Chis Jones

[Alldawg]

What are your thoughts on his production decline from this year from last year? Do you think he had his mind on playing DE or was it more to do with just lining up with the 1B team most of the year? I believe he could have been more dominant if he lined up with the 1A team and had better talent around him.

[engie]

He lost his elite first step. And his speed has taken a big hit with his size. I don't think he was healthy this year personally(based on just a hunch). I'd love for him to drop 25lbs and get back the speed that made him the #2 overall prospect in the country.

[Homedawg]

What are your thoughts on his production decline from this year from last year? Do you think he had his mind on playing DE or was it more to do with just lining up with the 1B team most of the year? I believe he could have been more dominant if he lined up with the 1A team and had better talent around him.

He takes snaps off. It's like, oh 2 people are blocking me, I did my job, so I'll just stand my big ass here. He did this a lot. And when he did get one on ones, he didn't win many of those. He was just too easy to block. Period.

[engie]

This was very confusing to me as well after being known through recruiting and his FR year as having this relentless motor that ran nonstop regardless... Maybe the damn react scheme instead of just turning him loose to raise hell? Dunno, but it's got to be fixed...

[thf24]

He got double-teamed and held (most notably on the 4th and 15 against Arkansas) a ton this year, and I'm sure that led to frustration and taking plays off. A great DT has to learn how to produce despite those factors. If he can do that, get in better shape, and accept that his future is at DT and focus on it, he'll have a monster and probably final season next year.

[Brahmabull]

He is not a DE. Not in a 4 or a 3 down line set. He needs to decide he wants to be the most dominate defensive tackle in college football and then play that way on every down.

[engie]

He is not a DE. Not in a 4 or a 3 down line set. He needs to decide he wants to be the most dominate defensive tackle in college football and then play that way on every down.

He can be an elite DE if he wants to be a DE. His frame can add/lose 30 lbs ridiculously easily. He had DE speed and quick twitch coming in in every sense of the word...

[HancockCountyDog]

This was very confusing to me as well after being known through recruiting and his FR year as having this relentless motor that ran nonstop regardless... Maybe the damn react scheme instead of just turning him loose to raise hell? Dunno, but it's got to be fixed...

I can't find the clip - but anyone remember the play in the UA game where he was playing DE and just spun around his guy and smoked the QB in a flash. That Chris Jones was probably 40 lbs ago. His freshman year he was much more disruptive than he was this year. If he plans on being a three year guy, I hope he knows that he just made his junior year tougher.

Now some of this may be playing time, but he simply didn't live in opposing team's backfields. Im all for making fun of the Kimdeechee's, but that guy lived in the backfield against several teams this year, including us.

[HoopsDawg]

He can be an elite DE if he wants to be a DE. His frame can add/lose 30 lbs ridiculously easily. He had DE speed and quick twitch coming in in every sense of the word...

Nope. He's not a 4-3 DE.

[Political Hack]

he can be a 3-4 DE, easily. And a great one IMO.

[ShotgunDawg]

He can be an elite DE if he wants to be a DE. His frame can add/lose 30 lbs ridiculously easily. He had DE speed and quick twitch coming in in every sense of the word...

This is a good debate but I respectfully disagree. I believe his hips and butt are naturally too wide to decrease his weight to be an effective DE.

Elite DE are naturally lean people, IMO, that bulk up and add strength. Chris isn't a naturally lean person, he is a naturally large person.

Chris needs to decide he is going to be Fletcher Cox or Albert Haynesworth.

He was a baby in the Under Armour game and his body has naturally matured and grown since then. Him going back to that body type isn't an option IMO and is something that was natural and out of MSU's control. He needs to embrace DT if he wants to be elite.

[Todd4State]

Well, first of all he played half the time.

I do agree that Dan needs to sit down and say "if you want to play DE, you need to lose some weight. If you don't you need to accept playing DT."

I don't know if it will be easy or not for him to lose the weight, but I bet if he really wants to play DE, he will do it.

[msstate7]

Dt or de... CJ needs to trim down. He's carrying too much weight imo

[HancockCountyDog]

Everyone go to the 19:20 mark in this video. I know everyone thinks he can't lose the weight, but this Chris Jones is the future number 1 pick in the draft:


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

[CadaverDawg]

It didn't help that he wasn't on the field with Smith, Brown, and Eulls at the same time enough. We actually gave teams a break by putting Jones on 1B instead of playing him with Smith and Eulls more. Yea, it made both 1A and 1B lines tough...but it kept either from being dominant IMO. That and the fact that Mullen/Collins didn't turn our defense loose like they should have this year. Bend but don't break sucks ass when you have the talent we had this year on defense.

[HancockCountyDog]

It didn't help that he wasn't on the field with Smith, Brown, and Eulls at the same time enough. We actually gave teams a break by putting Jones on 1B instead of playing him with Smith and Eulls more. Yea, it made both 1A and 1B lines tough...but it kept either from being dominant IMO. That and the fact that Mullen/Collins didn't turn our defense loose like they should have this year. Bend but don't break sucks ass when you have the talent we had this year on defense.

Im sorry, Im going to have to agree with Engie and Hoops here. Its not like he didn't make plays against lesser competition. He destroyed UAB and USA. He didn't perform when it mattered, and that is on him. I don't think any of our play calls designed for him to not rush the passer or to not penetrate. I think you can make the argument that McKinney was misused - same with Wells. But Jones? He is on the DL - in the immortal words spoken to Greg Lloyd "Rush the Quarterback". Problem is that Jones was carrying an extra plate around his waist as compared to his freshman year.

Im willing to bet he was pushing 315 at times this year. He is a legit 6'6" and he looked as think as Eulls and PJ Jones at times.

[msstate7]

It didn't help that he wasn't on the field with Smith, Brown, and Eulls at the same time enough. We actually gave teams a break by putting Jones on 1B instead of playing him with Smith and Eulls more. Yea, it made both 1A and 1B lines tough...but it kept either from being dominant IMO. That and the fact that Mullen/Collins didn't turn our defense loose like they should have this year. Bend but don't break sucks ass when you have the talent we had this year on defense.

I hated the defensive philosophy, but it worked against bama. Our defense played well enough to win, but offensive turnovers killed us.

Against OM, our defensive players just didn't make plays. I wish we had come after bo more, but we didn't bc we were scared of big plays... Go figure. If we just do a better job of tackling, we would've done ok. All of their yards were on big plays. We played safe to avoid big plays so that tells me a lot of it was the players' fault.

I'm not saying I like our defensive approach, but it did get us to 10 wins so I can't totally discredit it. Fire away...

[engie]

This is a good debate but I respectfully disagree. I believe his hips and butt are naturally too wide to decrease his weight to be an effective DE.

He was Julius Peppers when he got to MSU.

[HancockCountyDog]

He was Julius Peppers when he got to MSU.

Totally agree. Watch that clip at the 19:20 mark and tell me that he somehow had to gain weight.

If he adds 30 lbs to the frame on that clip, he is a 285 lb wrecking machine. It's there, but he has to get the weight off.

[bulldawg28]

The guy was injured all year.

[Johnson85]

He can be an elite DE if he wants to be a DE. His frame can add/lose 30 lbs ridiculously easily. He had DE speed and quick twitch coming in in every sense of the word...

I think you're probably right as far as college goes, but it seems like he'd be fighting against his natural position.

[Coach 57]

Take it for what it is (my $.02) but I watched him a lot this year. I don't watch the ball like most do, I watch specific guys. But I watched him this year and he played like he had a bad wheel or a lower back injury. And I would lean more to the latter. The reason is because there were games that he looked like what I thought he'd look like as a soph. But then there were times where he looked like bad. Like no push whatsoever. But that would be attributed to a lower back injury. Some games he looked good (maybe properly massaged out/shot) and then sometimes it looked like it tightened up on him to the point to where he was tentative coming off the ball. Then I kinda heard what was said earlier that he'd been hurt most of the year. Lower back pain is a tough one for a lineman. It's hard if your an OL to keep your back flat & as a DL your rips and extended punches are hard to get full extension on.

[ShotgunDawg]

He was Julius Peppers when he got to MSU.

True, but Julius Peppers is a tightly wound, mature build guy. Here is his picture in college.

http://espn.go.com/i/abcsports/bcs/0922/photo/a_peppers_i.jpg

Here is Chris in high school. He has a teenager body, he wasn't tightly wounds, and had almost no muscle definition.
As his bodied matured, it had no choice but to expand and get bigger. I don't think this body type is an option for him to go back to.

http://imgick.gulflive.com/home/gulf-media/width620/img/mississippi-press-sports/photo/13064626-mmmain.jpg

[Bothrops]

Needs to lose weight regardless of his frame. He looked awkward trying to run this year. He's too heavy.

[engie]

Take it for what it is (my $.02) but I watched him a lot this year. I don't watch the ball like most do, I watch specific guys. But I watched him this year and he played like he had a bad wheel or a lower back injury. And I would lean more to the latter. The reason is because there were games that he looked like what I thought he'd look like as a soph. But then there were times where he looked like bad. Like no push whatsoever. But that would be attributed to a lower back injury. Some games he looked good (maybe properly massaged out/shot) and then sometimes it looked like it tightened up on him to the point to where he was tentative coming off the ball. Then I kinda heard what was said earlier that he'd been hurt most of the year. Lower back pain is a tough one for a lineman. It's hard if your an OL to keep your back flat & as a DL your rips and extended punches are hard to get full extension on.

Thanks. I'm with you. Something more was going on with him that we don't know for certain about...

[dawgpound]

He needs to lose some pounds... he looked like he couldn't move out there