Recruiting

[msstate7]

Seems this year that state fans aren't freaking out as much. Our class isn't any better than last year, so is it bc we trust Mullen more, better finish to the year, no chris jones drama, or what?

[Goat Holder]

First of all, yes, people trust Mullen more, and second, Ole Miss isn't recruiting as well. Third, we beat Ole Miss. Fourth, we appear to have a solid team next year and people are seeing Mullen's plans come to fruition.

[HancockCountyDog]

Seems this year that state fans aren't freaking out as much. Our class isn't any better than last year, so is it bc we trust Mullen more, better finish to the year, no chris jones drama, or what?

It depends on your outlook -

Glass half full approach - Our class is solid because the guys committed to us, want to be here and they understand the meaning of the word committed.

Glass half empty approach - A lot of our commits don't have top teams chasing after them, therefore there is very little drama.

Truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

Green is allegedly taking a visit to AU. Bryant and Aeris have been rumored to take a visit to the bears. Rawlings doens't have an offer from the bears, and no one really knows what will happen if he does get one.

At the end of the day, all of those guys will sign with MSU.

Honestly the most drama should come from Cory Thomas, Stallworth, and Humphrey, which is a good thing. Nothing to lose, everything to gain.

[MadDawg]

We won the last game / We beat Mississippi

Take your pick. A lot of MSU fans really only remember the last game and base all of their coaching wants, recruiting desires and program perception off of that one game.

[smootness]

First of all, yes, people trust Mullen more, and second, Ole Miss isn't recruiting as well. Third, we beat Ole Miss. Fourth, we appear to have a solid team next year and people are seeing Mullen's plans come to fruition.

Yep, it has everything to do with Ole Miss.

[Coach34]

I think it is that some have finally wised up. Just had some people get consumed by the OM hype machine. But as usual, Ole Miss gonna Ole Miss.

We finished strong, even with a young team
People are also seeing our 2 and 3-star diamonds like Dakota, McKinney, Calhoun, etc can play well in the SEC.

Bottom line, nobody is ecstatic over this recruiting class- but hopefully they have learned to wait and not rush to judgement based on some subjective recruiting rankings. We have a bright future and momentum going forward. It's hard not to feel good about the football program right now

[Dawgtini]

In addition to all of the above, the 2015 class is looking like it will be outstanding. That helps a lot of folks step off the Dadgum ledge and trust that the staff can identify, recruit, and develop talent.

[smootness]

In addition to all of the above, the 2015 class is looking like it will be outstanding. That helps a lot of folks step off the Dadgum ledge and trust that the staff can identify, recruit, and develop talent.

This is true, too. If we didn't have anybody committed for 2015, people would be more nervous and disappointed because we'd be afraid it was a downward trend.

The fact that we have several committed for 2015 already, and they're almost all 4-stars, at least lets us know this will likely just be a little dip and then possibly Mullen's best class ever coming down the line next year.

[Johnson85]

Seems this year that state fans aren't freaking out as much. Our class isn't any better than last year, so is it bc we trust Mullen more, better finish to the year, no chris jones drama, or what?

Lots of reasons:

(1) We had significant issues to address last year. There wasn't really a problem with our talent level last year, and we shit the bed the last part of the season and the bowl game. It's pretty reasonable to be more concerned about upgrading our talent after seeing decent talent play like shit. After the way we finished this year, we still need to continue to upgrade talent, but it's clear that most of the problems from last year have been addressed by getting a new DC and Mullen finally having personnel that fit his tendencies on offense.

(2) Mullen still had two big holes in his recruiting before signing day last year: wide receiver and OL. I think he's over the hump getting wide receivers here after last year's class. I think he still has some work to do on OL, but he seems to have a decent hit rate on lower ranked OL recruits, and it doesn't look like we're going to have any individual line position that we can't fill with SEC talent, even if we still need to add some elite linemen.

(3) I think people are smart enough to recognize our ranking is hammered by having a small class. Our class isn't elite, but it's still pretty solid. As long as we're staying around the top 25, even though that's low by SEC standards, it's close enough that we can stay competitive if we just have a slightly better hit rate than other SEC teams. If you look at average player ranking, I think that's basically where we are.

(4) We don't have any glaring holes that we have to fill that we aren't filling. We needed qb's and we're getting two in the same class that are better than any qb recruit Mullen has landed other than Dak (although it looks like Williams is a lot better than his recruiting rank).

(5) We are getting playmakers. There were a couple of years where Mullen was upgrading the average talent on the team, but almost completely missing out on playmakers. We've now had a couple of years in a row where we have gotten the high end playmakers and this class, while small, seems to have them too.

(6) People are not as worried about Ole Miss. I think most people knew that some of Freeze's success last year was partly due to people just not being familiar with his offense and that they had their fair share of luck. But it still probably helped to actually see them struggle on the field. And the egg bowl matters too. Had we lost this year, I think it would have been reasonable to expect to lose next year in Oxford, in which case UM would all the sudden be on a 3 year win streak against us. While Ole Miss should be better next year and will have home field advantage, we hopefully will have our starting qb and we should be a little better aside from the qb position also.

[cubswillwinitonedaydawg]

We had two straight top 25 classes (Scout had us at #18 in 2012, # 22 in 2013), looks like 2015 could be another top 25 class, and like was mentioned we've had several 2-3 star recruits turn out to be very solid. Everybody thought the sky was falling after the ESPNU Bear lovefest last February, but we have a lot of good athletes in our program, with more on the way. 3 game winning streak, loads of talent coming back for 2014 - hard for even our debbie downers not to be excited about the state of the program.

[Political Hack]

we signed Chris Jones last year. Otherwise everyone would be freaking out. Next year, everyone will be freaking out again. just not on this board...

[mic]

Elijah would have prob gotten 4* if not dismissed from team would for sure had been higher 3
JJ might have even gotten 4th * if he hadn't gotten hurt
If B Bryant had gotten coverage earlier in year prob been a 4
Rawlings and Nick prob should be higher 3's
If we get Cory he should be a 4 will all his offers
Not to mention the studs we have already Green Aries Graham .. so its very good for a small class....

[smootness]

Elijah would have prob gotten 4* if not dismissed from team would for sure had been higher 3
JJ might have even gotten 4th * if he hadn't gotten hurt
If B Bryant had gotten coverage earlier in year prob been a 4
Rawlings and Nick prob should be higher 3's
If we get Cory he should be a 4 will all his offers
Not to mention the studs we have already Green Aries Graham .. so its very good for a small class....

I've said it before, but this class has several guys who are potential difference-makers. And I'm talking difference-makers on a McKinney/Banks/Prescott level:

Aeris Williams
Gerri Green
Brandon Bryant
Elijah Staley
possibly Jamoral Graham
Cory Thomas if we can get him

And this staff has proven they can make you realize your potential if you buy in. Fill a team with solid depth (meaning a 2-deep full of guys who are legitimate SEC players) and have enough difference-makers at the right positions, and you can have a special year.

So I'm fine with this class. I see no reason to go nuts over it. It is small, and it's not loaded with studs, but it also has a pretty high ceiling. It's nothing like the 2005-era Croom classes.

[Todd4State]

I'm happy with this class, and I think most State fans should be to barring the craziest collapse with multiple de-commits in the history of MSU football over a three week span. Which is not going to happen.

As I said the other day, it's comparable to what Ole Miss has and could very well end up being better depending on how things shake out at the end here for both of us.

[Sam&DeansDawg]

We're a proven team that can make players great rather than just "take" great players.