For those that were wondering about our defense ...

[desotodawg]

https://www.si.com/college/mississippistate/football/arnett-on-defense-9820

[Cowbell]

I love the fact that he is so blunt and honest.

[BB30]

I love the fact that he is so blunt and honest.

Yep, that is refreshing.

[Coach34]

Even the DC is telling the fans we wont be very good on D

[chef dixon]

He's essentially saying we ain't talented enough

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

He's essentially saying we ain't talented enough

Yep. He was very clear they mentally understood their assignments and processed post snap info quick enough to be "in position". He mentions they threw "every twist, or pass rush, stunt or blitz." in the scrimmage, which implies he can use the whole playbook.

One thing he pointed out as a problem was literally "sack the QB instead of him step up in the pocket away from pressure". That's 100% on the athletic ability of the end to bend those hips and make a sharp turn. You can't really fix that unless the DT gets push and there's nowhere to step up to

DBs and LBs will get better as the year goes on due to just getting reps. Overall though, yeah we just don't have the players to make the plays even when they're in the right spot.

PS, how freaking awesome is it that the D already knows their assignments and gets in position at such a high rate the DC doesn't even mention it as a possible thing to improve? I feel the players and staff have done an amazing job with this install. Hope we hang onto Arnett

[defiantdog]

This our first year in a while where we didn't have a top draft choice on defense. We're young and inexperienced and not that talented on D...... this will be a long season.

[IMissJack]

He's essentially saying we ain't talented enough.
Well then he better start recruiting better because the list of offers on a couple we got recently were not SEC West compatible.

[Cowbell]

.
Well then he better start recruiting better because the list of offers on a couple we got recently were not SEC West compatible.

This has been concerning me

[smootness]

He's essentially saying we ain't talented enough

Not exactly. He's saying they know what they're supposed to do, they're just not quite executing yet. That is not necessarily a talent problem, it's an inexperience problem. Having great talent can overcome that sometimes, but this is also coachspeak. I don't think we'll be great on D this year, but even if we were, you wouldn't be hearing that from Arnett right now.

[TaleofTwoDogs]

Not exactly. He's saying they know what they're supposed to do, they're just not quite executing yet. That is not necessarily a talent problem, it's an inexperience problem. Having great talent can overcome that sometimes, but this is also coachspeak. I don't think we'll be great on D this year, but even if we were, you wouldn't be hearing that from Arnett right now.

I think if you read between the lines that's exactly what he was saying. I think he knows that he doesn't have the experience and talent to be SEC ready but with a hell of a lot of work and leadership from the players we will be respectable. Not sure you can ask for much more in this crazy year.

I agree that this year's recruiting class does not look like they are talented enough to carry us to a position in the SEC West that just a few years ago we felt was obtainable. But let's see how the 2nd and 3th recruiting classes turnout under CML.

[Todd4State]

We're screwed.

[Cooterpoot]

Nothing sensible fans didn't know.

[Sienfield]

Sounds very similar to the old Paul Bear Bryant speeches at Alabama.

[PGHBulldogBG]

I?m not a big follower of recruiting, but I?m confused on why the talent on D has dropped so much. I thought people said Moorhead was a better recruiter than Mullen? I would?ve thought this meant we would have more talent. I know we lost Lovett and Jones, but I don?t understand why it has gotten so much worse.

[1bigdawg]

I?m not a big follower of recruiting, but I?m confused on why the talent on D has dropped so much. I thought people said Moorhead was a better recruiter than Mullen? I would?ve thought this meant we would have more talent. I know we lost Lovett and Jones, but I don?t understand why it has gotten so much worse.

Add Williams and we lost two potential starters in the backfield and one on the DL. That is a lot of depth. Also, our LB recruiting has not been great for the last few years.

[MedDawg]

I?m not a big follower of recruiting, but I?m confused on why the talent on D has dropped so much. I thought people said Moorhead was a better recruiter than Mullen? I would?ve thought this meant we would have more talent. I know we lost Lovett and Jones, but I don?t understand why it has gotten so much worse.

We were blessed with a few diamonds in the rough, a few quality transfers in, and a couple highly rated Mississippi boys to take us to a #1 defense. Then they graduated or left early for the NFL. Problem is, the previous staffs didn't fill in with enough additional bodies and now our numbers are down.

Looking back--in 2017, 2018, and 2020 there weren't a lot of 4-star defensive players from Mississippi. We needed to get those blue chippers in 2019 but Bama and Auburn got the best of them. We could have used Charles Moore, Jaren Handy, Byron Young, and Derek Hall as sophomores this year.

[Johnson85]

Yep. He was very clear they mentally understood their assignments and processed post snap info quick enough to be "in position". He mentions they threw "every twist, or pass rush, stunt or blitz." in the scrimmage, which implies he can use the whole playbook.

One thing he pointed out as a problem was literally "sack the QB instead of him step up in the pocket away from pressure". That's 100% on the athletic ability of the end to bend those hips and make a sharp turn. You can't really fix that unless the DT gets push and there's nowhere to step up to

DBs and LBs will get better as the year goes on due to just getting reps. Overall though, yeah we just don't have the players to make the plays even when they're in the right spot.

PS, how freaking awesome is it that the D already knows their assignments and gets in position at such a high rate the DC doesn't even mention it as a possible thing to improve? I feel the players and staff have done an amazing job with this install. Hope we hang onto Arnett

That is not what I took that to mean. I took it to mean that they know what to do but still have to think too much to do it. Pretty common coach speak. First you learn the assignments, then you get enough reps to where you just react without having to think about it. Which presumably is accurate. They've had time to learn the playbook/assignments. But they haven't had enough practice time for it to come naturally to them.

[Johnson85]

I?m not a big follower of recruiting, but I?m confused on why the talent on D has dropped so much. I thought people said Moorhead was a better recruiter than Mullen? I would?ve thought this meant we would have more talent. I know we lost Lovett and Jones, but I don?t understand why it has gotten so much worse.

Mullen left some huge potential holes on the OL and DL for Moorhead to fill and Moorhead mostly did. If we hadn't lost Gay and Dantzler early and Tyler (williams? or whoever the CB is) hadn't quit, we'd be in pretty good shape. Still would need a young DL to step up and be a playmaker b/c I don't think Kobe and Spencer are quite good enough to be the two best DL on a good defense, although they're good enough to be the 2nd and 3rd best DL.

[Dawgology]

Defensive recruiting hasn't been terrible but it was impacted by early exits, transfers, and injury. I think that we will be a bit better than most expect and a bit worse than some hope for.

I think we will fall on the lower side of middle of the pack in the SEC...probably closer to 10th or 11th. If we can hang around 10th I think that keeps us in the game against fellow mid-tier SEC teams (Kentucky, TAMU, Ole Miss, Mizzo) and at least gives us a punchers chance at a 5 win SEC season...which would be awesome.

[smootness]

That is not what I took that to mean. I took it to mean that they know what to do but still have to think too much to do it. Pretty common coach speak. First you learn the assignments, then you get enough reps to where you just react without having to think about it. Which presumably is accurate. They've had time to learn the playbook/assignments. But they haven't had enough practice time for it to come naturally to them.

This is exactly how I took it as well.

It seems many read it as 'They're doing what they need to do, they're just not talented enough for it to matter.'

I took it as, 'They know what they need to do, they're just not doing it yet.'