Why are we never proactive like this?

[Lumpy Chucklelips]

Graduate transfer target Catalina thrilled about trip to Georgia
http://a.foxs.pt/uw8d/OfZfw7Nc1q

Georgia adds coveted grad transfer O-lineman Tyler Catalina
http://a.foxs.pt/uw8d/2b8CYSTc1q


LT who also visited and was offered by auburn and Florida. I guarantee you Howland would have pursued a prospect such as this one if he had a need for him.

Bama had the WR this past year who came from Oregon st. And I see where they signed another grad transfer at WR this year as well.

We need to be looking under every rock for players like this who could help us.

[Coach34]

Because we are lazy recruiters- hopefully some new blood changes that or at least improves things some

[Reason2succeed]

"Only Sith deal in absolutes."

We DID sign a grad transfer at LB a couple years ago. It didn't really work out that well in my opinion. It's likes Juco with only one year to play. I think it probably disrupts the locker room.

[Lumpy Chucklelips]

Looking for prospects such as this...was this part of Sleepy's job? Rocky's? Who would have been the lead on something like this?

[Taog Redloh]

I just want to be more proactive with JUCOs in the state of MS. I don't really care for graduate transfers too much.

[HoopsDawg]

We don't have the connections and we don't work the connections. Hopefully Brad Peterson will help in this area. For example, Freeze didn't find Haynes. They had people reach out to him after UNC said they couldn't take him. They told Freeze, you gotta take this guy. Meanwhile, we have a D1 Juco OG in our own state, and we don't offer him until 2 weeks before enrollment.

[maroonmania]

I just want to be more proactive with JUCOs in the state of MS. I don't really care for graduate transfers too much.

Well a graduate transfer that has already proven himself at the FBS level is a lot more of a sure thing than a JUCO transfer. Lately we don't seem to be getting more than one year's worth of solid production from JUCOs anyway when they do produce.

[Reason2succeed]

Grad transfers are weird to me. Why is a guy wanting to leave the program where they are/should be a senior leader? I appreciate Brandon Maye for coming to State but let's be honest, there's on why he left Clemson. He wasn't going to be a starter the next year.

[Taog Redloh]

Well a graduate transfer that has already proven himself at the FBS level is a lot more of a sure thing than a JUCO transfer. Lately we don't seem to be getting more than one year's worth of solid production from JUCOs anyway when they do produce.
Name 5 that have worked out and ADDED to a W total for a team. There is a reason they transfer. And Jake Coker don't count, he came with 2 years left. I'm talking about a true graduate transfer who is looking to play somewhere for their senior season only. Brandon Maye, Jeremiah Masoli, Everett Golson types - of which those 3 did nothing and those respective schools would have been better off getting younger players some PT. Russell Wilson was about the only one who did, and his was an extenuating circumstance with MLB baseball.

The reason we don't get good JUCO production is because we do a piss poor job recrootin them. You know, the point of my post, which said we need to do BETTER....not continue the same.

I thought this was obvious.

[CJDAWG85]

Brandon Maye - he was pretty good at Clemson. Didn't do so hot with us.

[Travelingdawg]

Yep looked like Tarzan played like Jane is what one poster on here said. Lol

[Dawgtini]

Because we are lazy recruiters- hopefully some new blood changes that or at least improves things some


Paul said on 247 right after signing day that Mullen and staff were looking at guys who didn't sign and possible graduate transfers. I think we do this more than you think, but we are also competing with everyone else for these few guys as well. So, finding a good fit at a position of need is a needle in a haystack kind of proposition.

I posted this on another thread, but it is relevant here as well. I don't think it is simply we are "lazy". You have to find the right fit at a position of need that you believe is better than what you currently have available. Could we? Sure, Brandon Maye is one I remember that we have brought in, but just because some guy goes to Bama as a Grad Transfer doesn't necessarily mean that they are "proactive" and we are lazy. Heck, maybe we talked to him too and he said "nah, I like the chance to play for a possible repeat natty".

[JoseBrown]

Generally, with us it takes oline, even juco's, 2 to 3 yrs to see the field anyway. Grad transfers don't work well in developmental programs.**

[HoopsDawg]

Name 5 that have worked out and ADDED to a W total for a team. There is a reason they transfer. And Jake Coker don't count, he came with 2 years left. I'm talking about a true graduate transfer who is looking to play somewhere for their senior season only. Brandon Maye, Jeremiah Masoli, Everett Golson types - of which those 3 did nothing and those respective schools would have been better off getting younger players some PT. Russell Wilson was about the only one who did, and his was an extenuating circumstance with MLB baseball.

The reason we don't get good JUCO production is because we do a piss poor job recrootin them. You know, the point of my post, which said we need to do BETTER....not continue the same.

I thought this was obvious.

QB is tough. But there have been many transfers at other positions like the DB AU got from Michigan this past season. We picked up an OL from UF under Croom that started at tackle for a year. They can be very valuable.

[Dawgtini]

QB is tough. But there have been many transfers at other positions like the DB AU got from Michigan this past season. We picked up an OL from UF under Croom that started at tackle for a year. They can be very valuable.
The OT wasn't a grad transfer, and he did play well the first year. Then he promptly got himself booted off the team (firing a gun on campus maybe?). Still, he transferred to be closer to momma or something, not a grad transfer with only one year to play one.

[HoopsDawg]

The OT wasn't a grad transfer, and he did play well the first year. Then he promptly got himself booted off the team (firing a gun on campus maybe?). Still, he transferred to be closer to momma or something, not a grad transfer with only one year to play one.

Right, just transfers in general. We haven't brought many in at all. Considering we only signed 18, we have room if we were actively looking. I agree with Goat though that we need to refocus on the Jucos.

[HancockCountyDog]

If there was one position I would love a grad transfer - it would be OT. Let Rankin, Jenkins and Senior compete for one spot and maybe move one down to OG to replace Malone. For me, if Im coaching I think you have Clayborn and Calhoun at OC and OG, and the other three spots are up for grabs. Senior would have to be a lot better than Rankin and Jenkins to start over either in my eyes. All ties should go to the younger players. The schedule sets up that we can have growing pains early.

[Taog Redloh]

If there was one position I would love a grad transfer - it would be OT. Let Rankin, Jenkins and Senior compete for one spot and maybe move one down to OG to replace Malone. For me, if Im coaching I think you have Clayborn and Calhoun at OC and OG, and the other three spots are up for grabs. Senior would have to be a lot better than Rankin and Jenkins to start over either in my eyes. All ties should go to the younger players. The schedule sets up that we can have growing pains early.
I could get on board with that. Even if they are a trouble-maker, they wouldn't have much time to do much seeing how they'd be here for the fall then probably quitting or going pro in the spring. Not sure how it messes with your continuity and team morale and all that jazz.

[Coach34]

If there was one position I would love a grad transfer - it would be OT. Let Rankin, Jenkins and Senior compete for one spot and maybe move one down to OG to replace Malone. For me, if Im coaching I think you have Clayborn and Calhoun at OC and OG, and the other three spots are up for grabs. Senior would have to be a lot better than Rankin and Jenkins to start over either in my eyes. All ties should go to the younger players. The schedule sets up that we can have growing pains early.

Only a miracle will keep Desper from starting

[HancockCountyDog]

Only a miracle will keep Desper from starting

Don't get me wrong, I understand fans like myself never watching the egg bowl again, but I would think the OL coaches would be forced to watch it. If we trot out Senior, Desper, Clayborn, Calhoun and Jenkins/Rankin - I'll just fail to understand what we are trying to build. That is 3 seniors, 2 of whom maxed out as RS Sophomores. We know what we are getting with them. Competence (not greatness) against bad defenses, below average against average defenses, and nuclear level disaster against good defenses. We will play several good defenses next year on the lines. A&M, AU, LSU, Bama and the bears will all have good to great level DL's.

[Coach34]

Don't get me wrong, I understand fans like myself never watching the egg bowl again, but I would think the OL coaches would be forced to watch it. If we trot out Senior, Desper, Clayborn, Calhoun and Jenkins/Rankin - I'll just fail to understand what we are trying to build. That is 3 seniors, 2 of whom maxed out as RS Sophomores. We know what we are getting with them. Competence (not greatness) against bad defenses, below average against average defenses, and nuclear level disaster against good defenses. We will play several good defenses next year on the lines. A&M, AU, LSU, Bama and the bears will all have good to great level DL's.

Because those will be the best 5/6 players we have. The rest need more time to mature and get experience. We are a developmental program- especially on the OL. The problem is that we wont have a player that is clearly better than Desper- thats our problem

[Johnson85]

I posted this on another thread, but it is relevant here as well. I don't think it is simply we are "lazy". You have to find the right fit at a position of need that you believe is better than what you currently have available. Could we? Sure, Brandon Maye is one I remember that we have brought in, but just because some guy goes to Bama as a Grad Transfer doesn't necessarily mean that they are "proactive" and we are lazy. Heck, maybe we talked to him too and he said "nah, I like the chance to play for a possible repeat natty".

I don't think this is right. If you have one of your 85 spots available, since you're looking at a one year commitment, you only have to have somebody that has a reasonable chance of providing depth. In this case, basically any OL that has gotten playing time at the FBS level qualifies.

I agree that graduate transfers are rarely going to work out for us. They are all pretty much of three categories: (1) players from major schools looking to move down in order to get playing time (2) players from small schools looking to prove they can play in the elite conferences, or (3) troublemakers.

For category one, there is usually only going to be one or two positions for us where we are likely to offer more playing time, unless you are talking about a guy at an elite school stuck behind elite talent. Brandon Maye came from a good program and was at a glaring position of need for us and he still wasn't any better than what we had.

For the second group, you can't really count on them being contributors. More proven than JUCO and they will at least likely had some OOC games against good competition, but you're still talking about one year to learn the playbook and adjust to better competition.

For the third group, you don't want them.

But again, with our situation, we should probably be looking at any OL graduate transfer period.

[dawgs]

Grad transfers are weird to me. Why is a guy wanting to leave the program where they are/should be a senior leader? I appreciate Brandon Maye for coming to State but let's be honest, there's on why he left Clemson. He wasn't going to be a starter the next year.

Well sometimes good players end up at lesser programs for a variety of reasons. Maybe they were a late bloomer or just didn't do the recruiting game out of HS or played HS in an out of the way state. Either way, there are some guys that the power programs whiff on. So after they've played 3 years and graduated, they see it as an opportunity to play for higher stakes. Sure it would suck to leave your friends at Oregon st, but I guarantee you that kid has memories forever playing a relevant role as a possession receiver for bama. Are you saying the only reason he left Oregon st is because he wouldn't start or play, yet was bama's 4th leading receiver and caught the 2nd most TDs on the team?

[Dawgtini]

somebody that has a reasonable chance of providing depth. In this case, basically any OL that has gotten playing time at the FBS level qualifies.



If you are just going for " a reasonable chance of providing depth" then why not just get a JUCO guy. He may even develop to be more than just depth. We have bodies for depth, we need starting SEC bodies. If there is a starting SEC body available, I think we should do whatever it takes to get them in.

[War Machine Dawg]

Well a graduate transfer that has already proven himself at the FBS level is a lot more of a sure thing than a JUCO transfer. Lately we don't seem to be getting more than one year's worth of solid production from JUCOs anyway when they do produce.

That's because the JUCO system is picked over and watered down trash now. It's not nearly what it was in The Kang's heyday. More players are getting eligible now. But you're trying to talk logic with Goat. You'd have more success explaining Einstein's Theory of Relativity to a three year old.

[Johnson85]

If you are just going for " a reasonable chance of providing depth" then why not just get a JUCO guy. He may even develop to be more than just depth. We have bodies for depth, we need starting SEC bodies. If there is a starting SEC body available, I think we should do whatever it takes to get them in.

Because:


If you have one of your 85 spots available, since you're looking at a one year commitment, you only have to have somebody that has a reasonable chance of providing depth.

A JUCO is going to take up a scholarship spot for two years. Unless you have a glaring need for a back-up somewhere, you're typically not going to want to burn a scholly for two years on somebody you don't expect to contribute beyond being a backup (although we did it with a center from MGCC, Holly maybe?).

If you're willing to ruthlessly process people, then I guess JUCO's are a better option, but if you are processing JUCO's you're probably going to have trouble recruiting them in the future.

[Big4Dawg]

a JUCO also takes up one of the 25 spots that you can sign a year. If we took a JUCO just to take a JUCO, that's one less we can count back next year.