My Egg Bowl and MSU Football Future Thoughts

[Todd4State]

I don?t think anyone saw THAT coming. I?m not surprised that we won. I am surprised that we put up a school record for points in Oxford and won by 5 TD?s. It was great to see cocky Dan Mullen show up. THAT guy can stay around as long as he wants to. I still would like to see us replace Hevesy with Will Friend and despite the outstanding play of the defense today, we might be better off with another DC. Although I will say Sirmon?s defense played a lot better than any of the other DC?s did against Freeze. Maybe a lot of it was just that fact that Evan Engram is a beast. It was pretty obvious to me that Ole Miss missed him a lot today. Maybe it was just a lot of other factors- I thought it was interesting that Dan said that he thought he would be tougher on the team in the offseason, so maybe that is the solution long term. At the very least, I think we should play a 4-3 against the Alabama?s and LSU?s of the world and maybe the 3-4 against the Ole Miss?s of the world. But we have a lot to look forward to and that could include a bowl game.

QB- Fitzgerald is going to be up there with our greatest QB?s by the time he leaves. I don?t know if he is as good as Dak- but he?s pretty close. If you told me that I would be typing out that Fitz could be as good as Dak, I wouldn?t have believed you but here I am typing that with a straight face. I don?t care and never did care that he goes out partying. Some QB?s are like Dak and some are like Joe Namath and Kenny Stabler and Brett Favre. I think he has taken command of this team and will do so for the next year and hopefully two.

RB- As I said before we need a big between the tackles running back to make our offense work at it?s optimal level. Aeris has taken the reigns there and as soon as he took over for Holloway our offense started to work a lot better. Personally I do prefer a two back system like Jackie and I think we could do that with Aeris and Nick Gibson next year- or even Dontavian Lee. I would make Lee an H-Back and use him like Hanrahan personally, but at any rate I think Aeris gives a legit running back which we have lacked since Josh Robinson was here. We also return Malik Dear and Keith Mixon who I like as athletes and we need to continue to expand their role in both the passing and running game because they are match-up nightmares.

WR- When Donald Gray scored his TD- that is why I think he needs to be in the slot. I could see him being a beast on option routes and screens like that where broke away from a couple of Ole Miss defenders, but he also has the ability to burn a LB or safety deep with his speed. We?ll miss Ross a lot and I think it?s critical that we land Stephen Guidry and I hope that Jamal Couch continues to progress as he has and they emerge as starters on the outside. I?m excited to see Reggie Todd next year as well and see how much progress he makes.

TE- Farrod Green and Jordan Thomas are your typical Dan Mullen diamond in the roughs. Both were very solid this year and Thomas has enough size to help us with blocking when we are facing Bama or LSU if we need an extra blocker. We have some TE?s that we haven?t played yet like Dontae Jones and Christian Roberson and I?m excited to see how they progress. I think Jones is actually the most talented IMO but he needed to lose some weight which he has been working on.

OL- The o-line improved a LOT throughout the season and that is a positive thing. We lose Clayborn, Desper, and Senior but we also return Jenkins who I like a lot and Rankin who looked better as the year went along. Story played some and has his moments good and bad and Deion Calhoun usually does a good job. We need to land D?Marcus Hayes to go along with Tommy Champion and we need to figure out who our center is going to be for next year- Story or Calhoun? We need Hayes to play right away and replace Senior at RT. Champion could start at guard if Calhoun moves to center. I?m not sure if Daryl Williams comes back or not.

DL- I hope Montez Sweat has less of an adjustment than most JUCO guys because he played at Michigan State to start his career. Simmons should play more. He?s a special talent. Marquiss Spencer is another guy that I think is potentially special as well but he?s just so young. Then we add Deion Pope and Lee Autry to go along with Fletcher Adams, Cory Thomas, and Kobe Jones and depending on how quickly that group acclimates itself could be one of the deepest DL?s we?ve had in awhile. I?m sure some of these guys could play Viper like Sweat and Spencer too.

LB- Leo Lewis is going to be really good and Gerri Green has emerged as a leader this year. Jung played better as the year went along and I thought he played pretty well in the Egg Bowl. JT Gray played one of his better games as well. If we add in another JUCO LB this group will be pretty good. And Dez Harris looked good all year as well and he probably starts next year.

CB- I like moving Jamal Peters to cornerback. He is still learning the position but he?s just so athletic ones he learns what he is doing he could be elite. Giles is going to apply for a fifth (sixth?) year as well. I thought Graham improved throughout the year, and I thought Durr was solid for the most part and should be even better next year. Throw in Cleveland and this group looks a lot deeper than what most of us realize.

S- I?m puzzled by Brandon Bryant and his lack of effort at times this year. I wonder if there is something going on with him. McLaurin has shown flashes of potential as well. Kivon Coman played his best game I thought today. Big props to him as I have been one of his biggest critics. If 2015 Bryant shows up with McLaurin this could be a really solid group. Getting two JUCO safeties like Brian Cole and Jaquarius Landrews to go along with a guy like CJ Avery may take some pressure off of this group some.

K/P- I know some may disagree with me here, but I actually think that Westin Graves and Logan Cooke are solid at kicker and punter. It seems to me like it?s more a question of both of them getting healthy more than anything else. I also wonder if Graves doing things to increase his range affected his accuracy and maybe he just needs to put the two together. Dear and Mixon are a solid duo returning kicks. I?m not sure who will return punts, but we certainly have some candidates in Dear, Mixon, and Deddrick Thomas among others.

I?m going to enjoy this Egg Bowl win for awhile and I look forward to hopefully going to a bowl game. Hail State!

[Liverpooldawg]

HAIL STATE!

[Dallas_Dawg]

We have GOT to find a HS or JUCO kicker that we can rely on NEXT year. If we had a kicker we would be 7-5 or 8-4 this year
Kicker has to be NUMBER 1 priority
But... for tonight it's all Hail State and GTHOM

[Todd4State]

We have GOT to find a HS or JUCO kicker that we can rely on NEXT year. If we had a kicker we would be 7-5 or 8-4 this year
Kicker has to be NUMBER 1 priority
But... for tonight it's all Hail State and GTHOM

Disagree. We beat South Alabama if Fitz plays some in the second half and we use Aeris at running back instead of Holloway. South Alabama should have never come down to a FG situation. If we go to a bowl as it appears as if we are, it's moot IMO. We also beat BYU if we pick up that fumble at the end of regulation and house it which AJ (I think) almost did. Defense to me is a bigger issue that we have to clean up and we are going to need those JUCO's to come in and help us out as quickly as possible. We start out with Charleston Southern and La Tech so we hopefully we can work them in and get them some reps early. We also need our talented but young guys like Lewis, Green, Simmons, and Peters to make some big strides in the offseason. Dan saying today that he is going to focus on toughness in the offseason encourages me a lot to be honest with you.

[Goldendawg]

Per 24/7. we are trying to flip a La kicker committed to Ga Tech. Maybe that works out.

[Todd4State]

Per 24/7. we are trying to flip a La kicker committed to Ga Tech. Maybe that works out.

It could, but we should also take a JUCO walk-on kicker and punter so that we have them if we need them. We can also redshirt them if Graves figures it out and I think Cooke will be healthy again.

[dawgday166]

Very concerned with center. I think Peters may become pretty good at CB. Koman really brought the lumber today and laid some licks. I like what AW has become but would love to see a stable of backs pounding on folks.

If Fitz keeps working hard, especially on reads and making all the throws, he could be a great one without a doubt. That is one big, fast white dude.

I like the under center Qb formation and I believe we had 2 backs in backfield a few times. I liked the variety there.

[civildawg]

Still think you have to bring in a dc and go back to 4-3. We gave up over 500 yards and they didn't have engram