Quote Originally Posted by Todd4State View Post
While there is no question AJ had his hand out and he has talked a lot of crap about MSU, there is also no question in my mind that Dan didn't recruit him hard enough.

I think both are at "fault"- but moreso Dan IMO. If you have a local player that is talented like that you don't just drop them because they want to get more "love"/"attention" from you or because someone close to them doesn't understand that you don't go directly to the head coach with your hand out. The Ole Miss bagmen hanging out around Starkville and the Starkville assistant that was steering them to Ole Miss should have been dealt with much sooner than they were. And that is the fault of Hevesy who had Starkville in his territory at that time. Even worse, you don't assume that just because a player is from Starkville that you don't have to recruit them as hard as other players. Essentially the same thing happened with Lashley without him having his hand out in the exact same cycle. We did't show him enough attention because we assumed that he would automatically come to MSU and it didn't happen there either.

Dan wanted and expected others to recruit for him- and that's simply not the job of a high school coach and it shouldn't be expected of them to do so.

Whether AJ actually wants to come to MSU or not- he could very well be trolling MSU fans because he wants to hear how awesome he is- is an issue that I'm going to have to trust Moorhead on. I think he could help but I don't think he's imperative. We're an 8-9 win team as it is without him. In reality he probably would benefit from us more than us from him. Ole Miss WR's and their offense have been lampooned on NFL games for their lack of development and lack of a route tree. Not to mention the fact that he will probably never go to a bowl in his career and his touches went down significantly when Patterson went down. And Ole Miss will likely be even worse this year which he doesn't help him either. So, if Moorhead is OK with taking him that's fine and if he's not I'm good rolling out there with Guidry, probably Whop, Heath, Todd, Couch, and Austin Williams and then Dear, Mixon, and Thomas in the slot.

And I'll say this and I might raise some eyebrows on this- but after the Ole Miss transfers that are confirmed and expected our group of WR's is going to be comparable from a raw talent standpoint to Ole Miss. We'll be younger and we may not be quite as good next year- but by 2019 we will have caught and passed them in that department.
Don recruits so well he?s having to offer 2* WR?s to fill his class before signing day. Add in the fact that he spoke to everyone as if he had invented football, and you can see why someone from our own backyard went to our rival. Then factor in the ?having to wait a season or two to play over upperclassmen, even if you are better?.

I?ve been harping on this for 4-5 years as the main reason w couldn?t land top players Or classes. Dons track record of playing age over talent was turning top players away. This was not only hurting our overall recruiting classes by others wanting to get in on them, it was hurting the on field results. The endless cycle was why we never took the next step. All of these are the negatives of Don Merlins and his inability to recognize and worknon them. That?s why we never beat a to ranked team to win the west.