Bottom line is that our recruiting portfolio needs to be much more diversified.

[HSVDawg]

Putting aside all doomsday predictions for the Big 5, it is completely ridiculous that we are even in this situation to begin with. Lets look at this for a second. There is a very realistic chance that Bama comes in and takes the top 4 players in MS (Knott, Simmons, Lashley, Brown). This is a state that doesn't produce more than 10-12 legitimate SEC players any given year to begin with, so you think this possibilty would be absolutely crippling to the in state schools.

However, looking at Ole Miss, they could lose out on all of those guys and are still looking at what will be (at worst) a top 10 class. This is because they have been aggressively recruiting on a national scale for some time now and have been able to reel in big targets from out of state. However, our staff has been insistent "winning the state" and if that doesn't happen we have absolutely no backup plan. I mean, there is a legitimate chance we will only bring in 15 or so players for 21 open scholarships. Even some guys that we actually offer scholarships to if we miss on big targets tomorrow will be glorified walk-ons. That is absolutely terrible. Even if we have a great day tomorrow and land Brown, Lashley, Simmons, and Jones, that is still only going to be good enough for a top 20-25 finish which is pretty much a best case scenario.

Our current recruiting strategy has been exposed as very low reward / high risk, and our staff has no one to blame but themselves for putting us in this situation regardless of how tomorrow turns out.

[Taog Redloh]

The strategy is just fine as long as we get our share from MS. We can't go 0-fer on the top prospects like it seems we are this year. Nothing wrong with Mullen's business plan here, he just seems to not be executing it. You can't lose these guys in your backyard. 2008 was the last time I remember us getting worked this bad, but that crop didn't seem to be that great back then. Maybe 2011 but at least we got a few of the top guys then.

[maroonmania]

Bottom line is that relentless effort talked about by Mullen on the playing field needs to be talked about with our coaches on the recruiting trail.

[BossDawg]

Bottom line is that relentless effort talked about by Mullen on the playing field needs to be talked about with our coaches on the recruiting trail.

This! And Mullen needs to quit *****footing around every time a rumor comes out about him leaving and squash it as soon as possible. I like Mullen as a coach, but good G***amn he shoots himself in the foot so much.

[PassInterference]

Our current recruiting strategy has been exposed as very low reward / high risk, and our staff has no one to blame but themselves for putting us in this situation regardless of how tomorrow turns out.

Its not who we are recruiting.

It is how we are recruiting. Mullen doesn't get it. I'm not sure many of our boosters do either. We are bringing cowbells to a gun fight.

[HSVDawg]

The strategy is just fine as long as we get our share from MS. We can't go 0-fer on the top prospects like it seems we are this year.

I think you are missing the point, which is that we can't put the entire fate of our class in the hands of 3 or 4 guys. Especially when all of them are less than 90 miles from Tuscaloosa. We need to improve our out of state presence by a large margin in order to keep moving forward as a program.

And I'll say this again. Ole Miss has a Top 10 class as their absolute worst case scenario. We have a Top 25 class as our absolute BEST case scenario and thats only if we land ALL of Lashley, Simmons, Brown, and Jones. By the way, a top 25 class is good enough for 9th or 10th in the SEC at best. This is a year where we should be pushing into Top 10 - Top 15 class category ourselves. Our strategy isn't working, period.

[Taog Redloh]

I think you are missing the point, which is that we can't put the entire fate of our class in the hands of 3 or 4 guys. Especially when all of them are less than 90 miles from Tuscaloosa. We need to improve our out of state presence by a large margin in order to keep moving forward as a program.

And I'll say this again. Ole Miss has a Top 10 class as their absolute worst case scenario. We have a Top 25 class as our absolute BEST case scenario and thats only if we land ALL of Lashley, Simmons, Brown, and Jones. By the way, a top 25 class is good enough for 9th or 10th in the SEC at best. This is a year where we should be pushing into Top 10 - Top 15 class category ourselves. Our strategy isn't working, period.

No I see the point fine, I just disagree and think yours' is wrong. Stop comparing to Ole Miss. They are about to go on probation due to their tactics and me personally, I ain't shelling out shit for a high school recruit. The fact that these folks fork over all this money to these players is damned insane to me, but it is what it is.

Mississippi State simply isn't going to win the big battles out of state. I am all for signing out of state kids though, but by and large they are going to be 3 stars that the big state schools didn't want. That's the reality, accept it and move on. To me, JUCOs need to be a big part of what we're doing, we can bridge that talent gap a little bit that way.

[RIdog]

If you don't want to contribute you have no room to complain - UNM is not the only school paying players they've just upped their game .

[djaymsu5]

We need to be playing the game if y'all want better results or this will continue to happen. We just need to be smart and not get caught like most other programs are doing.

[War Machine Dawg]

This! And Mullen needs to quit *****footing around every time a rumor comes out about him leaving and squash it as soon as possible. I like Mullen as a coach, but good G***amn he shoots himself in the foot so much.


Its not who we are recruiting.

It is how we are recruiting. Mullen doesn't get it. I'm not sure many of our boosters do either. We are bringing cowbells to a gun fight.

Nailed it. It also doesn't help that we have a new DC almost literally every year. That revolving door needs to stop. But mostly, we have to accept - as boosters, coaches, and administration - the current crootin environment and play the game. Otherwise, we're going to continue being stuck with classes barely in the Top 25 and routinely worse when we strike out on all our big targets.

[IMissJack]

This is a problem that exists at all levels of recruiting at MSU (athletic and academic).