MSU Football Depth Chart Guess

[Todd4State]

Since Spring Football starts tomorrow this is how I think our depth chart will look in the fall.

Offense

QB- Key. I think he wins the job and does well for us.

RB1- Hill. I think he busts out this year and gets 1000 yards.

RB2- Gibson

WR- Guidry

WR- Osirus

Slot- Austin Williams

WR3- Whop

I think our WR group will be better and I think Key has a better rapport and relationship as a player with Austin Williams and Whop than Nick did based on the spring and the Stephen F Austin game when Key started. I could see Whop emerging late in the year like Fred Ross did in 2014. Also Austin Williams caught a TD pass from Key against Arkansas.

TE- Green/Dontae Jones. Green is a senior but I think Jones will improve a lot and emerge as a player for us next year and be an improvement because of his freakish athleticism.

LT- Cross. I think he adds enough weight this summer to win the job. May not start to begin the year but I could see him being worked in gradually. If I'm wrong we just go with Eiland and Phillips but I think Cross is a more natural fit at LT than Eiland.

LG- Story

C- Williams

RG- Reese

RT- Eiland. I think this is his more natural position and the same could be said for Reese at guard. I think having guys in spots that they fit in naturally will possibly make us a better unit overall.


Wild cards on offense- I think we will see Gibson a lot at RB2 and Deddrick Thomas a lot in the slot. Malik Dear may surprise us we can use him in the slot or motion him into the backfield and essentially use him like a RB.

Defense

DE- Kobe Jones

DT- Marquiss Spencer

DT- Lee Autry

DE- Chauncey Rivers


Not as star studded as last year but may be OK. We also have Fletcher Adams who has played a lot and has been productive at DE and I think we will see Kendall Jones, Jaden Crumedy, Fabien Lovett, and Nathan Pickering rotate in some at DT and Aaron Odom at DE. Which may be why we keep Spencer at DE if the younger players look OK at DT. Basically our d-line is made up of two veteran seniors and a bunch of four star recruits and Odom who was highly productive in high school statistically.

LB- Leo

LB- Erroll

LB- Gay


Everyone comes back here and will probably be better. Erroll was the second highest rated LB in the league behind LSU's Devin White per PFF last year and is a tremendous leader. He reminds me some of Barrin Simpson with much better measureables. Gay is another player that could possibly leave early and is extremely athletic and Leo is solid.

CB- Dantzler

CB- Smitherman

We return two of PFF highest rated CB's in the SEC last year and add Jarrian Jones as a freshman who I think will rotate in a lot and may play some nickle/flex positions as well. We should be OK here. Which is important because without Sweat and Simmons they will be tested more.

S- CJ Morgan

S- Brian Cole

Nickle/flex- Landrews and Marcus Murphy

Morgan impressed me last year and Cole showed his potential when healthy. I think he has to be on the field starting somewhere. Landrews emerged last year and Murphy is very athletic and should be more accustomed to the SEC. The biggest concern here is Morgan, Cole, and Landrews will miss most of the spring because of injuries.


Special teams


K- Christmann is a solid SEC kicker. I'm sure he will miss game one because of his DUI but we should be fine otherwise.

P- Corliss Waitmann. Grad transfer from South Alabama who Alabama wanted badly. He should be an improvement although Day did better as the year went on. He will only help our offense and defense out with field position next year.

KO- Scott Goodman. Did a very good job last year. May be our kicker in game one for Christmann.

LS- We have four in camp. Raymond Freeman, Paul Blackwell, Thomas Cox, and Nathan Swanson. Not sure who the front runner here is.


KR/PR- Deddrick and Dear. We could certainly see some others get looks here. But those would be the first two guys I would look at.

[Jarius]

I expect K. Johnson to get in the mix somewhere on the OL. Eiland is not good against good pass rushers, so I'm not sold that he stays in the starting lineup if Johnson steps up and Cross is as advertised. I also think CJ Morgan will be a backup and Marcus Murphy will be our next star in the secondary.

[bulldawg28]

That's a pretty stout defense and efficient offense imo.

[Todd4State]

That's a pretty stout defense and efficient offense imo.

What stood out to me are how many juniors and seniors we have on both sides of the ball.

[Todd4State]

I expect K. Johnson to get in the mix somewhere on the OL. Eiland is not good against good pass rushers, so I'm not sold that he stays in the starting lineup if Johnson steps up and Cross is as advertised. I also think CJ Morgan will be a backup and Marcus Murphy will be our next star in the secondary.

I agree and that's why I think Cross wins at LT.

[bulldawg28]

What stood out to me are how many juniors and seniors we have on both sides of the ball.

That's a Mississippi State recipe for success. It's up to Joe to make it work.

[KentuckyDawg13]

After his lack of fitness displayed last season.

[bulldawg28]

I expect K. Johnson to get in the mix somewhere on the OL. Eiland is not good against good pass rushers, so I'm not sold that he stays in the starting lineup if Johnson steps up and Cross is as advertised. I also think CJ Morgan will be a backup and Marcus Murphy will be our next star in the secondary.

CJ Morgan played great last year in games for injured safeties. I distinctly remember him playing well against Bama.

[Jack Lambert]

Our defense is going to be good. Also who ever follow's Story on Tweeter please remind him to feed his dog.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

CJ Morgan played great last year in games for injured safeties. I distinctly remember him playing well against Bama.

Yea Peters &/or Murphy are going to have to really show something because CJ was a playmaker last year in his limited time as a starter.

[Tbonewannabe]

I know a lot of people think Fred Peters is the type of guy that will make losing Abram not too bad.

It will be interesting to see if Brian Cole and Rivers live up to the hype they were getting from practice. Several times those 2 were mentioned as standing out at practice last year. That is saying something when Sweat, Simmons, and Abram were also out there at those positions.

[PMDawg]

Since Spring Football starts tomorrow this is how I think our depth chart will look in the fall.

Offense

QB- Key. I think he wins the job and does well for us.

RB1- Hill. I think he busts out this year and gets 1000 yards.

RB2- Gibson

WR- Guidry

WR- Osirus

Slot- Austin Williams

WR3- Whop

I think our WR group will be better and I think Key has a better rapport and relationship as a player with Austin Williams and Whop than Nick did based on the spring and the Stephen F Austin game when Key started. I could see Whop emerging late in the year like Fred Ross did in 2014. Also Austin Williams caught a TD pass from Key against Arkansas.

TE- Green/Dontae Jones. Green is a senior but I think Jones will improve a lot and emerge as a player for us next year and be an improvement because of his freakish athleticism.

LT- Cross. I think he adds enough weight this summer to win the job. May not start to begin the year but I could see him being worked in gradually. If I'm wrong we just go with Eiland and Phillips but I think Cross is a more natural fit at LT than Eiland.

LG- Story

C- Williams

RG- Reese

RT- Eiland. I think this is his more natural position and the same could be said for Reese at guard. I think having guys in spots that they fit in naturally will possibly make us a better unit overall.


Wild cards on offense- I think we will see Gibson a lot at RB2 and Deddrick Thomas a lot in the slot. Malik Dear may surprise us we can use him in the slot or motion him into the backfield and essentially use him like a RB.

Defense

DE- Kobe Jones

DT- Marquiss Spencer

DT- Lee Autry

DE- Chauncey Rivers


Not as star studded as last year but may be OK. We also have Fletcher Adams who has played a lot and has been productive at DE and I think we will see Kendall Jones, Jaden Crumedy, Fabien Lovett, and Nathan Pickering rotate in some at DT and Aaron Odom at DE. Which may be why we keep Spencer at DE if the younger players look OK at DT. Basically our d-line is made up of two veteran seniors and a bunch of four star recruits and Odom who was highly productive in high school statistically.

LB- Leo

LB- Erroll

LB- Gay


Everyone comes back here and will probably be better. Erroll was the second highest rated LB in the league behind LSU's Devin White per PFF last year and is a tremendous leader. He reminds me some of Barrin Simpson with much better measureables. Gay is another player that could possibly leave early and is extremely athletic and Leo is solid.

CB- Dantzler

CB- Smitherman

We return two of PFF highest rated CB's in the SEC last year and add Jarrian Jones as a freshman who I think will rotate in a lot and may play some nickle/flex positions as well. We should be OK here. Which is important because without Sweat and Simmons they will be tested more.

S- CJ Morgan

S- Brian Cole

Nickle/flex- Landrews and Marcus Murphy

Morgan impressed me last year and Cole showed his potential when healthy. I think he has to be on the field starting somewhere. Landrews emerged last year and Murphy is very athletic and should be more accustomed to the SEC. The biggest concern here is Morgan, Cole, and Landrews will miss most of the spring because of injuries.


Special teams


K- Christmann is a solid SEC kicker. I'm sure he will miss game one because of his DUI but we should be fine otherwise.

P- Corliss Waitmann. Grad transfer from South Alabama who Alabama wanted badly. He should be an improvement although Day did better as the year went on. He will only help our offense and defense out with field position next year.

KO- Scott Goodman. Did a very good job last year. May be our kicker in game one for Christmann.

LS- We have four in camp. Raymond Freeman, Paul Blackwell, Thomas Cox, and Nathan Swanson. Not sure who the front runner here is.


KR/PR- Deddrick and Dear. We could certainly see some others get looks here. But those would be the first two guys I would look at.

I am sour on Hill. He just totally disappeared too much. A lot of it is on Joe, but guess who?s coaching next year? I don?t think Hill ever becomes more than average. Hope I?m wrong.

[Tbonewannabe]

I am sour on Hill. He just totally disappeared too much. A lot of it is on Joe, but guess who?s coaching next year? I don?t think Hill ever becomes more than average. Hope I?m wrong.

Hill was kind of gimpy with a hamstring injury last year. When he is healthy, he looks like a 1-2 round level draft pick. It will be interesting to see what kind of production we get out of the RB position now that Nick is gone. I appreciate everything he did but it seemed like every play, his first option was for him to keep the ball. He was very hesitant to let the RB take the option. If Key does the same thing then it is something the coaches are doing that is confusing the QB.

[PMDawg]

I hope you’re right Tbone. But why don’t we just do 10-12 direct handoffs for him per game? It’s crazy.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

I hope you’re right Tbone. But why don’t we just do 10-12 direct handoffs for him per game? It’s crazy.

The fact that Michael Johnson talked so much about explosive plays in the play action game gives me hope that the running game will be a much bigger part of the offense.

[Tbonewannabe]

I hope you’re right Tbone. But why don’t we just do 10-12 direct handoffs for him per game? It’s crazy.

I have no clue and that is one thing that pisses me off about Moorhead, not enough to fire him but make the seat warm. Of course, Moorhead probably expects the 5th year QB to be able to make the correct decisions most of the time. It seems like we did that against Auburn but never again. Fitz just made horrible decisions when he faced good and great defenses. Not sure if it can all be blamed on Fitz or Moorhead's playcalling or it was probably a combination of both. I will say that against everyone but UK, UF, LSU, and Bama, our offense looked pretty damn good. Even looked pretty good against Iowa and they had a top 15 defense. Guidry catches that pass that hits him in the chest or just doesn't knock it up into the safety's chest and that game is almost certainly a win.

[Jack Lambert]

I have no clue and that is one thing that pisses me off about Moorhead, not enough to fire him but make the seat warm. Of course, Moorhead probably expects the 5th year QB to be able to make the correct decisions most of the time. It seems like we did that against Auburn but never again. Fitz just made horrible decisions when he faced good and great defenses. Not sure if it can all be blamed on Fitz or Moorhead's playcalling or it was probably a combination of both. I will say that against everyone but UK, UF, LSU, and Bama, our offense looked pretty damn good. Even looked pretty good against Iowa and they had a top 15 defense. Guidry catches that pass that hits him in the chest or just doesn't knock it up into the safety's chest and that game is almost certainly a win.

I rewatched the 1st ball game of last season. KT looked so much more comfortable then Fitz. He did not change plays. He made the correct reads. He did not over think it. I feel pretty good with him going forwards.

[Tbonewannabe]

I rewatched the 1st ball game of last season. KT looked so much more comfortable then Fitz. He did not change plays. He made the correct reads. He did not over think it. I feel pretty good with him going forwards.

I haven't rewatched anything but how did KT's accuracy look? It seemed like that was the biggest issue otherwise he did really well.

[Jarius]

I rewatched the 1st ball game of last season. KT looked so much more comfortable then Fitz. He did not change plays. He made the correct reads. He did not over think it. I feel pretty good with him going forwards.

Fitz looked a lot better against crappy competition than KT did.

[Tbonewannabe]

Fitz looked a lot better against crappy competition than KT did.

I agree but KT did put up 7 TDs in that first game. His completion % was what dragged him down. Hopefully another year in the system helps that issue.

[bulldawg28]

I know a lot of people think Fred Peters is the type of guy that will make losing Abram not too bad.

It will be interesting to see if Brian Cole and Rivers live up to the hype they were getting from practice. Several times those 2 were mentioned as standing out at practice last year. That is saying something when Sweat, Simmons, and Abram were also out there at those positions.

Do you not remember Brian Cole before injury? He was the best DB on the field making plays consistently.

[Jack Lambert]

I haven't rewatched anything but how did KT's accuracy look? It seemed like that was the biggest issue otherwise he did really well.

It wasn't the best but like Fitz dropped passes that should have been caught.

[Ari Gold]

Have been told by those a lot smarter than us that Fred peters is an Abram mold.. if he half the DOG in him Abram has will be fine there
And with Shop handling our backend I expect that group to Be fine and better at CB

[BuckyIsAB****]

I would be shocked if Fletcher Adams isnt a starter.

[Turfdawg67]

Damn nice assessment Todd. Sorry if this is redundant (b/c I haven't read all the comments) but I think Whop steps up and becomes a starter and I think Gibson will crack at least 500 yds himself.

[Ari Gold]

I would be shocked if Fletcher Adams isnt a starter.

Outside of Rivers and Spencer I think it is up grabs who starts.
Who starts doesn’t really matter except for the intros on the Jumbotron. It’s who is in for the most snaps.
Lots of depth and young talent up front, sprinkled in with a few solid vets.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Outside of Rivers and Spencer I think it is up grabs who starts.
Who starts doesn’t really matter except for the intros on the Jumbotron. It’s who is in for the most snaps.
Lots of depth and young talent up front, sprinkled in with a few solid vets.

Agreed. Im not nearly as concerned with the DL as some are. Its a position you can come in and play early. If you have a good motor you can get away with not having great technique. And that will come with time. We have enough experience there though that they will bring the younger ones along hopefully. I am concerned with LB depth. Need Kilby Lane to be a player

[Goldendawg]

I rewatched the 1st ball game of last season. KT looked so much more comfortable then Fitz. He did not change plays. He made the correct reads. He did not over think it. I feel pretty good with him going forwards.

I don't think you judge how good anyone was against a SFA.

[Todd4State]

I haven't rewatched anything but how did KT's accuracy look? It seemed like that was the biggest issue otherwise he did really well.

I think the completion percentage stat may be a little overblown with Key. He was two completions away from 50% last year and he had 6 TD's to 1 INT with a QB rating of 190.4 And he did set a school record for TD's responsible for in a game against Stephen F Austin.

[Todd4State]

I don't think you judge how good anyone was against a SFA.

I disagree. You just have to consider the context.

[Goldendawg]

I disagree. You just have to consider the context.

At least one of the less than 50% completions was a long TD pass without a DB in sight, when our WR had to wait on a pass that looked like a ball you could have called a fair catch on. I am not impressed on stats against a team that an SEC team should stomp. If you don't win impressively, your team has issues, which we did on O against SEC teams with a good D. JMO.

[Todd4State]

At least one of the less than 50% completions was a long TD pass without a DB in sight, when our WR had to wait on a pass that looked like a ball you could have called a fair catch on. I am not impressed on stats against a team that an SEC team should stomp. If you don't win impressively, your team has issues, which we did on O against SEC teams with a good D. JMO.

We beat Stephen F Austin 63-6 so I'm sure that qualifies as impressive. I could also point out the 5 TD passes that he had. We averaged 34.5 points in SEC games that we won. Most good offenses are going to struggle against good SEC defenses.


Our fans in general have too many double standards. If you make a great play against ULL or Stephen F Austin- "well you're supposed to". Don't make a great play against Alabama- "he sucks, offense won't work".


No one ever says- "Well, this is what I expect to put up against a good defense."


And please don't take this personal- I'm just tired of our fans in general jumping to the conclusion after year one that Joe is going to ruin MSU football because he didn't beat Dan Mullen or a 10 win UK team on the road and couldn't somehow magically make Nick Fitzgerald into a QB that could read defenses. All things Dan couldn't do either.

[Lord McBuckethead]

I agree but KT did put up 7 TDs in that first game. His completion % was what dragged him down. Hopefully another year in the system helps that issue.

Also, if KT played all season last year, we win a couple more games and we would be in great position for this season. but instead, KT has to face it all for the first time this year.

[Ari Gold]

Agreed. Im not nearly as concerned with the DL as some are. Its a position you can come in and play early. If you have a good motor you can get away with not having great technique. And that will come with time. We have enough experience there though that they will bring the younger ones along hopefully. I am concerned with LB depth. Need Kilby Lane to be a player

LB.. remember these name should Aaron Burle and Nathanael Watson .. also hearing that Jett Johnson is coming along very nicely
And we have upperclassman Tim Washington
As long as we stay relatively healthy with Errol and Willie and if Leo can have a just a solid year
LB will be fine and a strong point .

[Tbonewannabe]

Also, if KT played all season last year, we win a couple more games and we would be in great position for this season. but instead, KT has to face it all for the first time this year.

I personally think that was a screwup by Moorhead, not getting KT into more games. Looking back, JoeMo probably was trying to get Fitz more game reps to get more comfortable in the offense but it didn't seem to matter much.

[BuckyIsAB****]

LB.. remember these name should Aaron Burle and Nathanael Watson .. also hearing that Jett Johnson is coming along very nicely
And we have upperclassman Tim Washington
As long as we stay relatively healthy with Errol and Willie and if Leo can have a just a solid year
LB will be fine and a strong point .

Brule could be a player one day I like him. Johnson is going to have problems speed wise we are going to have to let him thump and live with him getting out ran on the edge

[bulldawg28]

Brule could be a player one day I like him. Johnson is going to have problems speed wise we are going to have to let him thump and live with him getting out ran on the edge

If Johnson has speed problems he won't play other than special teams.