Don't look now...

[DistrictDawg92]

But Mullen and Co. are putting together what could be the best recruiting class in MSU history from top to bottom. It seems as if Mullen has finally decided to quit ****ing around and recruit like an SEC team should. This upcoming 2014 season and 2015 recruiting class could together catapult us into a serious SEC contender for years to come. And what a difference 365 days can make in our QB situation; 2014- Fitz and Staley 2014- Virgil and Tiano, 2016- Pass and/or Josh White. Pretty impressive, so much for Mullen can't recruit QBs. Very important that we hold on to our staff after this season, which will be tough, but with everything said, it's hard to not get excited about the future though, my how our expectations have changed. We could be witnessing the beginning of the first real golden days of MSU football since world war 2 while at the same time easing into a newly expanded Davis Wade that will finally be SEC caliber. All hail Mullen and go dawgs.

[Goat Holder]

I told somebody the other day that this may be the best I've ever seen the football program in my lifetime, as far the present and future.

As far as crootin....eh, I gave up caring about that shit. I'll check and see if we got a QB and how many OL we got, and see where everybody came from....after that it never really matters, how good we are typically depends on the coach. And we'll never croot with the big boys. I can name exactly one recruit over the last 10 years that we were close on and missed that would have drastically changed our program. I'll give you two guesses but you'll only need one.

[Crystal Balls]

C.J. Johnson?*******

[bulldogsmsu]

I told somebody the other day that this may be the best I've ever seen the football program in my lifetime, as far the present and future.

As far as crootin....eh, I gave up caring about that shit. I'll check and see if we got a QB and how many OL we got, and see where everybody came from....after that it never really matters, how good we are typically depends on the coach. And we'll never croot with the big boys. I can name exactly one recruit over the last 10 years that we were close on and missed that would have drastically changed our program. I'll give you two guesses but you'll only need one.

Cam Newton.

[DownwardDawg]

Cam Newton.

Of course

[Johnson85]

What's crazy is that we have to recruit like that to finish in the middle of the West.

[thedawg]

I agree that we are recruiting like an SEC team should. The key is to put three or four of these classes together to compete for championships. Its been a process. At times our fanbase has become impatient. At times we have bitched about such and such shouldnt happen in year four. At the end of the day its a process. Look where we are and where he started.....

[War Machine Dawg]

What's crazy is that we have to recruit like that to finish in the middle of the West.

No kidding. And to think a bunch of our fans wanted to fire Mullen last season.

[War Machine Dawg]

I agree that we are recruiting like an SEC team should. The key is to put three or four of these classes together to compete for championships. Its been a process. At times our fanbase has become impatient. At times we have bitched about such and such shouldnt happen in year four. At the end of the day its a process. Look where we are and where he started.....

And this is the reason so many of us preached patience with the rough start last season. There is literally no comparison between where we are now and where we were when Mullen took over. Our signing classes have gradually improved every year, but most importantly, we've developed the guys we've brought in. And our staff has done a hell of a job evaluating players in MS, which is something Mullen promised from Day 1. As he has said repeatedly, you have to really work to find players in this state, otherwise you miss out on Benardrick McKinney from Rosa Fort and Johnthan Banks from East Webster.

And as we've won and started beating other SEC teams, particularly SECW teams, our recruiting has really started to take off. I realize it's Captain Obvious, but kids want to go to programs that are winning and playing meaningful games late in the season and go to bowls. That's why you're seeing our recruiting so drastically improve the last couple of years, despite our own self-imposed handicaps which we've discussed ad nauseum around here.

I can't express how excited I am about the future of our program going forward. The only big area I see we could improve upon is OL recruiting. We've done a good job finding starters, but we still haven't built a lot of depth there. We look to be getting better there as well, just more slowly than our other positions.

[Goat Holder]

The only big area I see we could improve upon is OL recruiting. We've done a good job finding starters, but we still haven't built a lot of depth there. We look to be getting better there as well, just more slowly than our other positions.

I've been saying this is one area where we should go outside the box. I'd like to see us sign an extra 1 or 2 than we normally would every year, and make up for it somewhere else. Overwhelm with depth and at worst, you have more chances to find talented starters with more bodies. If we want to stay consistent, we cannot have a down year on the OL. We need upperclass starters every year (unless some underclassman takes a position by force). Holes in the OL for MSU = 3-9.

Not sure where we make up for it though. Special teams maybe? Recruit kickers who can boom it, so kickoff team is basically useless. We always suck at it anyway. Use all backups for that. I don't know, just thinking out loud. Maybe we could recruit more Malcolm Johnsons who can double as a TE and WR, cutting down on the need for a true TE. I'd like to see the FB used more too.

[BeastMan]

Is it any coincidence Mullen has surrounded himself with recruiters? Geoff Collins, Deshea Townsend, Tony Hughes, Greg Knox, and Brian Johnson are all very good recruiters.

[SallyStansbury]

Is it any coincidence Mullen has surrounded himself with recruiters? Geoff Collins, Deshea Townsend, Tony Hughes, Greg Knox, and Brian Johnson are all very good recruiters.

100% no. He is smart. He isn't the warmest and fuzziest guy so he has several others on his staff who are superior at this. Had Stansbury surrounded himself with some coaches who were good at coaching, he may still be here. Credit to Coach Mullen in this instance. Handing over the reigns on recruiting to folks other than him and Hevesy is wise. Lets see if he can do that with special teams coaching too. I like the direction we are going.

[hailstate88]

No kidding. And to think a bunch of our fans wanted to fire Mullen last season.

Exactly. all of our fans wanted Mullen gone. but if he puts up a recruiting class like is expected in 2014/15 season, then our program is on the rise to be a real contender in the West. I give it 2 to 3 years tops before you see the difference in his recruiting classes

[drunkernhelldawg]

100% no. He is smart. He isn't the warmest and fuzziest guy so he has several others on his staff who are superior at this. Had Stansbury surrounded himself with some coaches who were good at coaching, he may still be here. Credit to Coach Mullen in this instance. Handing over the reigns on recruiting to folks other than him and Hevesy is wise. Lets see if he can do that with special teams coaching too. I like the direction we are going.

Spot on, as usual. Good to see my favorite poster on the board.

[War Machine Dawg]

Exactly. all of our fans wanted Mullen gone. but if he puts up a recruiting class like is expected in 2014/15 season, then our program is on the rise to be a real contender in the West. I give it 2 to 3 years tops before you see the difference in his recruiting classes

It wasn't all, but it was a surprising portion. Even normally rational posters like Engie and Cadaver got sucked into the madness. Although to be fair to both of them, they had pretty solid reasoning behind their opinions, as opposed to the majority who had/have an irrational lovefest with Hud and little brother syndrome with the BearSharks wanting to go get "our Hugh Freeze." *cough, PreacherMatt, cough* I can respect differing opinions so long as they're well reasoned. But wanting change just for change and because we *might* upgrade over a guy who's been a proven winner for us is rather ridiculous. God forbid we don't win 10 this season or the same crowd will be beating the Hud Drum aGAIN.

[Steakonastick]

I'm expecting a class around 15-20. A lot of these schools will jump us once 4 and 5 star kids start deciding. How high was our 2002 class ranked? That's the best one I can remember with Norwood, turner, and birdsong.

[DudyDawg]

This has nothing to do with the thread, but why do you capitalize the "GAIN" in again, WMD. I don't know if thats a thing or something, I'm just curious

[maroonmania]

Exactly. all of our fans wanted Mullen gone. but if he puts up a recruiting class like is expected in 2014/15 season, then our program is on the rise to be a real contender in the West. I give it 2 to 3 years tops before you see the difference in his recruiting classes

That's a dumb statement. At most SOME of our fans wanted Mullen gone last year IF we had a losing season. And even most of those would have just wanted to make the move to get Hud while he's still available for us.

[smootness]

It wasn't all, but it was a surprising portion. Even normally rational posters like Engie and Cadaver got sucked into the madness. Although to be fair to both of them, they had pretty solid reasoning behind their opinions, as opposed to the majority who had/have an irrational lovefest with Hud and little brother syndrome with the BearSharks wanting to go get "our Hugh Freeze." *cough, PreacherMatt, cough* I can respect differing opinions so long as they're well reasoned. But wanting change just for change and because we *might* upgrade over a guy who's been a proven winner for us is rather ridiculous. God forbid we don't win 10 this season or the same crowd will be beating the Hud Drum aGAIN.

It's exactly why I don't understand the thought that anything less than 10 wins is a disappointment or that this will be our best chance to get there. We're still building the program; this year is not the pinnacle, at least I hope it's not.

To me, that is the epitome of the 'poor ol' MSU' attitude.

[drunkernhelldawg]

It's exactly why I don't understand the thought that anything less than 10 wins is a disappointment or that this will be our best chance to get there. We're still building the program; this year is not the pinnacle, at least I hope it's not.

To me, that is the epitome of the 'poor ol' MSU' attitude.

You're reading a lot into this. All I'm saying is that it's not every year that we have a legitimate chance to contend for the SEC West and beyond. I believe we do have that this season, and I'll be disappointed if we don't. Either way, I'll still hope to be even better next season. It's not "poor o'l MSU." I wouldn't trade MSU for anybody else. I think we're blessed to have the program and tradition that we have. I'm not interested in being Alabama or anybody else.

[HoopsDawg]

It's exactly why I don't understand the thought that anything less than 10 wins is a disappointment or that this will be our best chance to get there. We're still building the program; this year is not the pinnacle, at least I hope it's not.

To me, that is the epitome of the 'poor ol' MSU' attitude.

I have seen very few to zero posts that say less than 10 wins is a disappointment. 8 wins is the over/under for this season.

[War Machine Dawg]

This has nothing to do with the thread, but why do you capitalize the "GAIN" in again, WMD. I don't know if thats a thing or something, I'm just curious

It's an inside thing from my SPS days and those of us who watched pro wrestling in the 90s when it was awesome. It came from Chris Jericho's WWE debut promo.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGsBRImD0po

[drunkernhelldawg]

I have seen very few to zero posts that say less than 10 wins is a disappointment. 8 wins is the over/under for this season.

I have said that. 8 wins means that we lose again to all of the the usual suspects. I think we're ready to transcend that.

[Covercorner2]

I don't think it is as much as our program has peaked as it is that LSU, Alabama, and A&M are "vulnerable," we play Vandy and UK, and we get Auburn at home....

[smootness]

I have seen very few to zero posts that say less than 10 wins is a disappointment. 8 wins is the over/under for this season.

Fair enough, 'disappointment' was too strong. I have definitely seen multiple posters say they won't be satisfied with less than 10 regular season wins, or that it would be 'ho-hum'.

[BeastMan]

100% no. He is smart. He isn't the warmest and fuzziest guy so he has several others on his staff who are superior at this. Had Stansbury surrounded himself with some coaches who were good at coaching, he may still be here. Credit to Coach Mullen in this instance. Handing over the reigns on recruiting to folks other than him and Hevesy is wise. Lets see if he can do that with special teams coaching too. I like the direction we are going.

We have a winner

[sandwolf]

I'm expecting a class around 15-20. A lot of these schools will jump us once 4 and 5 star kids start deciding. How high was our 2002 class ranked? That's the best one I can remember with Norwood, turner, and birdsong.

I agree that we will wind up somewhere in the 15-20 range......and that is assuming that we get Dear, Adams, and a few of our other highly rated prospects.

That 2002 class was ranked 17. In 2 out of the last 3 years, we have signed classes with essentially the same ranking as that 2002 class.......kind of brings some perspective to how far we have come since then.

[Bubb Rubb]

Exactly. all of our fans wanted Mullen gone. but if he puts up a recruiting class like is expected in 2014/15 season, then our program is on the rise to be a real contender in the West. I give it 2 to 3 years tops before you see the difference in his recruiting classes

That's a pretty broad brush you're painting with there, skippy.

[Bubb Rubb]

It's an inside thing from my SPS days and those of us who watched pro wrestling in the 90s when it was awesome. It came from Chris Jericho's WWE debut promo.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGsBRImD0po

Chris Jericho auto-rec engaged!