The kind of players that succeed at a high level in football

[Todd4State]

Are the ones that have an extremely high work ethic and competitiveness to win at all costs. Most of them were also leaders on the field.

I'm not talking about just MSU or the SEC. I'm talking about the NFL.

Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning...

Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith, Barry Sanders, Jim Brown...

Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin, Michael Thomas, Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald, Shannon Sharpe...

Anthony Munoz, Bruce Matthews, Quenton Nelson, Joe Thomas, Jonathan Ogden, Jackie Slater, Kent Hull...

Reggie White, JJ Watt, Bruce Smith, Howie Long, Joe Greene, John Randle, Warren Sapp, Fletcher Cox...

Lawrence Taylor, Dick Butkus, Derrick Thomas, Mike Singletary, Junior Seau, Patrick Willis, Brian Urlacher, Ray Lewis...

Deion Sanders, Darrell Green, Ronnie Lott, Rod Woodson, Ed Reed...

Those listed above are the kind of players that these kids should be looking up to and trying to emulate. Where those players have gotten to are where these high school players should be trying to get to. Not just play in the SEC- that's just a step in the path. That shouldn't be the end. I think too many of these Mississippi kids look up to guys like Mike Espy and Shay Hodge that haven't gotten to where they really should want to go and these players need to ask themselves do I want to be Mike Espy or do I want to be Jerry Rice?

There is also not enough humbleness and insight with these players. Some of them want to play this position or that no matter what, they're more concerned with the uniform number that they have, they want to play with a coach that is their friend but may not prepare them as well for the NFL and then they expect it all to work out for them somehow. There's too much ME and not enough TEAM. And it's absolutely disappointing to see someone like Cam Dantzler get on social media and talk about how you play for a coach and not a team- yeah you're welcome for the opportunity to play in the SEC when no one else wanted you besides Mississippi State Cam. That kind of attitude is everything that is wrong with our football team the past few seasons.

And it's not about how many stars players have by their name- and that's part of the problem too some ex-gas station attendant rates these guys and puts a bunch of stars by their name in high school when they haven't done anything yet and some of these guys think they are one of the guys I mentioned above. Now I'm not saying to go out and get a bunch of two stars because my point is you need talent- but you need the WORK ETHIC to go along with it. And that's just what is so uncommon among these players. My hope is that MSU starts to find more of those uncommon players whether they are a three star, a four star, or a five star. We need guys that want to end up in Canton, Ohio- not Canton, Mississippi handing out bags of cash to players trying to get them to go to one school or the other.

Let's go play some ball! Hail State!

[SPMT]

Lawrence taylor worked his ass off getting that last bit of white powder off the mirror!!!!

[Irondawg]

Yeah the fact that you have LT, Deion, Moss, Sharpe and a few others on there makes it not fit - those guys were most definately not leaders and some not really hard workers. Great players but that's about it.

Your point is pretty much right though - to be really successful you have to be ELITE athletically at your position or work harder/smarter than the other guys. Sometimes both.

In CFB you need a couple of strong leaders in your locker room that have the respect of the team. We'll get there I think judging by all the interviews I've heard from this staff. They really, really value the team concept.

[99jc]

Ray Lewis....look up too....you have lost your mind. Put OJ on there also then.

[BeardoMSU]

Ray Lewis....look up too....you have lost your mind. Put OJ on there also then.

https://i.chzbgr.com/full/7035246336/h0A3F99A9/the-confession

[dawgday166]

Yeah the fact that you have LT, Deion, Moss, Sharpe and a few others on there makes it not fit - those guys were most definately not leaders and some not really hard workers. Great players but that's about it.

Your point is pretty much right though - to be really successful you have to be ELITE athletically at your position or work harder/smarter than the other guys. Sometimes both.

In CFB you need a couple of strong leaders in your locker room that have the respect of the team. We'll get there I think judging by all the interviews I've heard from this staff. They really, really value the team concept.

If you think LT wasn't a great player and clubhouse leader you're delirious. Without LT the Giants have no SBs in the 86 and 90. LT set the standard for all of today's OLBs and DEs. He absolutely unequivocally changed the game of football as we knew it then.

And without Deion ... Steve Young never gets a SB.

ETA: I prefer the guys that don't say much and just kick your ass but ... if you can back it up like those two could then I'd still take them on my team.

[ShotgunDawg]

I'll give you a freebee here:

The kind of people & players that succeed?

I once asked an ex General manager: "you hired a bunch of people in your career, with a broad paint brush, can you tell me the difference between your best hires & worst hires?"

GM: "That's a tough question"........"Authentic. The best people I ever hired were genuine & authentic."

Wrap that in a bow & place it under the tree folks. Hire people & sign players that are authentic. Doesn't necessarily matter if their good or bad, but just that you know exactly where they stand & who they. Hire & sign those folks, & you'll likely be successful.

As it pertains to Jones, lied to coaches, teammates, beat writers, etc. Not authentic. Pretended to be someone that he wasn't. You can't win with that human or that player.

[Todd4State]

Yeah the fact that you have LT, Deion, Moss, Sharpe and a few others on there makes it not fit - those guys were most definately not leaders and some not really hard workers. Great players but that's about it.

Your point is pretty much right though - to be really successful you have to be ELITE athletically at your position or work harder/smarter than the other guys. Sometimes both.

In CFB you need a couple of strong leaders in your locker room that have the respect of the team. We'll get there I think judging by all the interviews I've heard from this staff. They really, really value the team concept.

LT was obviously into drugs off the field but he also was known for playing through pain and still doing so at a high level. See his game against the Saints where I believe he could not lift his arm and still dominated the game.

Deion was flashy. But he was also a relentless worker who according to Michael Irvin would study and document tendencies on every WR he would face and would study it every single day. He's an example of a guy that can be flashy and still balance that with playing at a high level.

I saw a video on Shannon Sharpe today about him crushing CrossFit workouts at age 50. I guarantee you he was a beast in the gym as a player.

I included some of those guys to show that you can still be a star and flashy but to get to that level you still have to have the incredible work ethic to do it.

[Todd4State]

I'll give you a freebee here:

The kind of people & players that succeed?

I once asked an ex General manager: "you hired a bunch of people in your career, with a broad paint brush, can you tell me the difference between your best hires & worst hires?"

GM: "That's a tough question"........"Authentic. The best people I ever hired were genuine & authentic."

Wrap that in a bow & place it under the tree folks. Hire people & sign players that are authentic. Doesn't necessarily matter if their good or bad, but just that you know exactly where they stand & who they. Hire & sign those folks, & you'll likely be successful.

As it pertains to Jones, lied to coaches, teammates, beat writers, etc. Not authentic. Pretended to be someone that he wasn't. You can't win with that human or that player.

Jones telling our players that he was going to Oregon was something that stood out to me. He wasn't even man enough to tell our players the truth.

[ShotgunDawg]

Jones telling our players that he was going to Oregon was something that stood out to me. He wasn't even man enough to tell our players the truth.

Yes. He's a fraudulent kid that will need to mature an awful lot to amount to jack shit not just in football but in life.

Maybe there is goodness in his heart & he's really a good kid that can't handle the stress. If that's the case, then best of luck to him in growing up because he most assuredly is not yet

When NFL teams do interviews with prospects, that's the number 1 thing they are looking for. Does this kid have self awareness & is he coachable. Those are the first two questions.

Again, Jones may be a great kid & good guy, but he failed miserably in those two areas currently & an NFL personnel department will see right through it.

What he did here was wrong. Black & white wrong. I'm sure his supporters will disagree with that, but they don't get a say in what an NFL org thinks about him.

Can he rebound? yes, but it's going to take some soul searching & humbling

[MoreCowbell]

Are the ones that have an extremely high work ethic and competitiveness to win at all costs. Most of them were also leaders on the field.

I'm not talking about just MSU or the SEC. I'm talking about the NFL.

Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning...

Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith, Barry Sanders, Jim Brown...

Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin, Michael Thomas, Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald, Shannon Sharpe...

Anthony Munoz, Bruce Matthews, Quenton Nelson, Joe Thomas, Jonathan Ogden, Jackie Slater, Kent Hull...

Reggie White, JJ Watt, Bruce Smith, Howie Long, Joe Greene, John Randle, Warren Sapp, Fletcher Cox...

Lawrence Taylor, Dick Butkus, Derrick Thomas, Mike Singletary, Junior Seau, Patrick Willis, Brian Urlacher, Ray Lewis...

Deion Sanders, Darrell Green, Ronnie Lott, Rod Woodson, Ed Reed...

Those listed above are the kind of players that these kids should be looking up to and trying to emulate. Where those players have gotten to are where these high school players should be trying to get to. Not just play in the SEC- that's just a step in the path. That shouldn't be the end. I think too many of these Mississippi kids look up to guys like Mike Espy and Shay Hodge that haven't gotten to where they really should want to go and these players need to ask themselves do I want to be Mike Espy or do I want to be Jerry Rice?

There is also not enough humbleness and insight with these players. Some of them want to play this position or that no matter what, they're more concerned with the uniform number that they have, they want to play with a coach that is their friend but may not prepare them as well for the NFL and then they expect it all to work out for them somehow. There's too much ME and not enough TEAM. And it's absolutely disappointing to see someone like Cam Dantzler get on social media and talk about how you play for a coach and not a team- yeah you're welcome for the opportunity to play in the SEC when no one else wanted you besides Mississippi State Cam. That kind of attitude is everything that is wrong with our football team the past few seasons.

And it's not about how many stars players have by their name- and that's part of the problem too some ex-gas station attendant rates these guys and puts a bunch of stars by their name in high school when they haven't done anything yet and some of these guys think they are one of the guys I mentioned above. Now I'm not saying to go out and get a bunch of two stars because my point is you need talent- but you need the WORK ETHIC to go along with it. And that's just what is so uncommon among these players. My hope is that MSU starts to find more of those uncommon players whether they are a three star, a four star, or a five star. We need guys that want to end up in Canton, Ohio- not Canton, Mississippi handing out bags of cash to players trying to get them to go to one school or the other.

Let's go play some ball! Hail State!

I mean that is literally what Mullen did and does

[R2Dawg]

Are the ones that have an extremely high work ethic and competitiveness to win at all costs. Most of them were also leaders on the field.

I'm not talking about just MSU or the SEC. I'm talking about the NFL.

Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning...

Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith, Barry Sanders, Jim Brown...

Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin, Michael Thomas, Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald, Shannon Sharpe...

Anthony Munoz, Bruce Matthews, Quenton Nelson, Joe Thomas, Jonathan Ogden, Jackie Slater, Kent Hull...

Reggie White, JJ Watt, Bruce Smith, Howie Long, Joe Greene, John Randle, Warren Sapp, Fletcher Cox...

Lawrence Taylor, Dick Butkus, Derrick Thomas, Mike Singletary, Junior Seau, Patrick Willis, Brian Urlacher, Ray Lewis...

Deion Sanders, Darrell Green, Ronnie Lott, Rod Woodson, Ed Reed...

Those listed above are the kind of players that these kids should be looking up to and trying to emulate. Where those players have gotten to are where these high school players should be trying to get to. Not just play in the SEC- that's just a step in the path. That shouldn't be the end. I think too many of these Mississippi kids look up to guys like Mike Espy and Shay Hodge that haven't gotten to where they really should want to go and these players need to ask themselves do I want to be Mike Espy or do I want to be Jerry Rice?

There is also not enough humbleness and insight with these players. Some of them want to play this position or that no matter what, they're more concerned with the uniform number that they have, they want to play with a coach that is their friend but may not prepare them as well for the NFL and then they expect it all to work out for them somehow. There's too much ME and not enough TEAM. And it's absolutely disappointing to see someone like Cam Dantzler get on social media and talk about how you play for a coach and not a team- yeah you're welcome for the opportunity to play in the SEC when no one else wanted you besides Mississippi State Cam. That kind of attitude is everything that is wrong with our football team the past few seasons.

And it's not about how many stars players have by their name- and that's part of the problem too some ex-gas station attendant rates these guys and puts a bunch of stars by their name in high school when they haven't done anything yet and some of these guys think they are one of the guys I mentioned above. Now I'm not saying to go out and get a bunch of two stars because my point is you need talent- but you need the WORK ETHIC to go along with it. And that's just what is so uncommon among these players. My hope is that MSU starts to find more of those uncommon players whether they are a three star, a four star, or a five star. We need guys that want to end up in Canton, Ohio- not Canton, Mississippi handing out bags of cash to players trying to get them to go to one school or the other.

Let's go play some ball! Hail State!

This question will apply to any profession. Obviously it takes talent/skill but the work ethic, passion, attitude, are what separate people.

Watching the Last Dance showed one glaring thing - MJ had a will and passion to win more than any other. He said a profound thing in one segment. Leadership comes with a price, winning comes at a price. Most are not willing to pay that price and therefore don't achieve at the highest level.

[BuckyIsAB****]

I'll give you a freebee here:

The kind of people & players that succeed?

I once asked an ex General manager: "you hired a bunch of people in your career, with a broad paint brush, can you tell me the difference between your best hires & worst hires?"

GM: "That's a tough question"........"Authentic. The best people I ever hired were genuine & authentic."

Wrap that in a bow & place it under the tree folks. Hire people & sign players that are authentic. Doesn't necessarily matter if their good or bad, but just that you know exactly where they stand & who they. Hire & sign those folks, & you'll likely be successful.

As it pertains to Jones, lied to coaches, teammates, beat writers, etc. Not authentic. Pretended to be someone that he wasn't. You can't win with that human or that player.

I?ll give you a freebie. Joe Moorhead is one of the most genuine and authentic people you will ever meet. But he didn?t have what LT had. He ain?t a killer. Winning is not the most important thing to him. Running his offense was. If winning was the most important thing to him he would?ve never been best friends with the players, he would?ve been their coach

[ShotgunDawg]

I?ll give you a freebie. Joe Moorhead is one of the most genuine and authentic people you will ever meet. But he didn?t have what LT had. He ain?t a killer. Winning is not the most important thing to him. Running his offense was. If winning was the most important thing to him he would?ve never been best friends with the players, he would?ve been their coach

Really good post.

Moorhead is a good employee but a bad boss.

[BuckyIsAB****]

And just for the public record JJ is now blaming the Leach tweet for the reason he is leaving. When immediately after it happened he was saying it was taken out of context and if a player is transferring its something bigger. Also tweeted saying forget social media can we just ball? Then he said y?all so tinder! Why? It?s laughable to me. He will never ever be a good DB. He could play WR maybe but if you want a a social media star he?s your guy

[ShotgunDawg]

And just for the public record JJ is now blaming the Leach tweet for the reason he is leaving.

no surprise. After lying to teammates & coaches, not sure why he'd stop lying now.

Takes a lot of courage to lie to teammates & coaches that invested themselves into you. I guess we won't talk about that huh Shay? Just pathetic that a mentor to this kid would be saying this is OK.

1264237103988310023

[BuckyIsAB****]

no surprise. After lying to teammates & coaches, not sure why he'd stop lying now.

Takes a lot of courage to lie to teammates & coaches that invested themselves into you. I guess we won't talk about that huh Shay? Just pathetic that a mentor to this kid would be saying this is OK.

1264237103988310023

The winners will stay the losers will walk. Cream rises to the top. OM has a S&C coach that runs workouts shirtless for IG likes. Him and JJ are a perfect fit

[R2Dawg]

If he ends up at Olemiss, he will fit in good. They will still not be any good. If we got any more like JJ, we'll send them somewhere else too.

Like I said on other thread, two chances he comes back to MSU - slim and none.

The attitude issues are being rooted out, MSU getting back on track to winning. I know it has been said at nauseum but boy Joe was so bad. Imagine if we had kept him longer it would have been worse than NCAA death penalty.

[KOdawg1]

Jones telling our players that he was going to Oregon was something that stood out to me. He wasn't even man enough to tell our players the truth.
He also told Paul Jones he was coming back to state. Kid's a liar

[ShotgunDawg]

He also told Paul Jones he was coming back to state. Kid's a liar

Exactly.