Great day today for our football program, but..

[HoopsDawg]

it's going to be a real challenge integrating this large a number of jucos with the current players on the roster who have redshirted and been working hard. This is when having a great strength coach becomes so crucial b/c he needs to instill team chemistry through the workouts. There needs to be a lot of team building exercises this offseason. Maybe even bring back the Navy SEALs or something similar to what the baseball team just did.

[Commercecomet24]

it's going to be a real challenge integrating this large a number of jucos with the current players on the roster who have redshirted and been working hard. This is when having a great strength coach becomes so crucial b/c he needs to instill team chemistry through the workouts. There needs to be a lot of team building exercises this offseason. Maybe even bring back the Navy SEALs or something similar to what the baseball team just did.

I agree. If there's one coach I have faith in doing that it's Dan, based on his record of looking for kids with character and the discipline he's instilled. It no doubt will be somewhat of a challenge though.

[mstatefan91]

I don't think there will be that much strife.. We needed players. Plain and simple.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

1 positive is a lot teammates are coming together (Pope, Champion, Sweat, & Landrews plus Rivers, Cole, & Phillips) so they don't have to come in alone. Also guys like Abram & Pierce are guys the players already know really well.

[HoopsDawg]

1 positive is a lot teammates are coming together (Pope, Champion, Sweat, & Landrews plus Rivers, Cole, & Phillips) so they don't have to come in alone. Also guys like Abram & Pierce are guys the players already know really well.

True, good points.

[Cooterpoot]

It's ish or get off the pot time for some players. They better be ready to compete. I'm not concerned with their "happiness". It's time to go to war and win a spot instead of just trotting out there and looking like ish.

[mstatefan91]

It's ish or get off the pot time for some players. They better be ready to compete. I'm not concerned with their "happiness". It's time to go to war and win a spot instead of just trotting out there and looking like ish.

Yeah, the coddling days are over.

[ShotgunDawg]

Building culture should certainly be a top priority. Lots of new pieces

[Apoplectic]

Yeah, the coddling days are over.

You know and I know this is not dans style. It took an injury to a 140 lb RB to get him out of the lineup. I'm as giddy as any of u school girls over winning the eb and fitz but dan will still be dan.

[sleepy dawg]

it's going to be a real challenge integrating this large a number of jucos with the current players on the roster who have redshirted and been working hard. This is when having a great strength coach becomes so crucial b/c he needs to instill team chemistry through the workouts. There needs to be a lot of team building exercises this offseason. Maybe even bring back the Navy SEALs or something similar to what the baseball team just did.

There are many challenges to face every year. This is the type of challenge we want to face. Some schools are wondering how they'll deal with all the outside distractions, while we're just wondering what are we going to do with all these players... I'll take it.

[BB30]

It's ish or get off the pot time for some players. They better be ready to compete. I'm not concerned with their "happiness". It's time to go to war and win a spot instead of just trotting out there and looking like ish.

Exactly, be ready to win a job or get processed. I like it assuming the Juco guys are legit and can come in and play.

[dawgday166]

You know and I know this is not dans style. It took an injury to a 140 lb RB to get him out of the lineup. I'm as giddy as any of u school girls over winning the eb and fitz but dan will still be dan.

I'm interested to see if things change or if your post is spot on. I'm glad to see someone else remembers what most of our year was like ... and really has been for the last 2 years.

[maroonmania]

You know and I know this is not dans style. It took an injury to a 140 lb RB to get him out of the lineup. I'm as giddy as any of u school girls over winning the eb and fitz but dan will still be dan.

One of the issues with Dan is that, rightly or wrongly, he primarily gives out playing time based on how a guy performs in practice and what kind of work ethic he has and yes, how much seniority he has. And those factors don't always go hand in hand with how individuals actually perform in games. Now no, that still doesn't explain why he wants to ram a 140 lb running back up the middle against SEC defensive lines which defies the laws of physics.

[mstatefan91]

You know and I know this is not dans style. It took an injury to a 140 lb RB to get him out of the lineup. I'm as giddy as any of u school girls over winning the eb and fitz but dan will still be dan.

Well if they want those guys to get nasty (defense especially), they will make them compete for every single rep.

[Johnson85]

1 positive is a lot teammates are coming together (Pope, Champion, Sweat, & Landrews plus Rivers, Cole, & Phillips) so they don't have to come in alone. Also guys like Abram & Pierce are guys the players already know really well.

I'm not sure that makes things better. I think that actually increases the chance for division between the new JUCO players and some of the second, third, or fourth year players they are competing with. Still not something I'll be particularly worried about unless/until I hear of problems.

One thing I think we have going for us is that it looks like we are going to have plenty of leaders secure in their playing time. It's not always obvious who has the team's ear based on what we can see, but there will be Fitzgerald, Williams, Gray, Jenkins, Rankin, Mixon, Dear, and probably Calhoun who are not going to be competing with new players. On defense, we are going to have Leo, Peters that are secure, the Dlinemen are going to be competing, but ti's also pretty standard to split reps there anyway. The one guy I worry about is Bryant. He has the talent to be a star but there were obviouslyi some things going on with him this year. Hopefully he was just discouraged this year or had other things going on that he has addressed, but if it's a general attitude/effort problem, that would be the type of thing that might not respond to new guys and new competition.

[GTHOM]

You know and I know this is not dans style. It took an injury to a 140 lb RB to get him out of the lineup. I'm as giddy as any of u school girls over winning the eb and fitz but dan will still be dan.

Yup Mullen has bad senioritis