Good stuff on Tyler Russell and Gabe Jackson....

[CadaverDawg]

On this guy's twitter account. He claims to be a NFL Draft Reporter or something.

Says Russell is 4th best QB in SEC, and that Gabe is closest thing to Chance Warmack in SEC this year.

Regardless of who he is, he has a lot of followers and is giving MSU good pub.

Those that think Russell has no chance of being drafted wont like this link....

https://mobile.twitter.com/ChaseGoodbread/tweets

Says he wouldn't be surprised at all to see Russell outplay Mettenberger in Starkville.

[Coach34]

https://mobile.twitter.com/ChaseGoodbread/tweets

Says he wouldn't be surprised at all to see Russell outplay Mettenberger in Starkville.

Can't be true- Mullen is on the downslide and about to be run out of town by Freezus...all these players we have on watch lists doesnt mean we have talent- Bears told me so

[MarketingBully01]

I whole heartedly agree that Tyler Russell will be the 4th best QB in the SEC. We have a ton of weapons on offense and once again I don't understand why people aren't talking about the impact Billy Gonzalez will have on this offense coaching our receivers. This is the first time we will have a true receivers coach since Hud left and the receivers are very important in Coach Mullen's offense in a number of ways.

We have a great OLine, great TE's, excellent RBs and talented but inexperienced WRs that are big. Their size should be able to get the separation that Russell will need to get it to them. Fred Ross is a beast and so is Malcolm Johnson. Add Lewis, Robert Johnson, and Morrow to the mix and we should have plenty of weapons in the passing game. With Perkins ability to catch the ball on screens, I think we will see more of that with more agressive defenses.

[Coach34]

with a better defense- our offense will have to do less. Just something to remember also

[CadaverDawg]

I whole heartedly agree that Tyler Russell will be the 4th best QB in the SEC. We have a ton of weapons on offense and once again I don't understand why people aren't talking about the impact Billy Gonzalez will have on this offense coaching our receivers. This is the first time we will have a true receivers coach since Hud left and the receivers are very important in Coach Mullen's offense in a number of ways.

We have a great OLine, great TE's, excellent RBs and talented but inexperienced WRs that are big. Their size should be able to get the separation that Russell will need to get it to them. Fred Ross is a beast and so is Malcolm Johnson. Add Lewis, Robert Johnson, and Morrow to the mix and we should have plenty of weapons in the passing game. With Perkins ability to catch the ball on screens, I think we will see more of that with more agressive defenses.

Yea, it's hard to look up and down our lineup and not get a little wooly. I am more and more tempted to change my prediction every day. If our schedule wasnt so brutal, and I KNEW that Mullen and our offense was going to live up to potential and they would do better at calling plays...I would lean closer to 7-8 wins. But I refuse to be fooled like I was last year again. I am ready to see our play calling get back to a SEC level. If that happens, we will surprise people this year.

[CadaverDawg]

with a better defense- our offense will have to do less. Just something to remember also

Good point. And one I haven't factored in enough in my thoughts on the season.

[MarketingBully01]

Haha! Love the idiot rebel thinking Wallace should be ahead of Russell tweeting that guy. It would not surprise me if Wallace doesn't complete the season due to injury. That surgery he had had a tremendous effect on the Missouri QB. But the Ole Miss spin machine sweeps that under the rug...

[Pollodawg]

with a better defense- our offense will have to do less. Just something to remember also

That saved us a lot in 2010. The O wasn't asked to come in an erase a 20pt deficit every other game.

[MarketingBully01]

I think what put a bad taste in everyone's mouth was it looked like we gave up at certain points last year especially after the Alabama game. That Texas A&M game was brutal and they jumped on us early but if we had played the first half of that game like we did the second, we would have been in that game to the end. If one of those calls in the first half had gone our way in Death Valley at LSU (the ball didnt touch our guy), we would have been up 14-3 against LSU and that game might have ended differently.

We absolutely gave up against Ole Miss in the second half and they made us pay for it. If we capitalize on their mistakes in the first half, we are up by at least 2 TDs and Ole Miss has to become one dimensional to come back. That is a different ball game. NW as well. If Russell doesn't throw 4 INTs they don't score 17 points.

We also got rid of a DC whose scheme penalized players for taking chances and being aggressive. You have to be very disciplined and play your area no matter what happens to be successful in a zone package. If not, you get big plays for the offense. That is what happened. I do not doubt that Wilson knew his stuff and believed in his scheme. Our players weren't executing it because they wanted to play aggressive and did take chances on certain plays that left the zone open and players open.

I guess long story short is that I believe we are talented. I believe it was more attitude then lack of talent last year and I think we win 7-8 games this year. If we beat OSU, I think we win 8. That is one of my swing games IMO. I guess I just don't have the sky is falling attitude and see the coaching changes we made in the offseason as huge positives.

[Bully13]

from what I remember, against the good teams that beat us, it seems we had way too many quick 3 and outs. that in turn seems to always have bad effects on the defense and makes the D look worse than what they really are. and it seemed to be due to not being able to effectively run the ball when we needed to. making the offense more predictable. I think improvement and consistency in the running game against quality defenses will be key to having a good season. some of those games when we just couldn't run made me think Tyler is better than some of us think he is. he was under a lot of pressure in those games but still managed to put up good passing numbers which under those conditions was impressive. I also remember a lot of folks talking about how he was not going to be able to stay healthy when he was our QB in waiting. the number of times I've seen him get the shit knocked out of him and get back to the huddle has certainly proved those folks wrong.

[Coach34]

I also remember a lot of folks talking about how he was not going to be able to stay healthy when he was our QB in waiting. the number of times I've seen him get the shit knocked out of him and get back to the huddle has certainly proved those folks wrong.

People, like myself, were talking about him having to run the football. And after him getting hurt not once but twice in 2011- it was well warranted.

Tyler stood in there and took some shots last year no doubt, but some of them were due to him holding the ball too long. He's solid and has a chance to play his way into the draft this year. I hope he does.

[messageboardsuperhero]

I agree 13, the running game is the key to our offense next season. Last year we couldn't move the ball on the ground against good competition to save our lives.

In our eight wins, we averaged 183 rushing yards per game.
In our five losses, we averaged 82 rushing yards per game, and that number is skewed because we had 186 against NW. That game is the exception, because if Tyler doesn't have the worst game of his career that day, we probably win. Every other time we ran for over 100 yards last year, we won.

I will give you that we were down early in almost all of our losses and were forced into being one dimensional, but the average yards per carry numbers were way down in those games too. The bottom line this year is, just like every year, being physical in the running game is how most teams have to win big games. I'm not sure if that means we have to use Dak more, but we can't run the ball like we did last year or we will get beat. It was painful to watch at times.

[Coach34]

No doubt the running game struggled- as did the passing game at stretching the field.

Our scheme had to change from last year- it was a big reason why we struggled to run. Supposedly we have made some changes, so that is definitely something to watch for on Aug 31st. We also have more athletic WR's- so we also get to see if Russell can deliver the ball down the field to back some damn safeties up.

Those two things will certainly be key to our offense.

[messageboardsuperhero]

That's true too. The running game got no help from the downfield passing game all year. Just about every play we ran happened within 10-15 yards of the LOS, and the other defenses knew it. If we can make those safeties get back and cover the deep ball against our more athletic receiving corp this year, the running lanes will open up a little more.

I'm just looking for a more consistent, multi-dimensional attack than last year. Our personnel on the outside should allow our offense to do things downfield that we simply couldn't do last year, and our OL being completely intact should help our running game as well.

[Bully13]

That's true too. The running game got no help from the downfield passing game all year. Just about every play we ran happened within 10-15 yards of the LOS, and the other defenses knew it. If we can make those safeties get back and cover the deep ball against our more athletic receiving corp this year, the running lanes will open up a little more.

I'm just looking for a more consistent, multi-dimensional attack than last year. Our personnel on the outside should allow our offense to do things downfield that we simply couldn't do last year, and our OL being completely intact should help our running game as well.

I think Tyler has proven he can throw strikes down field. WR seperation, good play calling and good protection will be the key there.

on the rushing issue, there's another point I think is valid. take for instance the A&M game last year. if we would have effectively rushed the ball in the first half, I think we could have at least put 10 points on the board and kept 10 more off of A&M'S board. just due to A&M getting much less snaps and keeping our D from getting worn out and demoralized by the O's inebtness. A&M's defense was suspect coming into that game which made it that much more frustrating to watch. with a decent rushing attack, we might have gone into half time down 4 instead of 24.