Is Mullen/MSU football taking another step?

[CadaverDawg]

Guys this Mayden pick up is big time. Dan Mullen, whose biggest criticism is recruitung, just snagged the top QB in Texas after getting the Louisiana player of the year QB last year. We also have Malik Heath on board and a good shot with Guidry and others.

If the recruiting continues to progress as it has lately, we could be witnessing a Frank Beamer Virginia Tech type step like we've hoped for, where starting in 2018-2020 we may be a perennial 9+ win team and potentially jump a few teams in the SEC. By holding on to Dan, we now have a top coach in this league, and the timing is good with the troubles in Oxford, to get the best in the State the next several years.

I'm not going to get too excited yet, but I really like the trend, and feel like we could be witnessing the beginning of another step up the ladder for our football program.

Your thoughts?

[CadaverDawg]

I almost left out, we also seem to have a Dan Mullen that has accepted MSU as "home", and I feel like he is all in, which probably helps that recruiting progress some too

[msbulldog]

This years recruiting is exciting, would love to get Bohanon too. Bohanon is an excellent athlete that can play anywhere on the field and who knows maybe he can beat Mayden out. I don't remember the last time we had this many quality commits this early, plus it makes it more fun knowing Mississippi only has 2 commits right now.

[Dawgface]

I almost left out, we also seem to have a Dan Mullen that has accepted MSU as "home", and I feel like he is all in, which probably helps that recruiting progress some too

I was thinking the same thing. I'm quietly optimistic about our future. Not expecting a lot this year(hopefully decent), but better seasons are in front of us I believe.

[Reason2succeed]

Yes, Mullen has been slowly progressing this program as opposed to OM trying to rig the system and jump to perennial greatness. History will show that Mullen's method has paid off.

[mparkerfd20]

We still have Hevesy so that 1 step forward, 2 steps back thing is still in play.

[Leeshouldveflanked]

As long as "The Country Club" is still intact, I can't see us taking the next step. Hevesy is an Albatross that very few high school coaches can tolerate, much less like.....I talked to a HS coach that attended one of our spring practices and he said the one thing that stood out in his mind was Hevesy and how he wouldn't want any of his kids playing for him....

[ShotgunDawg]

We certainly making enormous strides in building a program that can sustain winning & remain competitive year after year, but, if we are truly going to start taking the program to another level, we've got to start landing higher rated OL.

As much as the Mayden commitment highlights how far our program has come, committing a 4+ star OL would potentially mean as much if not more.

[ShotgunDawg]

I talked to a HS coach that attended one of our spring practices and he said the one thing that stood out in his mind was Hevesy and how he wouldn't want any of his kids playing for him....

Not a Hevesy fan here, but I wonder if the myth of him being a bad coach has surpassed the reality.

1. How come none of our former players ever have a bad thing to say about Hevesy? Not saying he's great, but if he were awful, wouldn't one of the former players have said something publicly by now?

2. I would question if your HS coach friend was an MSU fan & if he already had a poor perception of Hevesy before attending practice. Just seems like their could have been a heavy dose of confirmation bias here if your HS coach friend was able to attend one single practice & determine that he wouldn't want his kids playing for Hev. Again, not a fan here & not saying he's wrong, but it seems like the myth may have surpasses reality at this point. I mean, the guy has now been an SEC OL coach for 8 years &, unless we have the wrong RB or QB playing, we've virtually been able to run the football the entire time. So he can't be awful & accomplish that.

[BrunswickDawg]

When Mullen arrived he had a football program with no tradition of sustained winning, no reputation for putting players into the league at skill positions, sub-par facilities, a town with a reputation of being dead, a stadium with ZERO gameday atmosphere, playing in the toughest division in the toughest conference in the country, having to recruit against perennial national powers AND the cheatingist SOBs in the history of CFB.

Even the most enlightened among us - including random posters like C34 - admitted openly that to truly build a program into a contending power would take at least 10 years of bowl games every year and occasional jumps to 10 wins, etc. to consistently get the type players and attention to reverse 100 years of bad football traditions. It was only when Mullen began producing on a national level with 3-stars (years ahead of what EVERYONE thought) that those enlightened souls began dogging began critiquing Mullen for being a bad recruiter, and blaming Dan for not "taking advantage of 2014". Well, starting last year for the first time ever, we are recruiting kids who's only visions of MSU and Starkville are POSITIVE. They have seen Dan put McKinney, Slay, Banks, Jones and Dak - among 28 total guys in NFL camps right now. Twenty-Eight. They have seen us at #1. They have seen us on GameDay. They have seen Starkville featured everywhere. They have seen us put the face of the future on the Dallas Cowboys.

What Dan has built has coming to fruition. And yes, it took 10 years. But, quality, lasting products take time. There are bumps along the way. But we are just now at the point of having everything the big boys have and kids are noticing. The next 10 will show it.

[msstate7]

Really liked us stepping up and hiring a known commodity at D.C.

[Ari Gold]

There is no question the CDM has put more emphasis on recruiting. The off the field coaches / recruiters hired, the defensive hires .
Still have the CC boys as some call them that can be a hamstring ( one in particular) but CDM has made moves to improve areas. It will pay off..

[ShotgunDawg]

My biggest concern about what Mullen has built is whether or not it's all tied to Mullen or if it an sustain Mullen leaving?

If & when Mullen leaves, if the program can sustain & continue to build under the next coach, I'll feel much better.

[fader2103]

If you look at former OLine players... They are always posting pictures of them and Hev. together...Never really see them post pics of them and Dan. Not a shot at Dan by any means...I just believe Hev and Dan are just alike. They might come across as a$$holes when you first meet them, but they want nothing but the best for their players. Tebow said he almost never went to Florida because of Dan, but now he considers him one of his best friends.

[MetEdDawg]

I don't think we can determine that yet. I need to see 2 things:

1) How this season plays out
2) How this recruiting class plays out

We need an 8-4 season for me to say we've taken a next step. Additionally, we probably need a Top 20 recruiting class on top of that to push us over that next hump. 7-5 and a class in the Top 30 would not be a step forward. We have to win 8 and we have to be able to keep our big commits and get some more in order to parlay that into a step forward in my view.

But I think we are in the spot to be able to take that next step. I think most of us for a while have looked to the 2018 year as THE year. Senior QB, experienced OL, lot of juniors and seniors on defense, good stable of RBs. So if we can make it 8 wins this year, we could really turn that into success for 2018.

[Jack Lambert]

I think winning National Championships and Bowl Games are great for players but let's be honest most of them have the ultimate goal of reaching the NFL and Mullen has gotten the representation of being able to get kids in specifically QB's. I also think Saban is getting a bad rep for burning out players. He gets them to the NFL but considering the number he gets there they don't do much. They are burned out. Out of the last four running backs he has put in the NFL how many 1000 yard season has there been. I am not sure but maybe Ingram has one. I could be very wrong about that. I think parents are starting to recognize it and other coaches are going to use it against him.

But the biggest recruiting tool we have now is DAk. Everyone one knows who Dak is and where he came from and who coach him and I mean everyone.

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Not a Hevesy fan here, but I wonder if the myth of him being a bad coach has surpassed the reality.

1. How come none of our former players ever have a bad thing to say about Hevesy? Not saying he's great, but if he were awful, wouldn't one of the former players have said something publicly by now?

2. I would question if your HS coach friend was an MSU fan & if he already had a poor perception of Hevesy before attending practice. Just seems like their could have been a heavy dose of confirmation bias here if your HS coach friend was able to attend one single practice & determine that he wouldn't want his kids playing for Hev. Again, not a fan here & not saying he's wrong, but it seems like the myth may have surpasses reality at this point. I mean, the guy has now been an SEC OL coach for 8 years &, unless we have the wrong RB or QB playing, we've virtually been able to run the football the entire time. So he can't be awful & accomplish that.

The High School Coach is a MSU Grad....we have never been able to run the ball against an upper tier SEC defense...

[RiverCityDawg]

we have never been able to run the ball against an upper tier SEC defense...

No one does. That's what makes them upper tier.

[TrapGame]

We are on the verge of becoming the LSU of Mississippi. It's coming.

The Golden Age of Mississippi State football has yet to happen.

[Tbonewannabe]

When Mullen arrived he had a football program with no tradition of sustained winning, no reputation for putting players into the league at skill positions, sub-par facilities, a town with a reputation of being dead, a stadium with ZERO gameday atmosphere, playing in the toughest division in the toughest conference in the country, having to recruit against perennial national powers AND the cheatingist SOBs in the history of CFB.

Even the most enlightened among us - including random posters like C34 - admitted openly that to truly build a program into a contending power would take at least 10 years of bowl games every year and occasional jumps to 10 wins, etc. to consistently get the type players and attention to reverse 100 years of bad football traditions. It was only when Mullen began producing on a national level with 3-stars (years ahead of what EVERYONE thought) that those enlightened souls began dogging began critiquing Mullen for being a bad recruiter, and blaming Dan for not "taking advantage of 2014". Well, starting last year for the first time ever, we are recruiting kids who's only visions of MSU and Starkville are POSITIVE. They have seen Dan put McKinney, Slay, Banks, Jones and Dak - among 28 total guys in NFL camps right now. Twenty-Eight. They have seen us at #1. They have seen us on GameDay. They have seen Starkville featured everywhere. They have seen us put the face of the future on the Dallas Cowboys.

What Dan has built has coming to fruition. And yes, it took 10 years. But, quality, lasting products take time. There are bumps along the way. But we are just now at the point of having everything the big boys have and kids are noticing. The next 10 will show it.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to BrunswickDawg again.

[Tbonewannabe]

When Mullen arrived he had a football program with no tradition of sustained winning, no reputation for putting players into the league at skill positions, sub-par facilities, a town with a reputation of being dead, a stadium with ZERO gameday atmosphere, playing in the toughest division in the toughest conference in the country, having to recruit against perennial national powers AND the cheatingist SOBs in the history of CFB.

Even the most enlightened among us - including random posters like C34 - admitted openly that to truly build a program into a contending power would take at least 10 years of bowl games every year and occasional jumps to 10 wins, etc. to consistently get the type players and attention to reverse 100 years of bad football traditions. It was only when Mullen began producing on a national level with 3-stars (years ahead of what EVERYONE thought) that those enlightened souls began dogging began critiquing Mullen for being a bad recruiter, and blaming Dan for not "taking advantage of 2014". Well, starting last year for the first time ever, we are recruiting kids who's only visions of MSU and Starkville are POSITIVE. They have seen Dan put McKinney, Slay, Banks, Jones and Dak - among 28 total guys in NFL camps right now. Twenty-Eight. They have seen us at #1. They have seen us on GameDay. They have seen Starkville featured everywhere. They have seen us put the face of the future on the Dallas Cowboys.

What Dan has built has coming to fruition. And yes, it took 10 years. But, quality, lasting products take time. There are bumps along the way. But we are just now at the point of having everything the big boys have and kids are noticing. The next 10 will show it.

You also left off Gabe Jackson who is going to be one of the highest paid guards in the league and Fletcher Cox one of if not the highest paid Dlineman. This is another thing to publicize. We are not only getting guys in the league but when their contract comes up then they are some of the highest paid in the league. KJ Wright, Slay, Jackson, and Cox all got big contracts and Dak will be there in a couple of years.

[Cooterpoot]

It's a great pickup. But we still only have 2 4star commits (247 composite) and the class is #24 right now. Still got a lot of work to do.

[ShotgunDawg]

The High School Coach is a MSU Grad....we have never been able to run the ball against an upper tier SEC defense...

No one runs against those guys. Your friend being an MSU fan tells me that he had preconceived notions about Hevesy and likely used a healthy dose of confirmation bias.

Not saying he's wrong, but I'd be much more interested in the opinion of someone not associated with anything MSU. A fresh set of eyes. Your buddy maybe a great coach, but even great coaches are still fans of their favorite team and become emotional.

[ShotgunDawg]

It's a great pickup. But we still only have 2 4star commits (247 composite) and the class is #24 right now. Still got a lot of work to do.

Your going to be disappointed this year. We don't have enough scholarships to rank high.

Until we start losing tons of JRs to the draft like Bama and LSU and thus have the scholarships to sign full classes every year, we are simply never going to have high ranking recruiting classes.

This class will rank in the late 20s or 30s but be stock full of great players.

[Tbonewannabe]

No one runs against those guys. Your friend being an MSU fan tells me that he had preconceived notions about Hevesy and likely used a healthy dose of confirmation bias.

Not saying he's wrong, but I'd be much more interested in the opinion of someone not associated with anything MSU. A fresh set of eyes. Your buddy maybe a great coach, but even great coaches are still fans of their favorite team and become emotional.

It could also be a difference in coaching styles that he dislikes. Some coaches don't like the get all in your ass yelling technique. Could be the difference between a coach like Cohen and Canny.

[ILOATHEBears]

Not a Hevesy fan here, but I wonder if the myth of him being a bad coach has surpassed the reality.

1. How come none of our former players ever have a bad thing to say about Hevesy? Not saying he's great, but if he were awful, wouldn't one of the former players have said something publicly by now?

2. I would question if your HS coach friend was an MSU fan & if he already had a poor perception of Hevesy before attending practice. Just seems like their could have been a heavy dose of confirmation bias here if your HS coach friend was able to attend one single practice & determine that he wouldn't want his kids playing for Hev. Again, not a fan here & not saying he's wrong, but it seems like the myth may have surpasses reality at this point. I mean, the guy has now been an SEC OL coach for 8 years &, unless we have the wrong RB or QB playing, we've virtually been able to run the football the entire time. So he can't be awful & accomplish that.

I would say Hev if u have ever spent 5 minutes with the guy u would think he is a jerk however once his players are in he really builds great relationships with them. I've seen him grab a couple of oline and go watch a men's basketball game and they are cutting up having a good time. Hev issue recruiting is he needs to recruit the high school coaches first. He needs a strong rapport with them first to ever get to the player because they are the gatekeeper in most instances but when u walk in all Billy Bada$$ and I'm the sec coach acting bigger/better than the gatekeeper then u don't get far

[Liverpooldawg]

When Mullen arrived he had a football program with no tradition of sustained winning, no reputation for putting players into the league at skill positions, sub-par facilities, a town with a reputation of being dead, a stadium with ZERO gameday atmosphere, playing in the toughest division in the toughest conference in the country, having to recruit against perennial national powers AND the cheatingist SOBs in the history of CFB.

Even the most enlightened among us - including random posters like C34 - admitted openly that to truly build a program into a contending power would take at least 10 years of bowl games every year and occasional jumps to 10 wins, etc. to consistently get the type players and attention to reverse 100 years of bad football traditions. It was only when Mullen began producing on a national level with 3-stars (years ahead of what EVERYONE thought) that those enlightened souls began dogging began critiquing Mullen for being a bad recruiter, and blaming Dan for not "taking advantage of 2014". Well, starting last year for the first time ever, we are recruiting kids who's only visions of MSU and Starkville are POSITIVE. They have seen Dan put McKinney, Slay, Banks, Jones and Dak - among 28 total guys in NFL camps right now. Twenty-Eight. They have seen us at #1. They have seen us on GameDay. They have seen Starkville featured everywhere. They have seen us put the face of the future on the Dallas Cowboys.

What Dan has built has coming to fruition. And yes, it took 10 years. But, quality, lasting products take time. There are bumps along the way. But we are just now at the point of having everything the big boys have and kids are noticing. The next 10 will show it.

Yep.

[Liverpooldawg]

The High School Coach is a MSU Grad....we have never been able to run the ball against an upper tier SEC defense...
Serious question: Who does?

[BrunswickDawg]

No one runs against those guys. Your friend being an MSU fan tells me that he had preconceived notions about Hevesy and likely used a healthy dose of confirmation bias.

Not saying he's wrong, but I'd be much more interested in the opinion of someone not associated with anything MSU. A fresh set of eyes. Your buddy maybe a great coach, but even great coaches are still fans of their favorite team and become emotional.

So here is a question I've wanted to ask for a long time -
Who played a sport at a high level (top tier HS, college, or pro) who didn't have either a head coach/assistant coach/position coach that was a dick? I played top tier HS baseball and summer leagues (pre-travel ball era) in Georgia, and the number of dick coaches I encountered goes head-to-head with the number of "likeable" coaches. My HS strength coach was a dick. The OL coach, RB coach, and DB coach at my HS had reps as being dicks. But, players busted their asses for them. Some of the dickish coaches I had ended up being my favorite coaches I've ever played for. At some positions, like OL coach, the majority of coaches I've ever met had the rep as being a dick. What makes Hev such an uber dick?

[Cooterpoot]

Your going to be disappointed this year. We don't have enough scholarships to rank high.

Until we start losing tons of JRs to the draft like Bama and LSU and thus have the scholarships to sign full classes every year, we are simply never going to have high ranking recruiting classes.

This class will rank in the late 20s or 30s but be stock full of great players.

Which is another recruiting issue that Mullen is going to have to fix. We rarely sign the limit and are always short scholarship players, yet we have no scholarships to give...............

[War Machine Dawg]

Guys this Mayden pick up is big time. Dan Mullen, whose biggest criticism is recruitung, just snagged the top QB in Texas after getting the Louisiana player of the year QB last year. We also have Malik Heath on board and a good shot with Guidry and others.

If the recruiting continues to progress as it has lately, we could be witnessing a Frank Beamer Virginia Tech type step like we've hoped for, where starting in 2018-2020 we may be a perennial 9+ win team and potentially jump a few teams in the SEC. By holding on to Dan, we now have a top coach in this league, and the timing is good with the troubles in Oxford, to get the best in the State the next several years.

I'm not going to get too excited yet, but I really like the trend, and feel like we could be witnessing the beginning of another step up the ladder for our football program.

Your thoughts?

I can't in good conscience say yes until we start improving our recruiting on the OL. Unless we're getting some SEC caliber big uglies to protect all these badass QBs, we're going to be replaying the Kevin Fant years where the QB is running for his life all the time. If we start pulling some legit 3 star OL, then I think we can entertain the question of whether or not we're taking another step. Skill players are flashy and sexy, but this is a LOS league. And our LOS on offense is bottom half at best.

[Liverpooldawg]

From what I can see Heavesy is actually a very good coach. By that I mean he gets as much or more than you can expect out of most of the guys he gets. If he could ever get over the recruiting hump we would have a top notch offensive line. Hopefully he can because I don't think he is going anywhere unless he gets a top coordinator job or a head job somewhere.

[Reason2succeed]

It's crazy how we can't have one thread that is positive about Mullen without it turning into a rant on Hev.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

Really liked us stepping up and hiring a known commodity at D.C.

I am more exciting about this than anything. ^^^

[War Machine Dawg]

From what I can see Heavesy is actually a very good coach. By that I mean he gets as much or more than you can expect out of most of the guys he gets. If he could ever get over the recruiting hump we would have a top notch offensive line. Hopefully he can because I don't think he is going anywhere unless he gets a top coordinator job or a head job somewhere.

This is the correct answer. I think we all agree Hev is a pretty good "coach" in terms of developing what he has. The problem is that he's constantly trying to make chicken salad from chicken shit because he doesn't recruit. Everyone can keep asking what makes him so dislikable, but it isn't changing the fact he's alienated most of the HS coaches in the state. And Hev openly talks about how much he hates recruiting. He either needs to get with the program and go get himself some real OL to coach up or he needs to get the hell out. There's no more middle ground for him if we want to advance our program.

[1bigdawg]

I am not a Hev fan and thinks he needs to do a lot of things to recruit better. However, judging by the flawed recruiting rankings, we will have our most talented OL in years this year.

If we get this years signees into school, we will have another fairly solid group. One problem with our OL was bad evaluations in the early Mullen years. We had a lot of guys flame out.

[Dawg61]

And our LOS on offense is bottom half at best.

You say this despite literally every single offensive category disagreeing with your assessment. Y'all that want us to recruit better at OL just keep brushing off the fact that there is no difference between 3* and 4* offensive lineman in terms of becoming NFL talents. You have to sign elite 5* top ten in the country OL types if you want the closest thing to a guaranteed NFL OL and we are never ever ever going to sign those players. Some of y'all keep chasing stars for OL and it's pointless. You are attracted to recruiting stars period. It gives us no more advantage to sign a 4* OL with offers from Auburn, Florida and Georgia than it does signing a 3* OL with offers from TCU, NCState and Colorado. Yet after reading this you will once again completely ignore it and call for Hevesy to be fired another 2,000 times.

[TrapGame]

You say this despite literally every single offensive category disagreeing with your assessment. Y'all that want us to recruit better at OL just keep brushing off the fact that there is no difference between 3* and 4* offensive lineman in terms of becoming NFL talents. You have to sign elite 5* top ten in the country OL types if you want the closest thing to a guaranteed NFL OL and we are never ever ever going to sign those players. Some of y'all keep chasing stars for OL and it's pointless. You are attracted to recruiting stars period. It gives us no more advantage to sign a 4* OL with offers from Auburn, Florida and Georgia than it does signing a 3* OL with offers from TCU, NCState and Colorado. Yet after reading this you will once again completely ignore it and call for Hevesy to be fired another 2,000 times.

The Hev Haters be like:

https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1380399953ra/774499.gif

[Ifyouonlyknew]

If we start pulling some legit 3 star OL, then I think we can entertain the question of whether or not we're taking another step.

I totally agree but Hev has started doing that more in the last few classes but he has to continue to improve & do it with a whole class.

2015 - M. Rankin 5 SEC Offers 10 Power 5 Offers
D. Williams 3 SEC Offers 5 Power 5 Offers
H. Moon 1 SEC Offer 2 Power 5 Offers
M. Story 1 SEC Offer 1 Power 5 Offer

2016 - S. Reese 9 SEC Offers 25 Power 5 Offers
G. Eiland 4 SEC Offers 4 Power 5 Offers
D. Parker 1 SEC Offer 1 Power 5 Offer

2017 - T. Champion 3 SEC Offers 5 Power 5 Offers
T. Phillips 1 SEC Offer 1 Power 5 Offer
C. Suggs 3 SEC Offers 16 Power 5 Offers
J. Cooper 1 SEC Offer 2 Power 5 Offers
M. Richardson 1 SEC Offer 1 Power 5 Offer

2018 - K. Johnson 2 SEC Offers 2 Power 5 Offers

So we've slowly improved but we need a class of Reese, Suggs, Johnson, & Williams all together & people would start to not hate Hev as much.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Dont understand the debate on Hev. Its a proven fact at this point he is an above average OL coach but a bad recruiter and not easy to like. Just something we will live with till he gets an OC or HC offer from somewhere else.

Mullen has stepped it up and hired a legit SEC/NFL type DC and it will make a world of difference. He wont meddle with the D anymore and can focus on just offense which is clearly what he is best at.

Winning 9 games this year is possible but we have to stay healthy on the OL and have to get something from our WRs. I dont think they are as bad as Random says but its a concern. D will be fine

[PassInterference]

Can we get some good talk WRs like we had in the Dak era?

[War Machine Dawg]

You say this despite literally every single offensive category disagreeing with your assessment. Y'all that want us to recruit better at OL just keep brushing off the fact that there is no difference between 3* and 4* offensive lineman in terms of becoming NFL talents. You have to sign elite 5* top ten in the country OL types if you want the closest thing to a guaranteed NFL OL and we are never ever ever going to sign those players. Some of y'all keep chasing stars for OL and it's pointless. You are attracted to recruiting stars period. It gives us no more advantage to sign a 4* OL with offers from Auburn, Florida and Georgia than it does signing a 3* OL with offers from TCU, NCState and Colorado. Yet after reading this you will once again completely ignore it and call for Hevesy to be fired another 2,000 times.

And you're totally ignoring the fact we've been signing a bunch of 1 and 2 star OL. I don't give a damn if Paul is getting their ratings bumped at 247 because he's got one of the biggest sites. It doesn't change that we've been recruiting OL who are not SEC caliber. There's a reason we aren't even competitive against the top 2-3 teams in the SEC and it's always the OL. As for our offensive categories, get back to me when we get into the Top 25 nationally. We've been a very average offense in the age of offensive explosion. Good enough to win 8 or so games but not good enough to make any real noise or win a championship. We only average about 24.5 PPG in SEC play in the Mullen era. That's decent but nothing special.


I totally agree but Hev has started doing that more in the last few classes but he has to continue to improve & do it with a whole class.

2015 - M. Rankin 5 SEC Offers 10 Power 5 Offers
D. Williams 3 SEC Offers 5 Power 5 Offers
H. Moon 1 SEC Offer 2 Power 5 Offers
M. Story 1 SEC Offer 1 Power 5 Offer

2016 - S. Reese 9 SEC Offers 25 Power 5 Offers
G. Eiland 4 SEC Offers 4 Power 5 Offers
D. Parker 1 SEC Offer 1 Power 5 Offer

2017 - T. Champion 3 SEC Offers 5 Power 5 Offers
T. Phillips 1 SEC Offer 1 Power 5 Offer
C. Suggs 3 SEC Offers 16 Power 5 Offers
J. Cooper 1 SEC Offer 2 Power 5 Offers
M. Richardson 1 SEC Offer 1 Power 5 Offer

2018 - K. Johnson 2 SEC Offers 2 Power 5 Offers

So we've slowly improved but we need a class of Reese, Suggs, Johnson, & Williams all together & people would start to not hate Hev as much.

And this is an example of a useful and encouraging post. Hopefully we'll see the trend continue. But it's also a major concern we only sign 2-3 OL in a class. We should be signing a minimum of 5 every single year. If you only sign 2-3 every one of them have to pan out. If they don't, you wind up with serious depth issues. That's where we are now. But this thread has gotten way off track. My point was simple: We aren't taking a step forward as a program until we start getting better OL players. That isn't just on Hev, it's on the whole staff.

[Bothrops]

Need to get that Chris Bleich guy out of PA.

[msbulldog]

War Machine you are so right about signing minimum of 5 OL, not doing that is why we always have a mix of rookies with the veterans.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

I hope we are following the Clemson method. I really think we are turning the corner and it will only be a matter of time before we get more interest from high profile WRs

[Commercecomet24]

When Mullen arrived he had a football program with no tradition of sustained winning, no reputation for putting players into the league at skill positions, sub-par facilities, a town with a reputation of being dead, a stadium with ZERO gameday atmosphere, playing in the toughest division in the toughest conference in the country, having to recruit against perennial national powers AND the cheatingist SOBs in the history of CFB.

Even the most enlightened among us - including random posters like C34 - admitted openly that to truly build a program into a contending power would take at least 10 years of bowl games every year and occasional jumps to 10 wins, etc. to consistently get the type players and attention to reverse 100 years of bad football traditions. It was only when Mullen began producing on a national level with 3-stars (years ahead of what EVERYONE thought) that those enlightened souls began dogging began critiquing Mullen for being a bad recruiter, and blaming Dan for not "taking advantage of 2014". Well, starting last year for the first time ever, we are recruiting kids who's only visions of MSU and Starkville are POSITIVE. They have seen Dan put McKinney, Slay, Banks, Jones and Dak - among 28 total guys in NFL camps right now. Twenty-Eight. They have seen us at #1. They have seen us on GameDay. They have seen Starkville featured everywhere. They have seen us put the face of the future on the Dallas Cowboys.

What Dan has built has coming to fruition. And yes, it took 10 years. But, quality, lasting products take time. There are bumps along the way. But we are just now at the point of having everything the big boys have and kids are noticing. The next 10 will show it.

Thank you! Extremely well said!

[Dawg61]

Good enough to win 8 or so games but not good enough to make any real noise or win a championship.

We didn't suddenly become Alabama or Ohio State because we were ranked #1 for 6 weeks. We are still Mississippi State University but your expectations changed and got way out if front of the steady progress that Dan has been making. It's like you went on a date with Kate Upton and now you expect her to be married to you and have 4 of your kids already.

Btw "good enough to win 8 or so games" on average is something C34 said was IMPOSSIBLE for any coach to ever accomplish at MSU yet the one literally doing the impossible is the one you're bitching about non-stop.

[Jack Lambert]

It's a great pickup. But we still only have 2 4star commits (247 composite) and the class is #24 right now. Still got a lot of work to do.

Alabama only has two and Georgia has zero.

[BrunswickDawg]

It's like you went on a date with Kate Upton and now you expect her to be married to you and have 4 of your kids already.

The last thing I would be thinking of after a date with Kate Upton would be kids and marriage -
https://media.giphy.com/media/9QvqWRyoDTzfq/giphy.gif

[War Machine Dawg]

We didn't suddenly become Alabama or Ohio State because we were ranked #1 for 6 weeks. We are still Mississippi State University but your expectations changed and got way out if front of the steady progress that Dan has been making. It's like you went on a date with Kate Upton and now you expect her to be married to you and have 4 of your kids already.

Btw "good enough to win 8 or so games" on average is something C34 said was IMPOSSIBLE for any coach to ever accomplish at MSU yet the one literally doing the impossible is the one you're bitching about non-stop.

Don't put words in my mouth. Winning 8 games a year is a huge improvement. No one is talking about consistently competing for a national championship at State in football. But I don't think it's wrong to want to at least have a legitimate shot of making it to Atlanta once every 5-8 years, either. I'm not bitching about Mullen, I'm bitching about the lazy recruiting practices across the entire staff. Mullen seems to be taking a few steps to rectify that, but the biggest culprits are on his side of the football and we haven't seen any serious staff changes over there. We're still bringing a popgun to a full on firefight.

[War Machine Dawg]

The last thing I would be thinking of after a date with Kate Upton would be kids and marriage -
https://media.giphy.com/media/9QvqWRyoDTzfq/giphy.gif

+1

[1bigdawg]

The last thing I would be thinking of after a date with Kate Upton would be kids and marriage -


++++++++++++++++++++++

[Dawg61]

Don't put words in my mouth. Winning 8 games a year is a huge improvement. No one is talking about consistently competing for a national championship at State in football. But I don't think it's wrong to want to at least have a legitimate shot of making it to Atlanta once every 5-8 years, either

I am not putting words in your mouth but you didn't say the bolded part the last time I quoted you. You made it sound like winning 8 or so games a year was settling when unfortunately for our university it's actually doing the impossible. I want to win championships too brother. We are headed in the right direction and have been for almost a decade now. The progression is slow as molasses but keep in mind that it took Clemson basically thirty years of this steady slow molasses progression before they got their ring. If it makes you feel better our QB situation is better than almost every team in the country right now. We are getting there. Beating Alabama is the next big hurdle imo.

[BB30]

Don't put words in my mouth. Winning 8 games a year is a huge improvement. No one is talking about consistently competing for a national championship at State in football. But I don't think it's wrong to want to at least have a legitimate shot of making it to Atlanta once every 5-8 years, either. I'm not bitching about Mullen, I'm bitching about the lazy recruiting practices across the entire staff. Mullen seems to be taking a few steps to rectify that, but the biggest culprits are on his side of the football and we haven't seen any serious staff changes over there. We're still bringing a popgun to a full on firefight.

And I think we will be competing for a trip to Atlanta every 5-8 years for sure as long as Mullen is here. I think we will be competing for the west every 4-5 years and that would be more than enough to keep me happy for a long time. I don't know if y'all remember just how awful the end of the kang and sly era was but it was absolutely excruciating.

[msbulldog]

And I think we will be competing for a trip to Atlanta every 5-8 years for sure as long as Mullen is here. I think we will be competing for the west every 4-5 years and that would be more than enough to keep me happy for a long time. I don't know if y'all remember just how awful the end of the kang and sly era was but it was absolutely excruciating.

Dammit I was trying to forget those times and you reminded me.

[dawgday166]

And I think we will be competing for a trip to Atlanta every 5-8 years for sure as long as Mullen is here. I think we will be competing for the west every 4-5 years and that would be more than enough to keep me happy for a long time. I don't know if y'all remember just how awful the end of the kang and sly era was but it was absolutely excruciating.

Aren't these the same thing?

[dawgday166]

Seems like we're moving in the right direction and positive steps in right direction are taking place. Not buying just yet tho.

I don't think consistent 8 wins is "impossible" tho. The reason it was so difficult in past was 11 game schedules. With 4 OOC games mostly against lower-tier opponents, it means we have to win 2 East games and, according to everyone on this board, we could easily compete for the East every year **** Then we have to win 2 West games. 8 wins ... piece of cake.

[bulldogcountry1]

Given the situation at UM, our recruiting should take a step up by default. Can Mullen make the most of it? We will see.

As for Hev, he reminds me of that no-nonsense coach or teacher that you hated at first but grew to respect over time. I can't imagine that type being good at recruiting HS kids from this generation.

[War Machine Dawg]

I am not putting words in your mouth but you didn't say the bolded part the last time I quoted you. You made it sound like winning 8 or so games a year was settling when unfortunately for our university it's actually doing the impossible. I want to win championships too brother. We are headed in the right direction and have been for almost a decade now. The progression is slow as molasses but keep in mind that it took Clemson basically thirty years of this steady slow molasses progression before they got their ring. If it makes you feel better our QB situation is better than almost every team in the country right now. We are getting there. Beating Alabama is the next big hurdle imo.

Agree with this completely. And with the game becoming more and more QB driven, that's an extremely positive thing. I just want to make sure we can protect these stud QBs we have. We've seen way too many good QBs over the years wasted at State because of horrendous OL play.

[BB30]

Aren't these the same thing?

ha ha pretty close... I basically am saying that I feel we will compete for the west closer to every 4 years than every 8 years.

[QuadrupleOption]

Don't put words in my mouth. Winning 8 games a year is a huge improvement. No one is talking about consistently competing for a national championship at State in football. But I don't think it's wrong to want to at least have a legitimate shot of making it to Atlanta once every 5-8 years, either. I'm not bitching about Mullen, I'm bitching about the lazy recruiting practices across the entire staff. Mullen seems to be taking a few steps to rectify that, but the biggest culprits are on his side of the football and we haven't seen any serious staff changes over there. We're still bringing a popgun to a full on firefight.

We had a legitimate chance at Atlanta in 2014. Dak's two interceptions in Bama territory and JRob's ill-advised dance in the end zone for a safety squashed it, but we were very very close. Dan's going into Year 9 so you should be happy.

Recruiting could always be better but unless you're landing the #1 class in the country every year that will always be true. Building a program takes time. We are building a program here.

[lamont]

Just gonna respond to everything from this thread in 1 post:

1) We don't average 8 wins/year. We average 7 regular season wins per season in the Mullen-Era. Which is still good by old State standards. The elevation our program received from Jackie plus the conglomerate the SEC has become has helped elevate what's possible for our university. The time has passed for us to compare present day MSU football to the 50's-90's State football. The SEC has elevated us past the La Tech's and Tulane's of the world- schools that we were completely on par with until the new millennium.

2) John Hevesy is a dick and he cusses even more than I do. That turns some coaches off. To each his own. But Hevesy is a good OL coach. Our guys may not have the talent they need- but they are coached up

3) John Hevesy is not a good recruiter. That's why we hired a new TE coach. We want him to close some deals moving forward that we have lost in past seasons.

4) Getting another top notch QB is great for the program. However- you have to give them the pieces around them to be successful or its wasted. Ask Kevin Fant.

5) Good teams are able to run vs other good teams. We have less than 100 yards total vs LSU the last 2 seasons- yet they gave up 117 yards per game last year. Auburn gave up 132 yards per game- we only had 103 vs them on 33 carries. We have lacked talent on the OL.

[Dawg61]

If the reason we average more wins now than 10 years ago is thanks to the SEC what's Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Auburn, Missouri, USCe, Arkansas's problem? Shouldn't they be averaging more wins too? They aren't.

[Liverpooldawg]

Just gonna respond to everything from this thread in 1 post:

1) We don't average 8 wins/year. We average 7 regular season wins per season in the Mullen-Era. Which is still good by old State standards. The elevation our program received from Jackie plus the conglomerate the SEC has become has helped elevate what's possible for our university. The time has passed for us to compare present day MSU football to the 50's-90's State football. The SEC has elevated us past the La Tech's and Tulane's of the world- schools that we were completely on par with until the new millennium.

2) John Hevesy is a dick and he cusses even more than I do. That turns some coaches off. To each his own. But Hevesy is a good OL coach. Our guys may not have the talent they need- but they are coached up

3) John Hevesy is not a good recruiter. That's why we hired a new TE coach. We want him to close some deals moving forward that we have lost in past seasons.

4) Getting another top notch QB is great for the program. However- you have to give them the pieces around them to be successful or its wasted. Ask Kevin Fant.

5) Good teams are able to run vs other good teams. We have less than 100 yards total vs LSU the last 2 seasons- yet they gave up 117 yards per game last year. Auburn gave up 132 yards per game- we only had 103 vs them on 33 carries. We have lacked talent on the OL.

Come on Random, Mullen deserves a TON of credit. As you said given our history, 7 wins a year is stellar. Most of our history we were begging for just ONE 7 win season. We may leap from that to expecting more every year pretty quick, but national and regional perception changes much more slowly. When it comes to program building that is what matters. We ain't there yet, but for the first time in my lifetime it's starting to actually change.

[lamont]

If the reason we average more wins now than 10 years ago is thanks to the SEC what's Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Auburn, Missouri, USCe, Arkansas's problem? Shouldn't they be averaging more wins too? They aren't.

They do

It's much more rare an SEC team loses to a non-P5 these days. However, a by-product of elevating the lower programs of the SEC has caused more losses to the old upper-tier big 6. Has also made recruiting tougher for them as well.

[lamont]

Who said Mullen doesn't get any credit? He absolutely gets some credit for stabilizing the program- something Jackie couldn't do

[tcdog70]

How did we get to the point of being able to sign really good QBs and Linebackers? Hell we put some in the NFL. Mullen put Tebow-Smith and Now Dak in the Pros and all they talk about is how Mullen is a QB guru. We have some really good LBs. For us to recruit OL we have to Put more than Gabe Jackson in the Pros.

When you walk in a Ol's home you have to be able to show them why they need to come to MSU. it needs to be a fast track to playing on Sunday's.

[Bubb Rubb]

Just gonna respond to everything from this thread in 1 post:


5) Good teams are able to run vs other good teams. We have less than 100 yards total vs LSU the last 2 seasons- yet they gave up 117 yards per game last year. Auburn gave up 132 yards per game- we only had 103 vs them on 33 carries. We have lacked talent on the OL.


You are a coach. Um, sorry, your buddy coach34 is a coach, so surely he's taught you enough that you know it isn't this simple. At the time we played LSU and Auburn, we were extremely one dimensional on offense. Fitz was shaky and hadn't settled in. We weren't throwing the ball especially well. Yes, our OL talent was lacking....but you don't just line up and run the ball against those teams, you have to do other things to open up the run...especially with our OL struggling the way it was. Those are things were weren't able to do against LSU and Auburn. Especially Auburn. It's just not as simple as to say, we couldn't run the ball because the OL sucked. If teams have a solid defense and load the box, it really doesn't matter how good your OL is. You gotta be able to do some other things to open it up.

ETA: Trying to run Holloway on interior zone reads and off tackle didn't help matters either. I wish we had gone with Aeris a lot sooner. But my point still remains....you can't be one dimensional and expect to run the ball on anyone in the SEC (except Arkansas and Ole Miss).

[dawgday166]

You are a coach. Um, sorry, your buddy coach34 is a coach, so surely he's taught you enough that you know it isn't this simple. At the time we played LSU and Auburn, we were extremely one dimensional on offense. Fitz was shaky and hadn't settled in. We weren't throwing the ball especially well. Yes, our OL talent was lacking....but you don't just line up and run the ball against those teams, you have to do other things to open up the run...especially with our OL struggling the way it was. Those are things were weren't able to do against LSU and Auburn. Especially Auburn. It's just not as simple as to say, we couldn't run the ball because the OL sucked. If teams have a solid defense and load the box, it really doesn't matter how good your OL is. You gotta be able to do some other things to open it up.

ETA: Trying to run Holloway on interior zone reads and off tackle didn't help matters either. I wish we had gone with Aeris a lot sooner. But my point still remains....you can't be one dimensional and expect to run the ball on anyone in the SEC (except Arkansas and Ole Miss).

2015 we had Dak. Couldn't run against anyone, including a horrible AU team.

[1bigdawg]

It's just not as simple as to say, we couldn't run the ball because the OL sucked. If teams have a solid defense and load the box, it really doesn't matter how good your OL is. You gotta be able to do some other things to open it up.

So you are putting the blame on Mullen?

[Liverpooldawg]

Who said Mullen doesn't get any credit? He absolutely gets some credit for stabilizing the program- something Jackie couldn't do

I think he MIGHT have elevated it just a BIT. Stabilizing it makes it sound like he managed to keep it at the level he found it. Croom might have done that. Come on Random.

[lamont]

2015 we had Dak. Couldn't run against anyone, including a horrible AU team.

Yep- even a Taco Bell manager can see his post was not very good. Either we have a system problem or a talent problem when we face good defenses. And It's not the system. Doesn't matter if we have Dak or what at QB- we don't ever run the ball vs good defenses. That shows we lack talent on the OL.

Make sure and watch this Fall- we have Fitz and Aeris and we still won't run effectively vs Georgia, Bama, Auburn, or LSU

[lamont]

I think he MIGHT have elevated it just a BIT. Stabilizing it makes it sound like he managed to keep it at the level he found it. Croom might have done that. Come on Random.

In addition to being a shitty poster- your vocabulary isn't very good either.

Stabilizing means he has avoided the up and down seasons in his tenure. Jackie would get on a run and then fall back for a couple of seasons. Mullen has avoided that for the most part until last season.

[lamont]

So you are putting the blame on Mullen?

We had the NFL ROY at QB plus 2 All-SEC WR's in 2015. Our problems in the run game had zero to do with teams "loading the box"

[Joe Schmedlap]

We have not had SEC talent on the offensive line under Mullen. Blame in on whomever you want, but it's been that way for way too long under this current coaching regime.. Also, it wasn't that way historically under the previous four coaches.

[dawgday166]

Yep- even a Taco Bell manager can see his post was not very good. Either we have a system problem or a talent problem when we face good defenses. And It's not the system. Doesn't matter if we have Dak or what at QB- we don't ever run the ball vs good defenses. That shows we lack talent on the OL.

Make sure and watch this Fall- we have Fitz and Aeris and we still won't run effectively vs Georgia, Bama, Auburn, or LSU

I'll be watching. Hope you (and I) are wrong ... but fear we probably won't be.

[QuadrupleOption]

We have not had SEC talent on the offensive line under Mullen. Blame in on whomever you want, but it's been that way for way too long under this current coaching regime.. Also, it wasn't that way historically under the previous four coaches.

The thing is, when you look at the season averages for our squads we are running the ball pretty effectively in general. I think the problem is that we don't pick one guy to tote the rock the majority of the time (except the QB), and we try to utilize the RB in situations that they aren't built for (see Brandon Holloway). Holloway was a good player for us, and I loved his effort and attitude. But he was too small to run between the tackles like a guy with an extra 4 inches and 50 pounds.

It seems like the issue we have is not moving the ball on the ground but scoring TDs on the ground.

Anyway, here's the rushing stats since 2012:

2012:
ATT YDS YPA TD
1 Ladarius Perkins 205 1024 5.0 8
2 Josh Robinson 55 335 6.1 1
3 Tyler Russell 43 -5 -0.1
4 Derrick Milton 34 165 4.9 2
5 Nick Griffin 32 223 7.0 1
6 Dak Prescott 32 118 3.7 4
7 Jameon Lewis 5 21 4.2 0

2013:
ATT YDS YPA TD
1 Ladarius Perkins 137 542 4.0 2
2 Dak Prescott 134 829 6.2 13
3 Josh Robinson 78 459 5.9 3
4 Ashton Shumpert 46 190 4.1 3
5 Damian Williams 37 112 3.0 1
6 Tyler Russell 26 15 0.6 0
7 Nick Griffin 24 96 4.0 1
8 Jameon Lewis 13 117 9.0 3
9 Derrick Milton 13 69 5.3 2
10 Brandon Holloway 8 38 4.8 0

2014:
ATT YDS YPA TD
1 Dak Prescott 210 986 4.7 14
2 Josh Robinson 190 1203 6.3 11
3 Ashton Shumpert 47 274 5.8 2
4 Brandon Holloway 45 294 6.5 1
5 Nick Griffin 39 157 4.0 1
6 Damian Williams 16 63 3.9 0
7 Jameon Lewis 7 56 8.0 0
8 Gabe Myles 4 35 8.8 0
9 Bennie Braswell 4 9 2.3 0
10 Fred Ross 2 6 3.0 0

2015:
ATT YDS YPA TD
1 Dak Prescott 160 588 3.7 10
2 Brandon Holloway 92 413 4.5 0
3 Ashton Shumpert 59 228 3.9 1
4 Aeris Williams 40 206 5.2 3
5 Nick Fitzgerald 23 127 5.5 3
6 Dontavian Lee 22 137 6.2 0
7 Malik Dear 11 110 10.0
8 Gabe Myles 7 11 1.6 1
9 Elijah Staley 3 18 6.0 0
10 Fred Ross 2 42 21.0
11 Logan Cooke 1 11 11.0

2016:
ATT YDS YPA TD
1 Nick Fitzgerald 195 1375 7.1 16
2 Aeris Williams 137 720 5.3 4
3 Ashton Shumpert 55 257 4.7 1
4 Brandon Holloway 50 226 4.5 1
5 Keith Mixon 25 106 4.2 0
6 Damian Williams 19 99 5.2 1
7 Malik Dear 17 124 7.3 1
8 Nick Gibson 9 57 6.3 0
9 Dontavian Lee 7 27 3.9 0
10 Fred Ross 2 39 19.5

[dawgday166]

The thing is, when you look at the season averages for our squads we are running the ball pretty effectively in general. I think the problem is that we don't pick one guy to tote the rock the majority of the time (except the QB), and we try to utilize the RB in situations that they aren't built for (see Brandon Holloway). Holloway was a good player for us, and I loved his effort and attitude. But he was too small to run between the tackles like a guy with an extra 4 inches and 50 pounds.

It seems like the issue we have is not moving the ball on the ground but scoring TDs on the ground.

Anyway, here's the rushing stats since 2012:

2012:
ATT YDS YPA TD
1 Ladarius Perkins 205 1024 5.0 8
2 Josh Robinson 55 335 6.1 1
3 Tyler Russell 43 -5 -0.1
4 Derrick Milton 34 165 4.9 2
5 Nick Griffin 32 223 7.0 1
6 Dak Prescott 32 118 3.7 4
7 Jameon Lewis 5 21 4.2 0

2013:
ATT YDS YPA TD
1 Ladarius Perkins 137 542 4.0 2
2 Dak Prescott 134 829 6.2 13
3 Josh Robinson 78 459 5.9 3
4 Ashton Shumpert 46 190 4.1 3
5 Damian Williams 37 112 3.0 1
6 Tyler Russell 26 15 0.6 0
7 Nick Griffin 24 96 4.0 1
8 Jameon Lewis 13 117 9.0 3
9 Derrick Milton 13 69 5.3 2
10 Brandon Holloway 8 38 4.8 0

2014:
ATT YDS YPA TD
1 Dak Prescott 210 986 4.7 14
2 Josh Robinson 190 1203 6.3 11
3 Ashton Shumpert 47 274 5.8 2
4 Brandon Holloway 45 294 6.5 1
5 Nick Griffin 39 157 4.0 1
6 Damian Williams 16 63 3.9 0
7 Jameon Lewis 7 56 8.0 0
8 Gabe Myles 4 35 8.8 0
9 Bennie Braswell 4 9 2.3 0
10 Fred Ross 2 6 3.0 0

2015:
ATT YDS YPA TD
1 Dak Prescott 160 588 3.7 10
2 Brandon Holloway 92 413 4.5 0
3 Ashton Shumpert 59 228 3.9 1
4 Aeris Williams 40 206 5.2 3
5 Nick Fitzgerald 23 127 5.5 3
6 Dontavian Lee 22 137 6.2 0
7 Malik Dear 11 110 10.0
8 Gabe Myles 7 11 1.6 1
9 Elijah Staley 3 18 6.0 0
10 Fred Ross 2 42 21.0
11 Logan Cooke 1 11 11.0

2016:
ATT YDS YPA TD
1 Nick Fitzgerald 195 1375 7.1 16
2 Aeris Williams 137 720 5.3 4
3 Ashton Shumpert 55 257 4.7 1
4 Brandon Holloway 50 226 4.5 1
5 Keith Mixon 25 106 4.2 0
6 Damian Williams 19 99 5.2 1
7 Malik Dear 17 124 7.3 1
8 Nick Gibson 9 57 6.3 0
9 Dontavian Lee 7 27 3.9 0
10 Fred Ross 2 39 19.5

You might want to check out individual games in '15 and '16 against the upper echelon teams. I also discount the QB since I believe his #1 thing should be yds thru the air. If he's dominating the rushing stats ... I don't think that is a great thing. Supplementing rushing stats is one thing ... dominating them is another.

[lamont]

Our stats are fine- except vs good teams

We cant run the ball vs the top West teams every year and are out of the games by halftime. Happens every year

[lamont]

You might want to check out individual games in '15 and '16 against the upper echelon teams. I also discount the QB since I believe his #1 thing should be yds thru the air. If he's dominating the rushing stats ... I don't think that is a great thing. Supplementing rushing stats is one thing ... dominating them is another.

I disagree on this. Today's Spread offense is about numbers and the QB being able to run the ball. Our QB should be our leading rusher every season. It's about production at QB- not just passing.

[dawgday166]

I disagree on this. Today's Spread offense is about numbers and the QB being able to run the ball. Our QB should be our leading rusher every season. It's about production at QB- not just passing.

Check out Bama's and Clemson's rushing stats from last year. Bama had 1 RB with more yds than Hurts and another with just under the same yds as Hurts. Watson wasn't close to leading rusher for Clemson.

OSU in '14 would be a good one to look at too. To get to upper echelon IMO ... the RB position (even if split with 2 backs) should be at least 1 and a half to 2X what QB rushes for. But then that is IMO.

[BrunswickDawg]

We have not had SEC talent on the offensive line under Mullen. Blame in on whomever you want, but it's been that way for way too long under this current coaching regime.. Also, it wasn't that way historically under the previous four coaches.

Derek Taite, Kevin Fant, Omarr Connor, Kyle York, and Mike Henig calls BS on this. There was a window from 97-2000 where we had a great line, but other years not so much in the Jackie and Croom eras.

[lamont]

Check out Bama's and Clemson's rushing stats from last year. Bama had 1 RB with more yds than Hurts and another with just under the same yds as Hurts. Watson wasn't close to leading rusher for Clemson.

OSU in '14 would be a good one to look at too. To get to upper echelon IMO ... the RB position (even if split with 2 backs) should be at least 1 and a half to 2X what QB rushes for. But then that is IMO.


Tebow at Fla....Newton at Auburn- those were upper echelon too

With the OL talent Bama and Clemson- it doesn't matter who runs the ball

[BuckyIsAB****]

Just to be that guy we average 7.6 wins a year under Mullen. So pretty much 8 wins. Eat it Random*****

[lamont]

Just to be that guy we average 7.6 wins a year under Mullen. So pretty much 8 wins. Eat it Random*****

It's exactly 7 regular season wins. Again- bowls are gravy and don't factor into predictions