You know why people freak out in recruiting?

[HoopsDawg]

Because there are 3 guys from MS if we had them on our roster, we could make it to the playoff.

1. Raekwon Davis at DT next to Jeff Simmons from Meridian
2. AJ Brown at WR from Starkville
3. Savion Smith from MS Juco to lock down a corner spot. He's headed to Bama

If you want to get greedy, you could throw in Cam Akers and Sahdiq Charles, but I would take those Top 3 and we could win it all next year.

[Goldendawg]

Yeah, having two SEC teams in Ms., with bama and LSU always swooping in to cherry pick has and will always make recruiting the top Ms guys hard for us. Got to find a way to keep the top guys at State!

[Bdawg]

Basically said the same thing in another post and that’s basically what Shotgun been saying all day. If you had 2-3 more difference makers in each class or just don’t let those you mention get away, we could do something pretty special.

[gravedigger]

Because there are 3 guys from MS if we had them on our roster, we could make it to the playoff.

1. Raekwon Davis at DT next to Jeff Simmons from Meridian
2. AJ Brown at WR from Starkville
3. Savion Smith from MS Juco to lock down a corner spot. He's headed to Bama

If you want to get greedy, you could throw in Cam Akers and Sahdiq Charles, but I would take those Top 3 and we could win it all next year.

Not one of them were coming to state. Never.

But had they, wed have been marginally better. Mullen wouldn?t have gotten aj the ball. Our DL hasn?t been a weakness. Corner could have helped immeasurably.

What we really needed was Grantham for the last 5 years.

[ShotgunDawg]

Not one of them were coming to state. Never.

Uh, Davis committed to us on twitter.

As for the others, that's the problem that they were either never coming or weren't interested in MSU. That is the entire problem.

We are top 25 program. There is absolutely no reason for a kid in MS that didn't grow up an OM fan to not be interested in us. There is absolutely no reason.

And, if MS aren't interested in playing at the in-state top 25 program, then that is a problem with the people of the state of MS. Needs to be fixed

[Political Hack]

Because there are 3 guys from MS if we had them on our roster, we could make it to the playoff.

1. Raekwon Davis at DT next to Jeff Simmons from Meridian
2. AJ Brown at WR from Starkville
3. Savion Smith from MS Juco to lock down a corner spot. He's headed to Bama

If you want to get greedy, you could throw in Cam Akers and Sahdiq Charles, but I would take those Top 3 and we could win it all next year.

Always the bridesmaid. Never the bride.

I consider it inevitable to miss some which is why I think we have to plug depth from Juco and find ~5-10 Juco & out of state kids every year. We can have a different recruiting model in Mississippi. We should use it.

[Irondawg]

Well the problem is that we rarely get a top 15 kid from LA or Bama even if our depth chart lines up better. Maybe KT and Whop help that but you can never have enough stud DL so Raekwon would have helped.

AJ was just unfortunate all the way around as he would have indeed been a huge difference maker.

I’m still hoping we can get a good grad transfer at WR. One of those guys that just gets open. Heck Hastings at AU was a walk on and I think tenfroenfor Clemson was as well

[Cooterpoot]

And how good would AU be if they got all of Bama players? Stupid to lose your mind over it. Happens everywhere to some degree. But only a handful of people freak out.

[Big4Dawg]

Don’t forget Lousivlle’s 3* WR from MS

[Irondawg]

Even if we limit tonguys we have good shots at or good relationships with, our main pro Alex is not closing enough on the 50/50 guys. Just think if we had not landed Simmons. He’s a massive difference maker for us. We don’t have to be top 10, we just have to find a way to get more of our bigger fish to get over the hump.

We are making strides. We just need to perform next year and do well with the instate class

[Dildoes]

Freaking out like a giant ***** and shit-talking high school kids on an internet message board is gonna do the exact opposite of whatever y’all seem to think it will. I swear some of y’all post the stupidest shit trying to tear down high school kids who owe no one anything. Those of y’all that tweet it at recruits are even worse.

[Bully13]

Freaking out like a giant ***** and shit-talking high school kids on an internet message board is gonna do the exact opposite of whatever y’all seem to think it will. I swear some of y’all post the stupidest shit trying to tear down high school kids who owe no one anything. Those of y’all that tweet it at recruits are even worse.

Lighten up Francis, 11th post, user name

[Political Hack]

Freaking out like a giant ***** and shit-talking high school kids on an internet message board is gonna do the exact opposite of whatever y’all seem to think it will. I swear some of y’all post the stupidest shit trying to tear down high school kids who owe no one anything. Those of y’all that tweet it at recruits are even worse.

You must be talking about those ole miss guys that chase kids into bathrooms and twitter stalk them.

[Dawg61]

Sure we are probably 3-4 elite players away from a playoff but how many were we away from it if we have Croom's roster?? You don't become a top 4 team overnight or by bitching about recruiting non-stop. You build to it slowly and steadily. The fact we can say we are 3-4 players away is pretty amazing. Enjoy being 9-4 and having a good roster and HC with an exciting offense for the next 9 months. That's what I will be doing.

[Homedawg]

Even if we limit tonguys we have good shots at or good relationships with, our main pro Alex is not closing enough on the 50/50 guys. Just think if we had not landed Simmons. He’s a massive difference maker for us. We don’t have to be top 10, we just have to find a way to get more of our bigger fish to get over the hump.

We are making strides. We just need to perform next year and do well with the instate class

When you say bigger fish, if you mean out of state bigger fish, it's not going to happen. Ever. Can we get good players from out of state? Sure, guys the others pass on for the most part. But we aren't going into any state and getting 5 star or a recruited 4 star if bama wants em if from bama. Or lsu wants em and from Louisiana. Just not happening.

[5049]

Sure we are probably 3-4 elite players away from a playoff but how many were we away from it if we have Croom's roster?? You don't become a top 4 team overnight or by bitching about recruiting non-stop. You build to it slowly and steadily. The fact we can say we are 3-4 players away is pretty amazing. Enjoy being 9-4 and having a good roster and HC with an exciting offense for the next 9 months. That's what I will be doing.
You make good points, but it doesn’t hurt to understand what it will take to make the next jump in program evolution.

[Commercecomet24]

Sure we are probably 3-4 elite players away from a playoff but how many were we away from it if we have Croom's roster?? You don't become a top 4 team overnight or by bitching about recruiting non-stop. You build to it slowly and steadily. The fact we can say we are 3-4 players away is pretty amazing. Enjoy being 9-4 and having a good roster and HC with an exciting offense for the next 9 months. That's what I will be doing.

This is my feelings exactly. Good post.

[Todd4State]

People usually "freak out" or "get upset" or whatever you want to call it because they feel like things are out of control in general with anything in life. The reason a lot of MSU fans freak out about recruiting is we were consistently having guys flipped or losing guys we should have gotten- like AJ and Lashley- and Dan didn't do anything about it until the administration nudged him. And even then it was a band aid.

I think the biggest adjustment we need to make in recruiting going forward is to increase the general effort from the coaching staff. Obviously, we still won't get them ALL- but I bet we cut our losses by 50%. There are other things like increasing the recruiting budget, placing more emphasis on it in football, and etc. But if we do nothing else I want our coaches to put more energy into it. And I think we will see that from Moorhead's staff compared to Dan. People can freak out now- but we are still assembling our staff and will have that mostly finalized this week except for Fountain who I think will be finalized next week if I'm not mistaken. And remember even Freeze lost Richie Brown, Quay, and Nick James among others during the transition from Nutt to Freeze even with their Network in place. So, let's cut our losses of our three star d-linemen and just move forward.

[Todd4State]

When you say bigger fish, if you mean out of state bigger fish, it's not going to happen. Ever. Can we get good players from out of state? Sure, guys the others pass on for the most part. But we aren't going into any state and getting 5 star or a recruited 4 star if bama wants em if from bama. Or lsu wants em and from Louisiana. Just not happening.

Exactly and we really shouldn't blow up our model which as it is is basically a Peter Sirmon hire away from four straight 9 win seasons. If we simply increase our effort from the coaching staff it could help us get that "final piece" that puts us into the 10 win category.

And if people think it's tough recruiting against Ole Miss- let's try going up against LSU, Alabama, Auburn, and Tennessee for the same players in their backyard. The only way for us to do that consistently successfully is the same way Ole Miss did in 2013 and 2016....and NO ONE wants to go down that road. Especially since it's unnecessary to start with.

[bulldogcountry1]

1. Not everyone wants to come to State.
2. Sometimes our staff has a good reason for not signing someone.
3. We don’t play the game like others do.

I think we will see the new staff take us to the next level and get us those 2 or 3 elite guys every year.

[Leeshouldveflanked]

I'm sure LSU was mad they missed on Dak....

[ShotgunDawg]

I'm sure LSU was mad they missed on Dak....

Dak is their Jaylon Smith the Louisville WR.

Mis-evaluations happen and are your own fault.

They probably wish they had Key right now as well.

[TrapGame]

I'm sure LSU was mad they missed on Dak....

LSU is about to be mad about a lot of things. Eddie O being chief among them.

[Liverpooldawg]

Lighten up Francis, 11th post, user name

He is right.

[Liverpooldawg]

Sure we are probably 3-4 elite players away from a playoff but how many were we away from it if we have Croom's roster?? You don't become a top 4 team overnight or by bitching about recruiting non-stop. You build to it slowly and steadily. The fact we can say we are 3-4 players away is pretty amazing. Enjoy being 9-4 and having a good roster and HC with an exciting offense for the next 9 months. That's what I will be doing.

This

[1bigdawg]

Davis wanted to play defense and did commit to us briefly. Hevesy used his pull with our head coach to project him as an OL. Then Hevesy was the main recruiter. Nuff said.

[thf24]

I?m still hoping we can get a good grad transfer at WR. One of those guys that just gets open. Heck Hastings at AU was a walk on and I think tenfroenfor Clemson was as well

Not even considering the guys coming in, I have a feeling those already on our roster are suddenly going to be getting open a lot more under Getsy.

I'm not an expert so I'm not going to outright say Gonzo is as bad a coach as he is a recruiter, but when you have quick, fast guys like Gray and Myles who consistently struggled to get open, in my opinion it's got to point to poor coaching on route running and fundamentals.

[Liverpooldawg]

People usually "freak out" or "get upset" or whatever you want to call it because they feel like things are out of control in general with anything in life. The reason a lot of MSU fans freak out about recruiting is we were consistently having guys flipped or losing guys we should have gotten- like AJ and Lashley- and Dan didn't do anything about it until the administration nudged him. And even then it was a band aid.

I think the biggest adjustment we need to make in recruiting going forward is to increase the general effort from the coaching staff. Obviously, we still won't get them ALL- but I bet we cut our losses by 50%. There are other things like increasing the recruiting budget, placing more emphasis on it in football, and etc. But if we do nothing else I want our coaches to put more energy into it. And I think we will see that from Moorhead's staff compared to Dan. People can freak out now- but we are still assembling our staff and will have that mostly finalized this week except for Fountain who I think will be finalized next week if I'm not mistaken. And remember even Freeze lost Richie Brown, Quay, and Nick James among others during the transition from Nutt to Freeze even with their Network in place. So, let's cut our losses of our three star d-linemen and just move forward.
One more time: We were never getting AJ Brown. That was known by at least his JR year in high school. That was between two schools and we weren?t one of them. The one that got him was not the favorite till very late in the game.

[TrapGame]

Not even considering the guys coming in, I have a feeling those already on our roster are suddenly going to be getting open a lot more under Getsy.

I'm not an expert so I'm not going to outright say Gonzo is as bad a coach as he is a recruiter, but when you have quick, fast guys like Gray and Myles who consistently struggled to get open, in my opinion it's got to point to poor coaching on route running and fundamentals.

Yep.

Couch and Todd are going to look a great deal better next season from a coach that knows what he's doing. Guidry, Heath and Whop are going to look like freaks of nature.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

One more time: We were never getting AJ Brown. That was known by at least his JR year in high school. That was between two schools and we weren?t one of them. The one that got him was not the favorite till very late in the game.

Yep!! I can confirm this. ^^

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

If, if's, ands and buts were all candy and nuts we'd all have a wonderful Christmas as well.

[Homedawg]

I'm sure LSU was mad they missed on Dak....

Maybe you should read my post. Dak wasn't a 4 or 5 star. They missed on evaluation and they can't develop a qb anyway, but they didn't try to get him as a qb. So there's that.

[maroonmania]

I think people on here get more irritated with guys that stay committed to us for months but then flip when it comes time to sign than guys like Brown that never gave us any real indication that he wanted to play for us. Sometimes it seems that there are some guys that just commit to us to drive up the "offer" price from OM to provide them the flipmas they so desire. Now whether most of these ever had any real intention of coming to State in the first place I don't really know.

[PassInterference]

Could you imagine how diluted football in Alabama would be if they had 4 SEC schools?

If Alabama has the same number of SEC schools per capita as us, they would almost have 4.

Tells you how diluted MS is, especially with #TheNetwork rolling again.

[5049]

Could you imagine how diluted football in Alabama would be if they had 4 SEC schools?

If Alabama has the same number of SEC schools per capita as us, they would almost have 4.

Tells you how diluted MS is, especially with #TheNetwork rolling again.

You got it. This is the answer.

Only solution is for the state of Mississippi to grow. Except it's not....

[5049]

I'm sure LSU was mad they missed on Dak....
This is such a clueless post. It adds nothing to this discussion. Nothing. It actually detracts.

[dawgs]

One more time: We were never getting AJ Brown. That was known by at least his JR year in high school. That was between two schools and we weren?t one of them. The one that got him was not the favorite till very late in the game.

That’s the point. A guy grows up in the shadow of a sec program experiencing their highest level of success with dak leading them to #1 in the country for 5 weeks and he wouldn’t even consider us. You think any other sec program worth a shit loses a guy in their hometown like that with that level of success during his HS years?

[UMCDawg16]

Freaking out like a giant ***** and shit-talking high school kids on an internet message board is gonna do the exact opposite of whatever y?all seem to think it will. I swear some of y?all post the stupidest shit trying to tear down high school kids who owe no one anything. Those of y?all that tweet it at recruits are even worse.

Your name is Dildoes, GTFO.

[confucius say]

Could you imagine how diluted football in Alabama would be if they had 4 SEC schools?

If Alabama has the same number of SEC schools per capita as us, they would almost have 4.

Tells you how diluted MS is, especially with #TheNetwork rolling again.

Alabama doesn't have twice Mississippi population.

It would be like Alabama having three sec schools. Or ark having two.

[BB30]

That’s the point. A guy grows up in the shadow of a sec program experiencing their highest level of success with dak leading them to #1 in the country for 5 weeks and he wouldn’t even consider us. You think any other sec program worth a shit loses a guy in their hometown like that with that level of success during his HS years?

I don't blame the guy for not wanting to go to state. I have a problem with how he handled the situation but no issue with him wanting to go somewhere else. Do you get mad a every starkville kid that wants to go to a different school due to wanting a different degree? Not every Starkville high school kid goes to state. Alabama had him right up until the wads of $$$$ came flowing. Again, I wouldn't have had a problem with him going to Alabama.

Just because you grow up somewhere doesn't mean you are automatically going to go there. He just wasn't ever a big state fan and nothing was going to change that. Time to move on from AJ. It is no different than us signing DP from South Panola.

It sucks that he didn't want to come but it is part of it. We just need to keep chugging along and keep winning 7-10 games a year and slowly climb up the ladder. If our new staff can continue to have the success that Mullen had it will prove that it wasn't all because of Mullen and that we actually have a decent place to win football games. 18 year olds in highschool now were 7 or 8 Crooms last year so all they really remember of Miss state football is a team that wins. That is huge and a big change over our entire history. Sophomores and Juniors have seen us have very few losing seasons. Perception will slowly change. Give it time Rome wasn't built in a day.

[IMissJack]

On the other hand, we got Kaeton Thompson from LA, and a 4 star receiver next year. However, it seems more 4* from MS leave than we pull from other states.

[Goldendawg]

I think people on here get more irritated with guys that stay committed to us for months but then flip when it comes time to sign than guys like Brown that never gave us any real indication that he wanted to play for us. Sometimes it seems that there are some guys that just commit to us to drive up the "offer" price from OM to provide them the flipmas they so desire. Now whether most of these ever had any real intention of coming to State in the first place I don't really know.

This indeed, maybe our new staff sees through this. Hail State!

[TrapGame]

I remember a rumor going around here back when TBuck was hired. It seems he saw what we were doing recruiting wise and was shocked at the lack of initiative taken by the staff to go after big time recruits. It started with Dan and filtered down to the Country Club. When TBuck asked Dan why we weren't going after this 4* kid in Florida that had offers from FSU and Miami, but wanted an SEC offer, the Idiot Yankee told him we really didn't have a shot at the kid and it would be a waste of time. TBuck told him to give him 72 hours and he'd bring the kid in. I can't remember the kid's name but I think he's still on our team.

Merlin was a lazy ass recruiter and still brought in top 25 classes. I expect Joe, Huff and Shoop are kill it over the next few years. I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple of back to back top 15 classes soon.

[Randolph Dupree]

Davis wanted to play defense and did commit to us briefly. Hevesy used his pull with our head coach to project him as an OL. Then Hevesy was the main recruiter. Nuff said.

Pretty sure it was Davis, that this was about but I may be getting the name confused with another. This kid left over ?incentives?. Within moments (literally minutes) of committing to MSU, this kid?s phone started blowing up and although my source only got one end of the conversation, it was clear that he was negotiating a deal. Was that deal with a coach? A booster? an uncle? his mom? I do not know. Shoot holes in it all you want but that?s what happened.

[Goldendawg]

I remember a rumor going around here back when TBuck was hired. It seems he saw what we were doing recruiting wise and was shocked at the lack of initiative taken by the staff to go after big time recruits. It started with Dan and filtered down to the Country Club. When TBuck asked Dan why we weren't going after this 4* kid in Florida that had offers from FSU and Miami, but wanted an SEC offer, the Idiot Yankee told him we really didn't have a shot at the kid and it would be a waste of time. TBuck told him to give him 72 hours and he'd bring the kid in. I can't remember the kid's name but I think he's still on our team.

Merlin was a lazy ass recruiter and still brought in top 25 classes. I expect Joe, Huff and Shoop are kill it over the next few years. I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple of back to back top 15 classes soon.

So Dan even held Tbuck back on recruiting? Wouldn't surprise me and looking foward to better days with our new staff.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

Saivion Smith is from Florida is he not?

[BuckyIsAB****]

When you say bigger fish, if you mean out of state bigger fish, it's not going to happen. Ever. Can we get good players from out of state? Sure, guys the others pass on for the most part. But we aren't going into any state and getting 5 star or a recruited 4 star if bama wants em if from bama. Or lsu wants em and from Louisiana. Just not happening.

Promise you LSU regrets not signing Dak, KT, Dillon Day, Josh Robinson (maybe) and will regret not signing Whop. Not our fault they are incompetent

[BuckyIsAB****]

What 4 or 5 star kid that chose an out of state school over us has really done well recently? The kid from Germantown will never play at Bama, Lashley hasnt played and probably wont. We needed Charles but I think it worked out. Our OL will be damn good next year. If I missed one please correct me but none come to mind. Maybe the OL that went to Auburn cant remember his name

[maroonmania]

So Dan even held Tbuck back on recruiting? Wouldn't surprise me and looking foward to better days with our new staff.

Probably so, I know TBuck got us Stewart Reese when Hev was having trouble getting much of any OL that year. I'm certainly good with TBuck being retained. Believe there would have been a very good chance of keeping the Arkansas CB this year if it had been made clear from the start that TBuck was staying. TBuck was the guy at MSU he wanted to play for. I don't think there is much difference in coaching abilities between TBuck and Johnson and I would rather avoid the OM connection personally.

[Todd4State]

One more time: We were never getting AJ Brown. That was known by at least his JR year in high school. That was between two schools and we weren?t one of them. The one that got him was not the favorite till very late in the game.

"Never" after Dan shot his Dad down for wanting money after his junior year? I agree.

Just one of many of Dan's botched recruiting misadventures that should have been avoided. And losing AJ is not like Ole Miss losing a player from South Panola. Losing AJ would be like Ole Miss losing a player from Oxford HS.

[Todd4State]

Probably so, I know TBuck got us Stewart Reese when Hev was having trouble getting much of any OL that year. I'm certainly good with TBuck being retained. Believe there would have been a very good chance of keeping the Arkansas CB this year if it had been made clear from the start that TBuck was staying. TBuck was the guy at MSU he wanted to play for. I don't think there is much difference in coaching abilities between TBuck and Johnson and I would rather avoid the OM connection personally.

That's why I laugh every time someone gave Hevesy credit for "finding" Stewart Reese last year. I'm good with TBuck staying too. I would have been fine with Woodson also- where his degree is from doesn't matter much to me. We probably would have not dropped Jaylon Reed and may have avoided the recent Lovett meltdown.

[Todd4State]

What 4 or 5 star kid that chose an out of state school over us has really done well recently? The kid from Germantown will never play at Bama, Lashley hasnt played and probably wont. We needed Charles but I think it worked out. Our OL will be damn good next year. If I missed one please correct me but none come to mind. Maybe the OL that went to Auburn cant remember his name

Our o-line may be "good"- but if we had landed Lashley, Charles, and etc. it goes to good with lots of quality depth at worst or from good to great with quality depth.

Reese played well overall- but also had a lot of false starts that hurt us at times that a veteran may not have gotten. Also by not redshirting Jamaal Clayborn we had to break up the best left side of an o-line I have ever seen during Dan's tenure by moving Jenkins to center.

[Todd4State]

I remember a rumor going around here back when TBuck was hired. It seems he saw what we were doing recruiting wise and was shocked at the lack of initiative taken by the staff to go after big time recruits. It started with Dan and filtered down to the Country Club. When TBuck asked Dan why we weren't going after this 4* kid in Florida that had offers from FSU and Miami, but wanted an SEC offer, the Idiot Yankee told him we really didn't have a shot at the kid and it would be a waste of time. TBuck told him to give him 72 hours and he'd bring the kid in. I can't remember the kid's name but I think he's still on our team.

Merlin was a lazy ass recruiter and still brought in top 25 classes. I expect Joe, Huff and Shoop are kill it over the next few years. I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple of back to back top 15 classes soon.

That's why I am optomistic about Joe and our staff. I think Joe will bring in good QB's. Huff is an upgrade over Knox as a recruiter and one of the best in the country. Getsy is a WR coaching guru after reading about some of his methods and I'm sure PJ Fleck tought him some things about recruiting. Hud is an upgrade over Looney and blows Sallach out of the water. Johnson will likely be better at recruiting than Hevesy. Baker has taken some hits but he also helped us get Moore who is a potential 5 star for 2019 and I think we lead for most of the 2019 d-linemen. I think Lembaku could be very good. Buckley is a good recruiter and should pair well with Shoop. Fountain is supposed to be a good recruiter as well.

[maroonmania]

delete

[maroonmania]

delete

[bigplayslay]

What 4 or 5 star kid that chose an out of state school over us has really done well recently? The kid from Germantown will never play at Bama, Lashley hasnt played and probably wont. We needed Charles but I think it worked out. Our OL will be damn good next year. If I missed one please correct me but none come to mind. Maybe the OL that went to Auburn cant remember his name

Raekwon Davis