Todd4State
01-23-2020, 12:03 AM
And I am fired up about the future of MSU football. John Cohen deserves a lot of credit for the moves this offseason. Yes, he screwed up hiring Moorhead but that appears to be a "learning curve" move that he learned from. I have talked about the disconnect between the MSU AD and the fans and the expectations that both have for the program. Well, it appears as if the MSU AD has been listening based on the moves this offseason and to me this is the most excited I have seen the MSU fanbase since Jackie took over.
We not only replaced Moorhead- we made the biggest splash hire in the SEC with the hiring of Mike Leach. He is going to bring a lot of attention to MSU like Jackie except that Jackie was portrayed by the media as "a bad guy". And because of that we were constantly put down. With Leach I think it will be the opposite. On the field he brings in an offense that while it's pass heavy and some of us are a little scared of that because "we're MSU football and we run the ball and square peg in a round hole" Leach has a history of a simple offense that is easy to learn and very explosive which he has taught at places like Washington State, Texas Tech, and Kentucky. And Kentucky was every bit as run heavy as we were before Mumme/Leach and they were able to make the transition work in the SEC. Except right now we are light years ahead of where Kentucky was in 1997. And because of the rise of the SEC and the recent success we have had- ten straight bowls and players like Dak Prescott and Fletcher Cox having an impact in the NFL- Leach is finally at a place where he can sell not only his offense but the SEC and a place that is not a major rebuild. We're good for both and this move makes a lot of sense for both of us right now. As it is we are able to beat G5 schools at a very high rate- even with Moorhead we did so mostly pretty easily. With Leach we should be able to beat teams in the P5 or SEC with equal or lesser talent pretty frequently and our scheme on both sides of the ball is what could tip the scales for us. It also will help level the playing field and give us a chance against the Alabama's and LSU's of the world even though we still won't win a majority of those. Leach is already reaching out to national recruits and players like Costello and the fact that his offense is fun is going to raise our recruiting profile.
Defensively we made a hire in Zach Arnett that I think will be really good and exciting as well. He basically runs a modern version of Joe Lee Dunn's defense and I think defensive players are going to love playing in it as well. I watched some video of San Diego State and while no single player flashed as an individual they were constantly attacking and applying pressure, stopping the run, creating turnovers and creating havoc. They actually had some trouble getting the QB down and I think that was more of a talent issue that I think Arnett will resolve simply by having SEC talent. There were a couple of busts that resulted in explosive plays- literally it was only two plays- and as we all know that was a weakness of Joe Lee's defense at times. However, the difference is with Leach we will have a much more explosive offense which will be able to counter any explosive plays by the opposition much better than Jackie's offense was. There is a little more risk with Arnett because of his experience compared to Leach however Syracuse wanted him really badly and he wasn't promoted by Rocky Long because he was a goober. Not to mention Leach has a good eye for coaching talent- see Dave Aranda and Alex Grinch on the defensive side of the ball.
On special teams we quietly added a Broyles semifinalist in Matt Brock. Joey Jones did a terrible job last year so while I doubt we'll be flashy we should be solid. I think it would be fun to bring back the Mad Dawgs from the early Jackie Sherrill days which was basically a unit of walk-on players on special teams. They got to wear a patch that said Mad Dawgs on it. Not real sure why we stopped it? I'd like to see Leach due a Jackie/Bull Sullivan tribute by having a Mad Dawg unit but instead of a patch put skulls on their helmets and give out stars for making tackles/good special teams plays.
S&C is already taking effect. By the time the season starts we're going to notice quite a difference. I shouldn't have a lower body fat percentage than our linebackers. We're going to be more athletic, explosive, faster, and potentially be less at risk of injury.
So basically- we went from a guy that acted like a complete entitled asshole in his press conferences and ran a disorganized not fun brand of football on offense especially and had embarrassing discipline issues every week to a high scoring fun pass happy offense, a crazy blitz happy fun to watch defense that creates havoc, and likely improved special teams play. At least we won the Egg Bowl and started the year off in NOLA.
Bring back an interlocking MSU, improve the gameday experience, add more video content including a "The Season" how weekly and we will be really cooking with gas.
We not only replaced Moorhead- we made the biggest splash hire in the SEC with the hiring of Mike Leach. He is going to bring a lot of attention to MSU like Jackie except that Jackie was portrayed by the media as "a bad guy". And because of that we were constantly put down. With Leach I think it will be the opposite. On the field he brings in an offense that while it's pass heavy and some of us are a little scared of that because "we're MSU football and we run the ball and square peg in a round hole" Leach has a history of a simple offense that is easy to learn and very explosive which he has taught at places like Washington State, Texas Tech, and Kentucky. And Kentucky was every bit as run heavy as we were before Mumme/Leach and they were able to make the transition work in the SEC. Except right now we are light years ahead of where Kentucky was in 1997. And because of the rise of the SEC and the recent success we have had- ten straight bowls and players like Dak Prescott and Fletcher Cox having an impact in the NFL- Leach is finally at a place where he can sell not only his offense but the SEC and a place that is not a major rebuild. We're good for both and this move makes a lot of sense for both of us right now. As it is we are able to beat G5 schools at a very high rate- even with Moorhead we did so mostly pretty easily. With Leach we should be able to beat teams in the P5 or SEC with equal or lesser talent pretty frequently and our scheme on both sides of the ball is what could tip the scales for us. It also will help level the playing field and give us a chance against the Alabama's and LSU's of the world even though we still won't win a majority of those. Leach is already reaching out to national recruits and players like Costello and the fact that his offense is fun is going to raise our recruiting profile.
Defensively we made a hire in Zach Arnett that I think will be really good and exciting as well. He basically runs a modern version of Joe Lee Dunn's defense and I think defensive players are going to love playing in it as well. I watched some video of San Diego State and while no single player flashed as an individual they were constantly attacking and applying pressure, stopping the run, creating turnovers and creating havoc. They actually had some trouble getting the QB down and I think that was more of a talent issue that I think Arnett will resolve simply by having SEC talent. There were a couple of busts that resulted in explosive plays- literally it was only two plays- and as we all know that was a weakness of Joe Lee's defense at times. However, the difference is with Leach we will have a much more explosive offense which will be able to counter any explosive plays by the opposition much better than Jackie's offense was. There is a little more risk with Arnett because of his experience compared to Leach however Syracuse wanted him really badly and he wasn't promoted by Rocky Long because he was a goober. Not to mention Leach has a good eye for coaching talent- see Dave Aranda and Alex Grinch on the defensive side of the ball.
On special teams we quietly added a Broyles semifinalist in Matt Brock. Joey Jones did a terrible job last year so while I doubt we'll be flashy we should be solid. I think it would be fun to bring back the Mad Dawgs from the early Jackie Sherrill days which was basically a unit of walk-on players on special teams. They got to wear a patch that said Mad Dawgs on it. Not real sure why we stopped it? I'd like to see Leach due a Jackie/Bull Sullivan tribute by having a Mad Dawg unit but instead of a patch put skulls on their helmets and give out stars for making tackles/good special teams plays.
S&C is already taking effect. By the time the season starts we're going to notice quite a difference. I shouldn't have a lower body fat percentage than our linebackers. We're going to be more athletic, explosive, faster, and potentially be less at risk of injury.
So basically- we went from a guy that acted like a complete entitled asshole in his press conferences and ran a disorganized not fun brand of football on offense especially and had embarrassing discipline issues every week to a high scoring fun pass happy offense, a crazy blitz happy fun to watch defense that creates havoc, and likely improved special teams play. At least we won the Egg Bowl and started the year off in NOLA.
Bring back an interlocking MSU, improve the gameday experience, add more video content including a "The Season" how weekly and we will be really cooking with gas.