they would take one of the aforementioned to go along with Gabe who was thought to be in the bag or was there other reasons we wouldn't take bates?
Honestly I'm not sure why we didn't take Bates & Mullins. I really liked Bates. I don't think it was bc we thought Gabe was in the bag. We always felt good about Gabe but he never told us he was coming or we were the school to beat or anything like that. I just think it became a #'s game & we chose Mullins over Bates. I think we figured we'd take 2 more HS DL & it would be Mullins & Campbell. At that time I don't think anyone could predict Moton falling back in our laps but we definitely would've made the #'s work if all 3 wanted to come. We didn't feel that strongly about Bates to make it work for him.