2018 Recruiting Thread

[Ifyouonlyknew]

From what I understand the total we have scholarships for is 21 I believe. Any more and you have to process that many out which Moorhead said he wasn’t going to do this year. We have 18 committed (1 sign and place) add Lovett and reed. We have 1 scholarship remaining unless someone processes themself.

It's 20 as of right now.

[SmokeyDawg]

We only have 15 that have signed so if 21 is the max we have 6 left that we could sign next week.

We do have the 3 that are committed and If those 3 signed we would have 3 left.

I thought Moon transfer made it 21 but it is 20. 15 signed + commits Watson, Furdge, Patterson (s&p), and Lovett, Reed. That?s our 20 scholarships to get us at 85. For anyone we add someone else has to be proccessed

[Commercecomet24]

I thought Moon transfer made it 21 but it is 20. 15 signed + commits Watson, Furdge, Patterson (s&p), and Lovett, Reed. That?s our 20 scholarships to get us at 85. For anyone we add someone else has to be proccessed

Yep that?s what it looks like unless we take somebody in lieu of one of those 3 that are committed now.

[MaroonBelle]

To add to all the gloom and doom and meltdowns ..

Of the top 5 guys we missed on. If we had the old staff still intact we prob just land 2 of them. ( McDowell and Bleich)
Carvin - Tenn
Smith - Bama
Bishop - would have still flipped to Arky
And I bet Mason would have still flipped as well.

So let?s see what the new staff can do now that they are all intact and have been here more than a minute or 2.

Here's what I don't get. Everyone saying Ark and Tenn staff coming in and recruiting harder and having better success under the same circumstances as us. No, they are not the same circumstances. Ark coach brought his entire offensive staff with him. So already had coaches familiar with him, what he wanted to do and how he wanted it done. Tennessee, yes had to hire new staff also, so similar, but with a new head coach that just came off a National Championship win with Bama (might be a strong selling point) and regardless of what Tennessee has become in the last 10 years, they still have much better name recognition than ours and better history. BUT (and it's a big one) neither of those coaches had to deal with their predecessor (a popular and successful coach, who had moved to a top 10 athletic program) recruiting their already committed players away from them. All those guys had to concentrate on was finding new recruits to fill out their classes. They didn't have to fight off the previous coach who had recruited all their current kids to start with. Who had a head start of trust and on field success going back months and even years. I can only imagine the kind of effort it took to keep all the guys we did with "he who shall not be named" up in their houses doing the gator chomp within a week after he left here. Our staff couldn't concentrate on what might happen after early signing cause they were in the fight of their life. Ark and Tenn got a leg up on new kids because DM was trying to screw us by systematically dismantling the recruiting class we paid him to build. Which we actually had to force him to work harder for than any previous year by not giving him his automatic yearly raise in 2016. And after all DM's efforts (more than I think he and his staff ever gave us), he still only got a kicker (which we didn't need cause we have a great one for 3 more years) and an OLine (who we did need) who left without a backward glance even though DM waited 2 MONTHS to offer him, which shows me he was committed to DM and staff and not MSU in the first place. THAT IS A TREMENDOUS JOB! THAT DOESN'T JUST HAPPEN. And if you don't think OM and BAMA and everybody else in the SEC was after our 4* kids, too, when DM left...but we kept them. And added to it by two and I believe our new coaches got us WHOP. As far as I know he wasn't committed before signing and that was up in the air unless I am mistaken. So he should count as a new player pulled by new staff and Kilby-Lane, also. Also, keeping SWEAT was probably a recruiting job unto itself considering he was getting a new coordinator.

Yes, our OLine needs some help. But this is mostly because of DM and staff. Also, I seem to have read at least a couple national articles about Moorhead and Penn that specifically stated what a bad Oline he had (not his recruiting fault, he was only there 2 yrs) at Penn State and their offense was explosive in spite of the OLine. Because of scheme, because they are not counted on as much because there are so many options with which way the ball might go that alone keeps the defense on their heels. It may be that Oline play is not as important and may be more about bodies than stars for us. Don't know yet.

Long story long, yes I wanted to finish stronger than it looks like we are, we all did, but having said that, I am not worried about our future recruiting. And I am not INSANE for saying that and I don't need anyone to be worried about my mental health because of it (talk about an overreaction). Our situation, our head coach's situation, our new coaching staff's situation, was different from every other new coaching staff recruiting in the SEC this year. It was more difficult.

I think we are going to kick A** and take names in the SEC this year and that recruits are going to take notice. I think Moorhead is going to be talked about positively all over the country and recruits are going to notice. I think we are going to have a lot of spots to fill next year because we are going to have put a lot of guys in the NFL and recruits are going to notice. I think we are going to cover our field with Gator and Tiger blood and recruits are going to notice. I think we are going to prove that we don't need DM to be successful and recruits are going to notice. He built up this fallacy (and I will admit that I bought it) that we couldn't get high end players to come to State because State so all our success was because of him and his magical evaluation powers. There are people who believe this even now, recruits, coaches, press, fans...but really we didn't get any of those kids because he refused to recruit them. You never get turned down if you never offer and his ego wouldn't allow him to get turned down. "Shoot your shot" is not in his vocabulary (as his tight play calling in big games can attest too), that is why he jumped to FLA where recruiting is "easier" (I have my doubts about his success there, too). I think we are going to shoot our shot in recruiting and yes we are going to miss some but we are also going to hit on some we never had a shot at before. Finally, I do not think that John Cohen is ever going to let us fall back into mediocrity.

That is all. Sorry for the long post but I needed to get it out.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Since we have open scholarships, I wish we would offer Tylan Knight as a special teams specialist. He will probably sign with Ole Miss.

He will and he will make them better. If we dont offer bc our noses are up in the air about his size then we cant say anything about the OM attitude (thinking they are better than everyone for no reason)

[Cooterpoot]

He won’t touch the field beyond KR/PR. But he will eat up a scholarship.

[NCDawg]

He won’t touch the field beyond KR/PR. But he will eat up a scholarship.

Sometimes a good KR/PR can be extremely valuable. I've seen us waste a lot of scholarships on other players, such as nonathletic OL, who never see the field and remain on the bench.

[Commercecomet24]

I?m sure IYOK numbers are right if so it looks like we don?t have anymore schollies to offer.

[BuckyIsAB****]

I?m sure IYOK numbers are right if so it looks like we don?t have anymore schollies to offer.

Thats fine if we have no room. But hes worth an offer, anybody that doesnt think so go watch the tape

[Commercecomet24]

Thats fine if we have no room. But hes worth an offer, anybody that doesnt think so go watch the tape

I thought we had more room, but it looks like we out of space. I agree with you the kid looks like a baller, small or not. Heck we ran Holloway out there. I admire Holloway, we asked him to do some things better suited for bigger backs but that young man was tough as nails and made plays for us. I have an affinity for the little guys myself.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

Thats fine if we have no room. But hes worth an offer, anybody that doesnt think so go watch the tape

We'll just agree to disagree.

[Cooterpoot]

Sometimes a good KR/PR can be extremely valuable. I've seen us waste a lot of scholarships on other players, such as nonathletic OL, who never see the field and remain on the bench.

You won't find guys recruited simply to return kicks. Not in the SEC and with scholarship limits like are in place now. I like the fact that OM is going to burn one on a KR. Let them be down a scholarship for that crap.

[Bdawg]

So what’s the true eval on Reed? What can he be?

[BuckyIsAB****]

You won't find guys recruited simply to return kicks. Not in the SEC and with scholarship limits like are in place now. I like the fact that OM is going to burn one on a KR. Let them be down a scholarship for that crap.

Hes a KR/PR that won MVP of the MS/AL game for having 2 INTs and multiple tackles against kids with ''D1 Size'' at OLB

[Commercecomet24]

So what’s the true eval on Reed? What can he be?

His video looks good, he seems to be physical in run support and in coverage, has good speed and decent size. Hard to trust videos because they only give you the best plays. Hopefully somebody that has seen him play in person or studied him more can give us some more info.

[Cooterpoot]

Hes a KR/PR that won MVP of the MS/AL game for having 2 INTs and multiple tackles against kids with ''D1 Size'' at OLB

And it was an all star game. A kid that went to Delta State won MVP in it one time. But you can list all of the 5'7 DBs in the SEC if you want to. Then, all the ones in the NFL. It's just not happening. I'm sure he's a good athlete and kid.

[HoopsDawg]

You won't find guys recruited simply to return kicks. Not in the SEC and with scholarship limits like are in place now. I like the fact that OM is going to burn one on a KR. Let them be down a scholarship for that crap.

Special teams is a third of the game. He could be on all of the special teams units such as punt coverage, kick coverage, returns, etc. That would be a bigger contribution than some of these late pickups will make. Steve Tasker was a pro bowler and he only played special teams. Also, we have room. There is now way we won't have attrition after the spring. I bet we end up at least 3 under the 85 number.

[Commercecomet24]

Special teams is a third of the game. He could be on all of the special teams units such as punt coverage, kick coverage, returns, etc. That would be a bigger contribution than some of these late pickups will make. Steve Tasker was a pro bowler and he only played special teams. Also, we have room. There is now way we won't have attrition after the spring. I bet we end up at least 3 under the 85 number.

I don?t know the answer to this question and maybe you or someone else can answer. Can we sign enough that would put us over the 85 scholly limit and adjust before the fall or do you have to just stay at 85 or below at all times? Thanks

[pilldawg]

David Johnson even has his CB prediction to MSU for Lovett and Reed this morning.

Yancy and David hardly ever concede this easy. Feels like they are trying for maximum impact.

[Irondawg]

I wish we could have flexed our SEC muscle a bit and tried to sway some kids from other programs to at least visit, even if it was La Tech, Central Michigan, Wake Forrest types. With the early signing period there may not have been much left there to choose from, I don't know.

Time is going to tell. We can discuss it to death after signing day and we see what we ended up with. I still think we may save 1-2 schollies for a transfer or two.