Recruiting

[Dawgfan77]

I was looking at the commits list for both OM and us on scout and just notices how much bigger our class is than OM's. Not numbers but in height and weight. This is why I think we are going to be a physical downhill type of team starting next year, while OM seems to be going for smaller sideline to sideline gimmicky type of team

So you tell me which team is building for success in the SEC and which team is trying to out gimmick the opponent

[dickiedawg]

Targeting 4 and 5- star recruits all over the field is not trying to out-gimmick the opponent. If they keep doing it and sign classes close to last year's, they'll get harder to beat. Obviously shutting their train down on Thanksgiving was a great win and cause for optimism, but at the end of the day their best players are all freshmen and stand to get better.

We're also young and next year looks to be a huge one for us. The egg bowl could decide the West!

[CadaverDawg]

Just glancing at Scout...the only difference between us and ole Miss is they have 5 four star guys to our 3 four star guys, and they have 18 three stars to our 13. Basically they are ranked higher because they can sign more guys this year than us, and because of Rod Taylor. Granted, they could land a few more big names, but they could also lose a few.

Unless they start flipping more big names over the holidays, I'm not too worried or impressed with OM recruiting. After all, we only play them one time per year, and they aren't winning the West with that style of play and with that coach IMO.

[32 Dive]

Unless they start flipping more big names over the holidays, I'm not too worried or impressed with OM recruiting. After all, we only play them one time per year, and they aren't winning the West with that style of play and with that coach IMO.

Well, it IS Rebel Shopping Season, brought to you by Coach February (This will probably be Freeze's narcissistic Twitter handle, once Mack Brown "retires").

[MarketingBully01]

What I love about Ole Miss recruiting is they aren't really filling their needs. They need depth on the OL and DL and have missed on a number of their top targets. That is why they will fail.

[gravedigger]

What I love about Ole Miss recruiting is they aren't really filling their needs. They need depth on the OL and DL and have missed on a number of their top targets. That is why they will fail.

I don't think people really look at this point hard enough. We as a fanbase aren't very objective about it when it comes to MSU either. We need OL in a big way. We need even more receivers than we currently have.

Have we gotten some great players? sure. Have we FILLED OUR NEEDS as well as we should have? I'd say we've done about average.

OM wants publicity from numbers. That will do well for them to an extent. But they are in bed with kids who have their hand out and they will have a payroll to meet when what they really need is team cohesion.

[maroonmania]

What I love about Ole Miss recruiting is they aren't really filling their needs. They need depth on the OL and DL and have missed on a number of their top targets. That is why they will fail.

Well we certainly need better quality depth on the OL, that's one place we haven't done very well. We should have been able to run the ball on OM MUCH better than we did even without Prescott. Will be interesting to see how well we do with no Gabe Jackson next year. DL we are in better shape and could be in GREAT shape in Quay or Nick ever pull their head out of their ass.

[OurState]

I don't think people really look at this point hard enough. We as a fanbase aren't very objective about it when it comes to MSU either. We need OL in a big way. We need even more receivers than we currently have.

Have we gotten some great players? sure. Have we FILLED OUR NEEDS as well as we should have? I'd say we've done about average.

OM wants publicity from numbers. That will do well for them to an extent. But they are in bed with kids who have their hand out and they will have a payroll to meet when what they really need is team cohesion.

There may be a similar reason why neither we nor OM do that well with needs. We are in a small state with an insufficient number of prospects that is a geographical nightmare. A large % of the population is closer to Tuscaloosa or Baron Rouge than to Oxford or Starkville. Competition is intense and it is tough for either school to pass on in state D1 prospects if only because it lets other set up pipelines. Real programs likely don't do this.

[MarketingBully01]

Um, I don't think you realize how important the QB position is to a Mullen run offense is. The QB has the central responsibility to get us in the right formations and the right looks. Why do you think we ran the ball much better with Dak in? Because he knows that offense. Our OL is fine. We have good depth at that position and are good enough to be able to do what Mullen and Dak wants on offense. Damien Williams did as good a job you could ask him to do BUT our run game sucked because we had to start our third string QB and were running Perk up the middle. We will be fine. Now where we need to get the most improvement is we need a place kicker in the worst way. That to me is the most important position we need to sure up in the offseason.

[engie]

What I love about Ole Miss recruiting is they aren't really filling their needs. They need depth on the OL and DL and have missed on a number of their top targets. That is why they will fail.

Well -- they missed on Gennesy -- and had another JUCO 24/7 4* OT in the boat less than 2 weeks later -- who committed to them yesterday. I would talk shit about them recruiting via site rankings and simply going after the highest "rated" guys rather than personal evaluation -- but the fact is -- we haven't got the best track record in JUCO OL recruiting ourselves....

[ShotgunDawg]

Well -- they missed on Gennesy -- and had another JUCO 24/7 4* OT in the boat less than 2 weeks later -- who committed to them yesterday. I would talk shit about them recruiting via site rankings and simply going after the highest "rated" guys rather than personal evaluation -- but the fact is -- we haven't got the best track record in JUCO OL recruiting ourselves....

You mean that guy that played for Bowling Green, transferred to an Iowa Community College, and is a composite 3 star, but just so happens to be rated higher on 247?

Clearly a backup plan, and, by watching his video, is probably a starter that is equivalent to Siddoway. Decent player, but hardly a difference maker. There are tons of these guys out there. We have already got two of them with Price and Johnson.

Getting this guy says nothing about their recruiting. Getting a guy that played for Bowling Green and now is at an Iowa JC, likely isn't the toughest recruiting job for an SEC school that is offering you a starting position.

The only thing OM is doing better than us in their recruiting this year is getting guys that are ranked 90 instead of 87 or 88. Basically they are getting the same exact high 3 star/low 4 star players that we are, and, as I have talked about extensively, these players possess the same talent level and their careers will come down to schematic and school fit.

Furthermore, the guy is a 2 star on Scout and was a 2 star 70 rating out of high school on 247.

Your just picking bits and pieces to support your agenda, and it's unbearable.

[engie]

Look -- I'm not puffing up their recruiting here. But you need to learn to look objectively and face some facts in regards to it.


You mean that guy that played for Bowling Green, transferred to an Iowa Community College, and is a composite 3 star, but just so happens to be rated higher on 247?
The one that has offers from Oklahoma, aTm, Texas Tech, Nebraska, Arizona St, and Illinois? More can be seen from an offer sheet than an artificial website rating.


Clearly a backup plan, and, by watching his video, is probably a starter that is equivalent to Siddoway. Decent player, but hardly a difference maker. There are tons of these guys out there. We have already got two of them with Price and Johnson.
You are projecting what you want to see. The guy they got had a better offer list than the 3 of ours that you mentioned combined. He's the equivalent to Siddoway? You mean the guy we basically stole from Pittsburgh? Nevermind that Siddoway had one of the better JUCO tapes I had seen -- while seeing NOTHING like that at the next level.


Getting this guy says nothing about their recruiting. Getting a guy that played for Bowling Green and now is at an Iowa JC, likely isn't the toughest recruiting job for an SEC school that is offering you a starting position.
It is something when you get him over several nationally-relevant programs who had been recruiting him much harder for much longer. If it was that easy -- why didn't we go get him? We were obviously still chasing Gennesy -- meaning we were in the market for another JUCO OT.


The only thing OM is doing better than us in their recruiting this year is getting guys that are ranked 90 instead of 87 or 88. Basically they are getting the same exact high 3 star/low 4 star players that we are, and, as I have talked about extensively, these players possess the same talent level and their careers will come down to schematic and school fit.
They are beating other schools for guys. We are finding guys that other schools are overlooking. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with our approach -- but it's ridiculous to try to say "we're recruiting basically just as good as them" when we simply are not. We are developing better right now -- on that front, I agree.

The fact that this guy has offers from Graham, Sumlin, and Kingsbury says that he will probably be a pretty dang good fit for their style of offense.

[Dawgfan77]

You all are missing my point. It's comparing the size the ht and wt of our recruits as opposed to OM's class. MO should prove that if you have good evaluators of talent and are great at development you can win. OM can win in FeB all day long I would prefer to win in the field.

[Coach34]

A&M already has 2 juco OT's committed- I doubt this guy's offer is commitable to A&M at this point

[ShotgunDawg]

Whatever, I seriously doubt even half of those offers were commitable with the guys track record, but even if they are, many teams do offer serviceable JUCO's to fill holes.

I think the guy is a decent player, but like Siddoway, isn't a difference maker and doesn't tell me much about OM's recruiting. He was clearly a fall back guy after losing out of Gennessy.

Yes, OM is getting some recruits that have offers from other BCS schools, but, as I have spoken about in the past, that has much to do with where kids are from, what high school they went to, and not entirely about their talent level.

The talent level between the two school is very close, with MSU being more talented at the most important position; QB. Whatever they are doing, they think works for them, and whatever we are doing, I think works for us.

Not saying that this kid won't be a servicable/solid SEC player, but there is hardly much evidence to say that this is some kind of major recruiting victory for them. OM as well as us, should be able to beat out AZ State and Texas Tech on players consistently, and he was probably the backup guy for aTm if they didn't get Gennessy.

[smootness]

I was looking at the commits list for both OM and us on scout and just notices how much bigger our class is than OM's. Not numbers but in height and weight. This is why I think we are going to be a physical downhill type of team starting next year, while OM seems to be going for smaller sideline to sideline gimmicky type of team

So you tell me which team is building for success in the SEC and which team is trying to out gimmick the opponent

I love it because not only does it prepare you to play in the SEC, I also think we will see the pendulum start to swing back toward big, power football a little rather than small, speed football.

I said in another thread a while back that I think for Mississippi State to really find success, we need to be out in front of trends in college football rather than reacting to them. If most schools are trying to find small, speedy guys and they leave more big, strong guys available, then we can get more talent that fits a different style and have success by countering what other teams are doing. If we're constantly a few years behind every wave in college football, we'll just be a different version of the same thing, but with no inherent advantages.

I would love for us to become a power team much like Stanford, and I think Mullen's offense sets up well to be able to do that. And this is mostly about offense...on defense, you kind of just have to react to what others are doing. You can't stop an Oregon attack by being big and slow, unless you blow up their OL. And you can't stop a Stanford attack by being small and fast.

[engie]

Whatever, I seriously doubt even half of those offers were commitable with the guys track record, but even if they are, many teams do offer serviceable JUCO's to fill holes.

I think the guy is a decent player, but like Siddoway, isn't a difference maker and doesn't tell me much about OM's recruiting. He was clearly a fall back guy after losing out of Gennessy.

Yes, OM is getting some recruits that have offers from other BCS schools, but, as I have spoken about in the past, that has much to do with where kids are from, what high school they went to, and not entirely about their talent level.

The talent level between the two school is very close, with MSU being more talented at the most important position; QB. Whatever they are doing, they think works for them, and whatever we are doing, I think works for us.

Not saying that this kid won't be a servicable/solid SEC player, but there is hardly much evidence to say that this is some kind of major recruiting victory for them. OM as well as us, should be able to beat out AZ State and Texas Tech on players consistently, and he was probably the backup guy for aTm if they didn't get Gennessy.

I'm sorry -- I zoned out when you tried to compare talent levels in year 5 of Mullen to year 2 of Freeze.

Mullen has got to do better in recruiting period. I see positives in the 2015 class -- but that doesn't mean I'm just willing to concede the 2014 class. We're knocking on the door to dead last in the SEC right now in the composite -- and almost guaranteed to finish there. That's unacceptable. We're #32 with room for 2-3 more. Ole Miss is #14 with room for at least 6 more. They are kicking our ass in recruiting in this class -- and did in last class. Sorry -- it's a fact. We can hope for the talented players to be cancers, have attrition, etc all we want to -- but all it's doing for me is showing how much better we SHOULD be recruiting.

[BossDawg]

The egg bowl could decide the West!

Whoah, pump the brakes a bit. That's some Spirit/Genespage stuff right there.

[Political Hack]

I don't care how many five stars they sign. look at kimchee. he didn't do much of anything despite being the second coming of Jesus. Treadwell was probably their best signee last year. he's a legitimate game changer. kimchee is not. he's not even as good as his brother.

I'd take JRob, Dak, Chris Jones, BMac, Wilson, MJ, RoJo, Shump, and several others goigninto next year over Kimchee. Recruiting sights are fun... but they're not professional talent evaluators. Talking to the coaches you can quickly realize that the rankings are shit. their top targets are always way off what the sites have. I've seen three stars on the board higher than five stars.

[HoopsDawg]

I'd take JRob, Dak, Chris Jones, BMac, Wilson, MJ, RoJo, Shump, and several others goigninto next year over Kimchee. Recruiting sights are fun... but they're not professional talent evaluators. Talking to the coaches you can quickly realize that the rankings are shit. their top targets are always way off what the sites have. I've seen three stars on the board higher than five stars.

That's just silly. You lose any credibility at all when you say you would take Rojo over Nkemdiche. The guy was pretty good as a true freshmen and will only get better. Nkemdiche, Treadwell, Conner, Tunsil, and Engram are all legit players.

[HoopsDawg]

mullen has got to do better in recruiting period. I see positives in the 2015 class -- but that doesn't mean I'm just willing to concede the 2014 class. We're knocking on the door to dead last in the SEC right now in the composite -- and almost guaranteed to finish there. That's unacceptable. We're #32 with room for 2-3 more. Ole Miss is #14 with room for at least 6 more. They are kicking our ass in recruiting in this class -- and did in last class. Sorry -- it's a fact. We can hope for the talented players to be cancers, have attrition, etc all we want to -- but all it's doing for me is showing how much better we SHOULD be recruiting.

We are ranked 40th in average star rating per recruit. I think this is the best rating to look at b/c it doesn't favor teams with more commitments. And 40th just won't get it done.

[maroonmania]

The one that has offers from Oklahoma, aTm, Texas Tech, Nebraska, Arizona St, and Illinois? More can be seen from an offer sheet than an artificial website rating.




I agree with this in THEORY but half of the offers thrown out on these lists are not legit. That is why its hard to put much more stock in those than the rating itself.

[maroonmania]

Mullen has got to do better in recruiting period.

I think we all agree on this but given Mullen's personality and our administration's na?ve view of recruiting and dealing with the NCAA I don't see how anything will change. Mullen is not going to wake up one day as a great salesman and I'll believe Bracky will be put out to pasture when I see it. Heck, Mullen is a little better than he used to be but we all know his lack of recruiting prowess, along with strange personnel decisions, are the reasons that half or more of this board were ready to see us go the Hud route 2/3rds of the way through the season.

[engie]

I agree with this in THEORY but half of the offers thrown out on these lists are not legit. That is why its hard to put much more stock in those than the rating itself.

Does this not also affect our recruits equally? Basically making it a zero-sum proposition.

[dickiedawg]

Whoah, pump the brakes a bit. That's some Spirit/Genespage stuff right there.

I'm not saying it will happen, but it could. No one believed me when I said auburn and mo would play in Atlanta this year, either. Both teAms stand to have great years. I for one will be disappointed if msu doesn't compete for the title next year.

[OurState]

I don't care how many five stars they sign. look at kimchee. he didn't do much of anything despite being the second coming of Jesus. Treadwell was probably their best signee last year. he's a legitimate game changer. kimchee is not. he's not even as good as his brother.

I'd take JRob, Dak, Chris Jones, BMac, Wilson, MJ, RoJo, Shump, and several others goigninto next year over Kimchee. Recruiting sights are fun... but they're not professional talent evaluators. Talking to the coaches you can quickly realize that the rankings are shit. their top targets are always way off what the sites have. I've seen three stars on the board higher than five stars.

Ease off on the crazy pills. Kimdeechee was the third best true freshman DE in the SEC IMO behind CJ and Lawson. That also likely made him the third best freshman DE in the country. Should he have been ranked #15 or #50 in the nation instead of #1? Sure. But he was still one of the best players to come out of high school. Kimdeechee contributed significantly as a true freshman on an otherwise pedestrian SEC DL. Not many 18/19 years can go up against an SEC OL and contribute. If being less impactful than CJ makes a recruit a failure then I would argue very other recruit in the nation failed...

[OurState]

Does this not also affect our recruits equally? Basically making it a zero-sum proposition.

You and your logic...

[Todd4State]

Ease off on the crazy pills. Kimdeechee was the third best true freshman DE in the SEC IMO behind CJ and Lawson. That also likely made him the third best freshman DE in the country. Should he have been ranked #15 or #50 in the nation instead of #1? Sure. But he was still one of the best players to come out of high school. Kimdeechee contributed significantly as a true freshman on an otherwise pedestrian SEC DL. Not many 18/19 years can go up against an SEC OL and contribute. If being less impactful than CJ makes a recruit a failure then I would argue very other recruit in the nation failed...

Nkemdiche is really a DT. So, first of all they had him playing out of position for much of the time. Secondly- his first SEC sack came in the Egg Bowl, and I think he had two all year.