Spring Game Thoughts

[Todd4State]

QB- Fitz is going to surprise some people in this offense. I think Dan's play calling, poor recruiting at the WR position, and questionable personnel decisions all limited him greatly. Fitz is going to take off in this scheme now that all three of those issues are resolved most likely. I forget how impressive Fitz is until I saw the graphic that showed that he is one of the top five QB's in SEC history in terms of rushing yardage. He's within about 500-600 yards of Tim Tebow of being number one in rushing yardage all time. I think he will surprise people with his passing based on the few times I have seen him against inferior talent when we called more deep shots and had a talent advantage which I think will happen more than just against Stephen F Austin. Key is coming along nicely other than a couple of bad passes but he played almost the entire spring game. I'm sure we will see some packages with both Fitz and Key in them.

RB- Aeris is a very solid SEC RB but Kylin Hill has the talent to be a special player for us like we had with some of our other great running backs like JJ, AD, Keefer, and Norwood among others. He's just an extremely explosive player who has good hands. I expect him to share the load with Aeris but I wouldn't be surprised if he is taking most of the reps by the end of the year. I would say he reminds me of a bigger more physical Norwood. It's going to be good to see both of our running backs catching the ball out of the backfield as both have good hands. Aeris is so consistent. He doesn't necessarily have the explosiveness but he is rarely tackled for a loss and you can count on him to make a positive play almost every time you give him the ball. I like how the announcer said that he would like to see some two running back sets.

WR- Austin Williams as of the spring game is our best WR. Once Guidry starts in the fall that probably will change but as of this moment it's pretty clear that Austin Williams, Whop and probably Guidry are our top three guys. I like the fact that Austin Williams and Whop can play slot or outside and maybe Guidry as well. We'll see what Malik Heath can contribute once he gets to campus as well. The veteran outside WR guys had most of the drops and it's time for those guys to contribute or sit. I don't have a lot of faith in any of the older outside WR's- Todd, Couch, Mitchell, or Jesse Jackson and I'm guessing that most are probably just not going to get it at this point. We do have a good assortment of slot WR's in addition to Whop and Austin Williams that I like in Deddrick Thomas who is a solid slot WR and a clone of Jameon Lewis, Keith Mixon who has been explosive on RPO type plays in the past and has great quickness, and then we have Malik Dear who looked a little slow to me in the spring game. Hopefully he will be 100% recovered by the fall. I'm expecting a fairly young but improved group and I doubt we will have a blocking TE as our top WR at the very least.

TE- Dontae Jones really impressed me. I love his length and skill set. He looked faster than Green and Justin Johnson and honestly I would probably start him but Green and Johnson are both solid veterans and it's hard to go wrong with either one of them. Maybe the light has come on for Jones. It's something to watch in the fall.

OL- This group should be solid but the depth scares me. If Elgton Jenkins gets hurt we're going to have to shuffle the line completely or start a walk-on. I think Eiland could be a high draft pick in a few years and I really like him a lot. Reese is a talented player but I think we are going to need to slide him over to guard at some point probably next year. I believe both of our guards Deion Calhoun and Daryl Williams have won SEC o-lineman of the week before and both are solid. Of the back-ups I thought Tyre Phillips looked like he has the most potential. Jenkins looked like he has improved on his snapping. This group was outmatched for the most part but our d-line but they have produced in SEC play and we know our d-line is elite so it will actually only make this group even better on gameday.

DL- This group has a legit chance to be up there with the 1980 and 1999 MSU d-lines in terms of talent and may even be better. Sweat and Simmons may both end up being first round picks and lined up side by side it's going to be impossible to double team both. Sweat is a special talent and I think the Jason Taylor comp is pretty accurate. What impresses me is his work ethic. Simmons is very similar in that regard too. I thought Courtney Rivers was as advertised and he probably won't start. I think Gerri Green is going to be a very good captain and I hope that we slide him back to OLB when we go from a 4-2-5 to a true 4-3 look. Marquiss Spencer has to be one of the most underrated players in the SEC. Hoyett and Cory Thomas are both solid SEC caliber DT's that would clearly start for most teams but at least one will have to come off of the bench. And then we have Fletcher Adams and Kobe Jones who both could start for a lot of teams in the league.

LB- I think this group will be improved as well. Leo looked much better in the spring game and I think he could have a big year. Willie Gay is a tremendous talent and I love his speed and hustle. Erroll Thompson looked really good last year as well and is a solid SEC starter. Even though this group doesn't have the d-line depth we actually have enough good linebackers to effectively g to a 3-4 at times if we wanted to with Green as the Will, Erroll and Leo as the ILB's and then Gay as the Sam. Not expecting to see that a lot of even at all.

CB- I must have missed it but I didn't see Jamal Peters out there. I love his play making ability, his length, and athleticism. Dantzler has a chance to be special and I think he may be our best CB. Chris Rayford is a senior who has been through the battles and is also a good special teams player. Lots of good experience and length with this group and guys that can make plays when our front seven gets pressure and tips passes.

S- McLaurin led the SEC in INT's and is one of my favorites on the team. I really like Jonathan Abrams game as well- he's a very physical safety who plays aggressive. Brian Cole really lived up to his potential and will be a key reason why our defense will be better than last year. He's a true hybrid defender and I like how we brought him off of the edge. You could tell that he was holding up some since it was the spring game but he would have wreaked absolute havoc had this been a real game. Marcus Murphy impressed me as well and while he looked raw because he is a freshman and learning a new position you can tell that he is very instinctive and has a knack for making plays. He's going to be a very good player once he refines his game over the coming years.

K/P- Couldn't really tell a lot but the kicking job is obviously Christmann's still and I thought the punting was OK but not great. Logan Cooke is the player we're going to miss the most from last year. Hopefully we won't be punting too much though but I'm guessing Kody Schexnader will be the guy for us unless Scott Goodman or Tucker Day can beat him out. I think the return game will be improved now that we are taking the fair catch shackles off of Mixon and Deddrick Thomas. I like our ST coach set-up much better with Joey Jones and Chris Boniol which is a huge upgrade over Dan and the grad student that he would cuss out when the special teams would screw something up.

The announcer picked us to win 9 games and I think that's a reasonable prediction but I like the intangibles of this team and the fact that they have a chip on their shoulder while also having experienced success. I think Joe's offense will benefit from being new and something that teams won't have seen a lot and I think Shoop may be a good fit because he may be more multiple than Grantham which will hopefully allow us to match up better at times. Looking forward to a fun football season!

[somebodyshotmypaw]

Nice write up. I agree about Marquiss Spencer being underrated. He sets the edge very well.

Rivers' first name is Chauncey, not Courtney.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Austin Williams was great all spring. He earned himself some PT and targets in the fall unless he has a terrible camp. Which he wont.

I think the starting WRs in our 11 personnel (1 back 1 TE) will be Guidry, Whop, and Williams. If you made me pick.

Add in our other guys and suddenly you have some depth and talent at WR. Thomas, Mixon, Dear and Jesse Jackson have all proven they can play in this league. I think you were a little tough on him.

Just need more consistency from Todd, Mitchell, Couch and others.

I think you were spot on with most everything else. Aeris probably still deserves more carries IMO at RB bc he is going to make the right play and contrary to what some think, he is really good.

Kylin will get his share but hes got to mature a little bit. There were times in the spring esp early that you could still see the teenager in him. But he is a big time talent and HR hitter.

As far as defense, there's really not a lot to say. We should be one of the best in the nation. The DL is as good as we have ever had and Willie Gay, Erroll Thompson and LL at ILB is pretty damn good. They could all land a spot on an NFL team when they leave here.

People should calm down on the DB's too. Dantzler, Peters, Cole, Williams and Rayford are pretty good at CB. Throw in Murphy and our safeties (one of the best safety groups in the SEC) and we should be ELITE on defense in 2018

[Bully13]

so is Austin Williams one of our surprises so far regarding how well he's doing?

[Dawgology]

What surprised me is that Todd still couldn't catch a lobbed softball. I've never seen one player drop so many wide open, passes completely uncovered. Good grief!!

[MetEdDawg]

so is Austin Williams one of our surprises so far regarding how well he's doing?

Not really. The biggest surprise should be that this is the first time we've really seen him. He should have played last year. Folks were saying he should have played last year and given how atrocious we were at WR last year and how Moorhead said he was the best WR during spring, I'm not sure why this is the first time we are seeing him.

[Cooterpoot]

You literally can’t take anything from a spring game except the quality and depth of athletes. We’ve got a lot of good athletes.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

You literally can’t take anything from a spring game except the quality and depth of athletes. We’ve got a lot of good athletes.

You can pick up some things. Do the players know their assignments? Speaks to coaching and how focused the team is. What's their attitude? Speaks to culture. How is X individual player doing? For example I think most of us were wondering how Whop would look. We can tell from his performance relative to the other WRs that he's the real deal, albeit not a De'Runnya type game dominator yet.

We can't say "OMG Fitz will get sacked so much did you see all those blitzes that got KT??" as those kinds of things will be cleaned up well before fall. We can't say "OMG Getsy suck we still have all these drops!" as he simply hasn't had time to do much coaching. But we can take SOME things away from spring games, as long as we are careful not to go to get carried away it's good to discuss

[biggun]

Austin Williams was great all spring. He earned himself some PT and targets in the fall unless he has a terrible camp. Which he wont.

I think the starting WRs in our 11 personnel (1 back 1 TE) will be Guidry, Whop, and Williams. If you made me pick.

Add in our other guys and suddenly you have some depth and talent at WR. Thomas, Mixon, Dear and Jesse Jackson have all proven they can play in this league. I think you were a little tough on him.

Just need more consistency from Todd, Mitchell, Couch and others.

I think you were spot on with most everything else. Aeris probably still deserves more carries IMO at RB bc he is going to make the right play and contrary to what some think, he is really good.

Kylin will get his share but hes got to mature a little bit. There were times in the spring esp early that you could still see the teenager in him. But he is a big time talent and HR hitter.

As far as defense, there's really not a lot to say. We should be one of the best in the nation. The DL is as good as we have ever had and Willie Gay, Erroll Thompson and LL at ILB is pretty damn good. They could all land a spot on an NFL team when they leave here.

People should calm down on the DB's too. Dantzler, Peters, Cole, Williams and Rayford are pretty good at CB. Throw in Murphy and our safeties (one of the best safety groups in the SEC) and we should be ELITE on defense in 2018

Pretty accurate write up until the DB?s part. Rayford is just not an SEC cb, period. Not so sure Peters is either as he is beaten off the ball far too often, just not a cb but must play the position due to our lack of better options, just like why Rayford will see the field. Dantzler is our best cb but even he is still young and still learning the position. Our cb?s are the weakness of our defense, again. How Shoop gameplans to protect them will be critical to winning coin flip games.

[bulldawg28]

Pretty accurate write up until the DB?s part. Rayford is just not an SEC cb, period. Not so sure Peters is either as he is beaten off the ball far too often, just not a cb but must play the position due to our lack of better options, just like why Rayford will see the field. Dantzler is our best cb but even he is still young and still learning the position. Our cb?s are the weakness of our defense, again. How Shoop gameplans to protect them will be critical to winning coin flip games.

Smitherman should play more imo. I agree Rayford playing anything other than special teams Is a head scratcher

[bulldawg28]

What surprised me is that Todd still couldn't catch a lobbed softball. I've never seen one player drop so many wide open, passes completely uncovered. Good grief!!

Agreed!

[Jack Lambert]

I think Green will up his draft stock moving to end. He is tall and fast and that what they want.

[yjnkdawg]

What surprised me is that Todd still couldn't catch a lobbed softball. I've never seen one player drop so many wide open, passes completely uncovered. Good grief!!

Getsy can teach all the proper fundamentals of catching passes, breaking tackles after the catch, going up for 50/50 balls, etc. but the only problem is he can't catch a ball for a player on the field.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

Getsy can teach all the proper fundamentals of catching passes, breaking tackles after the catch, going up for 50/50 balls, etc. but the only problem is he can't catch a ball for a player on the field.

Catching seems like something you just have to do over and over and over again. Once you learn the fundamentals you have to get reps.

Getsy has had to 1) break their habits of poor fundamentals, 2) teach them the right ones, and 3) get them tons of reps so it's natural to them. I don't think there's been enough time... I just hope he can get it mostly fixed by SEC play

[maroonmania]

Catching seems like something you just have to do over and over and over again. Once you learn the fundamentals you have to get reps.

Getsy has had to 1) break their habits of poor fundamentals, 2) teach them the right ones, and 3) get them tons of reps so it's natural to them. I don't think there's been enough time... I just hope he can get it mostly fixed by SEC play

What is strange about Todd is that he was a high level basketball player. Usually that translates into pretty good hands as we saw with De'runnya. Not so in his case though.

[bulldawg28]

Catching seems like something you just have to do over and over and over again. Once you learn the fundamentals you have to get reps.

Getsy has had to 1) break their habits of poor fundamentals, 2) teach them the right ones, and 3) get them tons of reps so it's natural to them. I don't think there's been enough time... I just hope he can get it mostly fixed by SEC play

Catching a football is natural it shouldn't be that challenging to do so. The fact that he's still on the basics of catching is concerning. I'm hoping he isn't playing a lot this fall. Getsy should be able to teach them how to make tough catches in tight windows, highpointing the ball, and getting separation. Honestly, the WR's as a whole showed that with the exception of Todd. He's a fast guy that plays footbal.

[Lord McBuckethead]

Todd is fine. He was overthrown or thrown behind him on almost every pass his way yesterday. Yes, he should make adjustments, but the deep balls still look too shallow to me. It's fine when you have a slant down field, but when you are running the seam like on the first play of the game, it seems pretty difficult to catch. Note, that he didn't high point the ball there and attack the catch.