Did he inherit better talent overall than he left?

[ScottH]

Using recruiting rankings only......

Team MSU UF

2014 36 9
2015 18 21
2016 28 12
2017 24 11

Avg 26.5 13

[MarketingBully]

A resounding YES especially at the skill positions where he left us with shit.

[ShotgunDawg]

Agree. Msu is probably a little more talented than Florida on defense and our QB better fits Mullen's system than Franks.

But Florida's WRs are light years better than anything Mullen ever had at MSU

[Todd4State]

A resounding YES especially at the skill positions where he left us with shit.

Except for Knox. God bless that man.

If we look back at our recruiting it's very obvious our best recruits from a stars standpoint were on the defensive side of the ball. Except for the running backs. I bet if we took out the QB's, WR, and o-line recruits and just looked at their star rating isolated from the running backs and defensive players it would be pretty pitiful.

[Cooterpoot]

No. We have better talent. They’re better in places but we’ve got better talent. We may have 3 first rounders on our defense.

[TUSK]

per 247 2018 Composite Team Talent:

Florida (35) - (2) 5*; (33) 4*

Mississippi State (22) - (1) 5*; (21) 4*

[HoopsDawg]

He had 6 4star WRs play yesterday.

[ScottH]

He had 6 4star WRs play yesterday.

Do we have a 4star wr if we add all our stars up?

[HoopsDawg]

Do we have a 4star wr if we add all our stars up?

Not really. We have 2 on the roster and both are newcomers to the program. And a cynic could probably shoot holes in their rankings.

[Cooterpoot]

Recruiting rankings are about as accurate as team rankings. Certain teams get automatic bumps. Outside the top 5 or so, it’s all a wash. Stop trying to justify our loss to FL.

[TUSK]

Recruiting rankings are about as accurate as team rankings. Certain teams get automatic bumps. Outside the top 5 or so, it’s all a wash.

Yep... a lot of times there's not much difference between the "8th & 12th" most talented teams....

[Homedawg]

A resounding YES especially at the skill positions where he left us with shit.

Yeah Kylin Hill sucks......

[MarketingBully]

Yeah Kylin Hill sucks......

Kylin Hill is by far one of the best RBs we’ve ever had but it’s pretty obvious I was referring to WR recruiting.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

As noted, we have better talent then UF on the defensive side of the ball. On O, we have great RBs, a better QB room than them (Fitz is absolutely a 4* on athleticism alone ,and KT and Mayden are true 4*s).

WR's and OL are the areas they've out recruited us, and we all know our OL is way better than the stars would suggest; our interior 3 are arguably the best in the conference and all on Kipers' draft board. Our RT in a NFL level player if he slides inside. UF isn't starting 4 future draftees at OL. WR they're better than us, but that's nothing compared to our edge on OL or DL, let alone both.

Mullen did a good job finding under the radar guys and developing them, with the exception of WR and possibly TE. That is why you can't just look at "composite team ranking".

Another factor in our favor is experience- would you rather start a high 3* S (say .88 recruiting grade) in his 4th year that started all last season, or a low 4* S (.90) RFr that's 1 inch taller and .05s faster on his 40 time? Everyone on any team would take the experienced guy who won't blow assignments to a guy who can get his hand 1.5in higher on jump balls, but the recruiting rankings would show the 4*'s team as being the more talented one. We are a very experienced, veteran team, and that's a part of the final on field results that recruiting rankings don't show.

[HoopsDawg]

I like the 2 guys we have committed but where are the recruits. We need at 2 more solid receivers in this class.

[Dawgology]

Don’t worry. His relentless recruiting will bring those averages down pretty quickly

[Gutter Cobreh]

He also picked up some key transfers this year that aren't reflected in those rankings. Van Jefferson and Trevon Grimes were both 4* WRs coming out of high school that have been inserted into the line-up.

To answer the OP's question - on paper, they have more talent.

[sonofozarka]

Using recruiting rankings only......

Team MSU UF

2014 36 9
2015 18 21
2016 28 12
2017 24 11

Avg 26.5 13
Good topic, IMO Florida high school players get the ?Florida bump? and a lot of their other positions do too and it artificially ranks their classes higher overall.

Mullen recruited elite guys where it counts on the DL and left our DL loaded and deep. He evaluated and developed OL no matter the ranking, and it?s hard to call Hev & Mullen terrible when they recruited and developed Jenkins, Calhoun, Williams, Reese, Beckwith, Day, Jackson, etc.

Pay more attention to the draft and the UDFA?s that make rosters if you want to know who?s doing the best job of recruiting and development. The mob mentality hate for Hev shows how stupid our fan base is

[BrunswickDawg]

Good topic, IMO Florida high school players get the ?Florida bump? and a lot of their other positions do too and it artificially ranks their classes higher overall.

Mullen recruited elite guys where it counts on the DL and left our DL loaded and deep. He evaluated and developed OL no matter the ranking, and it?s hard to call Hev & Mullen terrible when they recruited and developed Jenkins, Calhoun, Williams, Reese, Beckwith, Day, Jackson, etc.

Pay more attention to the draft and the UDFA?s that make rosters if you want to know who?s doing the best job of recruiting and development. The mob mentality hate for Hev shows how stupid our fan base is

UF has 44 players on NFL rosters right now - 8 on the OL.

MSU has 18, 3 of whom are OL (Clausell, Jackson, Rankin)

[Todd4State]

Good topic, IMO Florida high school players get the ?Florida bump? and a lot of their other positions do too and it artificially ranks their classes higher overall.

Mullen recruited elite guys where it counts on the DL and left our DL loaded and deep. He evaluated and developed OL no matter the ranking, and it?s hard to call Hev & Mullen terrible when they recruited and developed Jenkins, Calhoun, Williams, Reese, Beckwith, Day, Jackson, etc.

Pay more attention to the draft and the UDFA?s that make rosters if you want to know who?s doing the best job of recruiting and development. The mob mentality hate for Hev shows how stupid our fan base is

Hevesy didn't recruit Reese- that was Buckley. Croom brought in Jackson.

[Jack Lambert]

Doesn't matter we should have beaten them.

[DownwardDawg]

Good topic, IMO Florida high school players get the ?Florida bump? and a lot of their other positions do too and it artificially ranks their classes higher overall.

Mullen recruited elite guys where it counts on the DL and left our DL loaded and deep. He evaluated and developed OL no matter the ranking, and it?s hard to call Hev & Mullen terrible when they recruited and developed Jenkins, Calhoun, Williams, Reese, Beckwith, Day, Jackson, etc.

Pay more attention to the draft and the UDFA?s that make rosters if you want to know who?s doing the best job of recruiting and development. The mob mentality hate for Hev shows how stupid our fan base is

Mullen was good at developing talent. He sucked at recruiting. High school coaches in Mississippi hate Mullen. I talked to a HC that played for State. He told me he wouldn?t allow any of his players to go to state until Mullen leaves. That was several years ago. That?s just one example and the only one I know is fact, but there have been many stories similar to this one. He?s a dick. He?s a damn good coach but being a dick doesn?t equate to good recruiting.

[biggun]

Good topic, IMO Florida high school players get the ?Florida bump? and a lot of their other positions do too and it artificially ranks their classes higher overall.

Mullen recruited elite guys where it counts on the DL and left our DL loaded and deep. He evaluated and developed OL no matter the ranking, and it?s hard to call Hev & Mullen terrible when they recruited and developed Jenkins, Calhoun, Williams, Reese, Beckwith, Day, Jackson, etc.

Pay more attention to the draft and the UDFA?s that make rosters if you want to know who?s doing the best job of recruiting and development. The mob mentality hate for Hev shows how stupid our fan base is

AMEN!!!

[sonofozarka]

Mullen was good at developing talent. He sucked at recruiting. High school coaches in Mississippi hate Mullen. I talked to a HC that played for State. He told me he wouldn?t allow any of his players to go to state until Mullen leaves. That was several years ago. That?s just one example and the only one I know is fact, but there have been many stories similar to this one. He?s a dick. He?s a damn good coach but being a dick doesn?t equate to good recruiting.

I wouldn?t disagree that he?s a prick that rubbed people the wrong way and that it negatively affected him.

But I?m not sure how you can hold the opinion that this is the best roster that State has ever had but at the same time hold the opinion that Mullen is a terrible recruiter. The two completely contradict.

Rankings are dumb also, the previous staff did a good job of evaluating talent which is a lot more important than looking at meaningless rankings decided on by the Gene?s and Yancy?s of the ?industry?

[Todd4State]

I wouldn?t disagree that he?s a prick that rubbed people the wrong way and that it negatively affected him.

But I?m not sure how you can hold the opinion that this is the best roster that State has ever had but at the same time hold the opinion that Mullen is a terrible recruiter. The two completely contradict.

Rankings are dumb also, the previous staff did a good job of evaluating talent which is a lot more important than looking at meaningless rankings decided on by the Gene?s and Yancy?s of the ?industry?

I think the rankings have gotten better over the years. Our defense is loaded with four star guys except for a couple like Braxton Hoyett and I think Cam Dantzler were both three star players. Our weaker positions are mostly three star guys- like WR and OL.