Recruiting thread!

[Todd4State]

I enjoy recruiting, but I enjoy it in moderation.

Anyway, as of now we have 19 commits and I guess we will get around 22-25 this year? So, conservatively three spots are open.

QB- Elijah and Fitzgerald. We're done here. Not much else to say.

RB- Williams and Dontavian Lee. We're also done here- and it's also a good group. Lee can play a number of positions potentially- RB/FB/LB/H-back.

WR- Jesse Jackson, Jamoral Graham. Very solid group again. I think Graham will play the slot. Pack is still on the board, and is probably a long shot- but maybe we can make a move late. And then there is Marcus Green from North Pontotoc who is also a slot guy that is a ULM commit that we could probably flip pretty easily and I think we will do so later on.

TE/H-back- I think it was pretty much Alex Woodall or nothing and since Woodall is committed to La Tech and wants to play QB, it looks like we are getting nothing. But I'm not too upset because there are a LOT of good WR prospects next year in Mississippi and I'm sure a few of those will end up being H-backs types.

OL- Rawlings, Harris, and then Price and Johnson from the JUCO ranks. I'm disappointed with only having two commits from the high school ranks. I feel like we need five each year. Recruiting 2-3 a year is why we are having to play true freshmen this year and also why we have to go get JUCO guys. We've had success from the private school ranks, so hopefully Rawlings will continue that trend. Harris seems solid. Price and Johnson will be in the mix to replace Siddoway and Jackson. If it were me, I'd tell Hevesey to go to New Orleans and find three guys that LSU doesn't have room for and sign them up. I'm thinking we are going to add some more o-linemen and I hope Jamal Danley is in this class.

DL- Hoyett, Liggins, and then Coleman from JUCO. I'm guessing that Coleman will replace Autry or at least that's what they are hoping for. With Corey Thomas likely going to Tennessee, and Speaks going to Ole Miss that probably means we are going to get Grant Harris from Clinton. I think this is a decent group- but they're definitely going to have to be developed. Maybe Trey Brown sneaks in if we have some room for him.

LB- Green, and Cooper. Very nice group. Green could also play DE potentially and Ole Miss is going to come after him pretty hard, but I still think we keep him. We don't have a middle linebacker in this group, and I would like to see us take Shareef White from Grenada. Then there are the Moore brothers from Bassfield that I think we would take if they were to flip- and if that did happen I think it could affect guys like Marcus Green and maybe Harris.

DB- Chris Rayford, Lashard Durr, and Brandon Bryant. I love this group. These guys are all underrated and I think they are all going to be solid. Rayford will be a solid safety. Durr should have been a Dandy Dozen guy and can play CB. And then you have Bryant from the Rosa Fort sleeper factory that has some really good video and I think he is a CB as well. These are the kind of guys that we should be picking up from Mississippi. We'll take Marlon Humphrey of course, but that's a long shot.

ST- Logan Cooke. I think he is projected to be a punter.

So, I see us finishing out with Green, Harris, and then an o-lineman or two to be named later.

[EnterpriseDawg]

Fustrating to rank at the bottom of the conference. Think we underachieved in recruiting the biggest need in o-lineman. Seems that we are also content to stick with the diamond in the rough recruits. It's like we don't even try at times. At least we don't have to have the same yearly conversation of not having a QB commit or one that might bolt for greener pastures.

[Jdawg]

A couple of things. Pack isn't coming here, he's either going to FSU or OM. Also, when I look at recruits I don't look at the stars as much as I look at the kids offers from other schools. Take a look at ours and see what other schools want our guys. It's a little less than impressive. CDM has been able to find these diamond in the rough type kids but you have to wonder is he really that much better at evaluating talent than all the big time schools or have we been lucky on a few.

[bully99]

How often do we beat out another SEC school for recruits. It seems most of our recruits pick us over USM or Memphis or UAB. Those type of schools.

[Political Hack]

A couple of things. Pack isn't coming here, he's either going to FSU or OM. Also, when I look at recruits I don't look at the stars as much as I look at the kids offers from other schools. Take a look at ours and see what other schools want our guys. It's a little less than impressive. CDM has been able to find these diamond in the rough type kids but you have to wonder is he really that much better at evaluating talent than all the big time schools or have we been lucky on a few.

you can't have a class full of diamonds in the rough. it's good to get a few football players mixed in with the obvious stars, but you can't survive in the sec without getting some of those clear cut horses.

with a small class, you'd hope we'd be able to fill it up with some really good players... but we're setting ourselves up to be "young" again in 3-4 years.

[Eric Nies Grind Time]

I enjoy recruiting, but I enjoy it in moderation.

Anyway, as of now we have 19 commits and I guess we will get around 22-25 this year? So, conservatively three spots are open.

QB- Elijah and Fitzgerald. We're done here. Not much else to say.

RB- Williams and Dontavian Lee. We're also done here- and it's also a good group. Lee can play a number of positions potentially- RB/FB/LB/H-back.

WR- Jesse Jackson, Jamoral Graham. Very solid group again. I think Graham will play the slot. Pack is still on the board, and is probably a long shot- but maybe we can make a move late. And then there is Marcus Green from North Pontotoc who is also a slot guy that is a ULM commit that we could probably flip pretty easily and I think we will do so later on.

TE/H-back- I think it was pretty much Alex Woodall or nothing and since Woodall is committed to La Tech and wants to play QB, it looks like we are getting nothing. But I'm not too upset because there are a LOT of good WR prospects next year in Mississippi and I'm sure a few of those will end up being H-backs types.

OL- Rawlings, Harris, and then Price and Johnson from the JUCO ranks. I'm disappointed with only having two commits from the high school ranks. I feel like we need five each year. Recruiting 2-3 a year is why we are having to play true freshmen this year and also why we have to go get JUCO guys. We've had success from the private school ranks, so hopefully Rawlings will continue that trend. Harris seems solid. Price and Johnson will be in the mix to replace Siddoway and Jackson. If it were me, I'd tell Hevesey to go to New Orleans and find three guys that LSU doesn't have room for and sign them up. I'm thinking we are going to add some more o-linemen and I hope Jamal Danley is in this class.

DL- Hoyett, Liggins, and then Coleman from JUCO. I'm guessing that Coleman will replace Autry or at least that's what they are hoping for. With Corey Thomas likely going to Tennessee, and Speaks going to Ole Miss that probably means we are going to get Grant Harris from Clinton. I think this is a decent group- but they're definitely going to have to be developed. Maybe Trey Brown sneaks in if we have some room for him.

LB- Green, and Cooper. Very nice group. Green could also play DE potentially and Ole Miss is going to come after him pretty hard, but I still think we keep him. We don't have a middle linebacker in this group, and I would like to see us take Shareef White from Grenada. Then there are the Moore brothers from Bassfield that I think we would take if they were to flip- and if that did happen I think it could affect guys like Marcus Green and maybe Harris.

DB- Chris Rayford, Lashard Durr, and Brandon Bryant. I love this group. These guys are all underrated and I think they are all going to be solid. Rayford will be a solid safety. Durr should have been a Dandy Dozen guy and can play CB. And then you have Bryant from the Rosa Fort sleeper factory that has some really good video and I think he is a CB as well. These are the kind of guys that we should be picking up from Mississippi. We'll take Marlon Humphrey of course, but that's a long shot.

ST- Logan Cooke. I think he is projected to be a punter.

So, I see us finishing out with Green, Harris, and then an o-lineman or two to be named later.

Some guys that I think will be good players...but yikes. Mullen's recruiting is somehow getting worse. It would be a shame to mess up a good crop of MS players next season with Mullen at the helm. There are 11 4 stars in MS according to 247 next season. According to 247 we are leading for four of them.

[DownwardDawg]

I hate recruiting now. Chris Jones ruined it for me last year. It's dirtier than Cam Newtons daddy. I'll read the threads AFTER signing day and see how it went.

[ShotgunDawg]

I hate recruiting now. Chris Jones ruined it for me last year. It's dirtier than Cam Newtons daddy. I'll read the threads AFTER signing day and see how it went.

I agree with this. The whole system has broke down. Makes it not worth following.

[4Dawgs4Life]

Im with Jdawg. Look at a recruits offer sheet. Don't worry about stars and rankings. If his offer sheet says Saban and Miles along with about 20 other offers then kid obviously has talent.

[DownwardDawg]

I agree with this. The whole system has broke down. Makes it not worth following.

Yep. It's not healthy for grown men, who have a tremendous amount of passion for their school, to follow recruiting these days. It's dirty as hell and you get all worked up about something that is controlled by greed and dirty tactics. That's also the main reason I pay no attention to a college coach that preaches to the world about how great his faith is. You are in the sleeziest business in the world and you are telling us all how religious you are. Keep on making yourself feel good brother. God sees all.

[Eric Nies Grind Time]

Im with Jdawg. Look at a recruits offer sheet. Don't worry about stars and rankings. If his offer sheet says Saban and Miles along with about 20 other offers then kid obviously has talent.

Either way you look at it, we are not recruiting well.

[NeedMoreCowbell]

I hate recruiting now. Chris Jones ruined it for me last year. It's dirtier than Cam Newtons daddy. I'll read the threads AFTER signing day and see how it went.

I'm confused. How did CJ ruin it? Unless I'm mistaken he signed with us and is playing.

[civildawg]

Exactly. This is a croom level bad class

[quickstrike2]

I hate recruiting now. Chris Jones ruined it for me last year. It's dirtier than Cam Newtons daddy. I'll read the threads AFTER signing day and see how it went.

I agree with this. Really lost desire after to having to follow that shit show last year.

[archdog]

A couple of things. Pack isn't coming here, he's either going to FSU or OM. Also, when I look at recruits I don't look at the stars as much as I look at the kids offers from other schools. Take a look at ours and see what other schools want our guys. It's a little less than impressive. CDM has been able to find these diamond in the rough type kids but you have to wonder is he really that much better at evaluating talent than all the big time schools or have we been lucky on a few.

Other schools do not have to find the diamonds in the rough, they go with the sure thing 5* all americans. Dan does what he has to, that is until we make a BCS bowl and look good doing it. That is what high school players want. That and really hot easy hostesses.

[DownwardDawg]

I'm confused. How did CJ ruin it? Unless I'm mistaken he signed with us and is playing.

If you followed recruiting at all last year you would know what I'm talking about. That's all I'm gonna say. I'm thankful he came to MSU and I am not going to say anything bad about one of our players. He did destroy my interest in recruiting though.
I'll say this, there are no "locks" in recruiting. When someone says a player is a lock to us and is our best recruiter, laugh at it. It's a 50/50 chance at best that we sign them.

[FISHDAWG]

thanks Todd ... haven't seen a summary in a while .... also, we have offered a place kicker but haven't heard of a commitment yet ... I'm really hoping for a competent kicker in this class

[DownwardDawg]

I agree with this. Really lost desire after to having to follow that shit show last year.

Judging by your response, you obviously followed it as close as I did. We HAD to have Chris Jones. Thank God we got him because he may be the best player we've ever signed. It was certainly a dirty ass shit storm though that we almost lost.

[DownwardDawg]

thanks Todd ... haven't seen a summary in a while .... also, we have offered a place kicker but haven't heard of a commitment yet ... I'm really hoping for a competent kicker in this class

A buddy of mine has a son that graduated from Columbia Academy. Supposedly they have a kicker that is coming to State. My friends son, who is at State now, tells me this guy is great.

[Political Hack]

If you followed recruiting at all last year you would know what I'm talking about. That's all I'm gonna say. I'm thankful he came to MSU and I am not going to say anything bad about one of our players. He did destroy my interest in recruiting though.
I'll say this, there are no "locks" in recruiting. When someone says a player is a lock to us and is our best recruiter, laugh at it. It's a 50/50 chance at best that we sign them.

he was a lock the whole time. you were following the wrong people if you were being told anything else.

His coach told him to stop visiting OM. He didn't want to hear that so he shut his coach outbid his recruitment. People took that as a sign that he was flipping. It was an assumption based on a single source. It's wasn't. He wasn't. He was going up there for one reason and one reason only. He had no intentions of ever going to school there.


there are five groups of people that matter for every recruit. 1) theirselves. 2) their families. 3) their high school coaches. 4) the college coaches. 5) their friends.

knowing what those groups are saying can tell you where a guy is going. Four out of five were saying CJ was headed to State.

[smootness]

Exactly. This is a croom level bad class

Not even close.

[CadaverDawg]

I enjoy recruiting, but I enjoy it in moderation.

Anyway, as of now we have 19 commits and I guess we will get around 22-25 this year? So, conservatively three spots are open.

QB- Elijah and Fitzgerald. We're done here. Not much else to say.

RB- Williams and Dontavian Lee. We're also done here- and it's also a good group. Lee can play a number of positions potentially- RB/FB/LB/H-back.

WR- Jesse Jackson, Jamoral Graham. Very solid group again. I think Graham will play the slot. Pack is still on the board, and is probably a long shot- but maybe we can make a move late. And then there is Marcus Green from North Pontotoc who is also a slot guy that is a ULM commit that we could probably flip pretty easily and I think we will do so later on.

TE/H-back- I think it was pretty much Alex Woodall or nothing and since Woodall is committed to La Tech and wants to play QB, it looks like we are getting nothing. But I'm not too upset because there are a LOT of good WR prospects next year in Mississippi and I'm sure a few of those will end up being H-backs types.

OL- Rawlings, Harris, and then Price and Johnson from the JUCO ranks. I'm disappointed with only having two commits from the high school ranks. I feel like we need five each year. Recruiting 2-3 a year is why we are having to play true freshmen this year and also why we have to go get JUCO guys. We've had success from the private school ranks, so hopefully Rawlings will continue that trend. Harris seems solid. Price and Johnson will be in the mix to replace Siddoway and Jackson. If it were me, I'd tell Hevesey to go to New Orleans and find three guys that LSU doesn't have room for and sign them up. I'm thinking we are going to add some more o-linemen and I hope Jamal Danley is in this class.

DL- Hoyett, Liggins, and then Coleman from JUCO. I'm guessing that Coleman will replace Autry or at least that's what they are hoping for. With Corey Thomas likely going to Tennessee, and Speaks going to Ole Miss that probably means we are going to get Grant Harris from Clinton. I think this is a decent group- but they're definitely going to have to be developed. Maybe Trey Brown sneaks in if we have some room for him.

LB- Green, and Cooper. Very nice group. Green could also play DE potentially and Ole Miss is going to come after him pretty hard, but I still think we keep him. We don't have a middle linebacker in this group, and I would like to see us take Shareef White from Grenada. Then there are the Moore brothers from Bassfield that I think we would take if they were to flip- and if that did happen I think it could affect guys like Marcus Green and maybe Harris.

DB- Chris Rayford, Lashard Durr, and Brandon Bryant. I love this group. These guys are all underrated and I think they are all going to be solid. Rayford will be a solid safety. Durr should have been a Dandy Dozen guy and can play CB. And then you have Bryant from the Rosa Fort sleeper factory that has some really good video and I think he is a CB as well. These are the kind of guys that we should be picking up from Mississippi. We'll take Marlon Humphrey of course, but that's a long shot.

ST- Logan Cooke. I think he is projected to be a punter.

So, I see us finishing out with Green, Harris, and then an o-lineman or two to be named later.

Good stuff, Todd. I appreciate the info.

Quite underwhelming, but I do think we are picking up a few big time play makers at the offensive skill positions. As crappy as this class looks overall....Staley or Fitzgerald, Williams, and Graham, all seem like future SEC playmakers to me. Gerri green is a beast....we have got to hang on to him. Would be huge to flip the Moore twins, but not likely. I agree about White from Grenada, Marcus green, and then probably Grant Harris on our late wish list.

We have major problems at our OLine recruiting right now. I don't know what the problem is, but a team that is running Dak for 100+ yards per game in the sEC, should be able to grab some upper echelon OLinemen. Why can't we? We should be OLine university. Think about it...SEC, strong running game, history of good linemen, fattest state, great BBQ, stable of stud RB's and QB's to block for. What more could a OLineman want! But all of the defenders tell me it's not our OL coach's fault....so who the hell is at fault? I know OL are hard to recruit in General...but that should be one of our easier positions to recruit in my opinion.

[wobblyh]

It's really hard to be a casual recruiting follower and actually get anything out of it. These days to be able to tell how well your team did you have to factor in needs, depth charts, player ratings, offers, potential, etc. You either have to be all-in and become consumed by it or just close your eyes and pray for the best. There is becoming less and less middle ground.

[HancockCountyDog]

Id rather not try and swing some recruit late like White or Harris and just save the scholarship for December next year. White or Harris aren't going to help us hang with AU or LSU. They are going to do exactly what we have been doing, beating mid level OOC teams and terrible SEC teams. If we are ever going to make the jump to the 2nd tier of the SEC we have to keep targeting players that are either 1) Under the radar recruits that we truly think are SEC caliber players that everyone else missed on that we offer in very early on in the process; 2) SEC level recruits that we will have to be out teams like Arkansas, UT, AU and the bears for.

Problem about next year is that the bears already landed the kid from North Panola, probably lead for the OL from Petal that is a stud, and from everything I've heard lead for the Dear kid from Jackson, and have the inside track on the Peters kid from Bassfield that will probably go bears or out of state. That is 4 of the top 10 players in the state next year. Honestly that is probably 4 of the top 5 kids. Luckily for us the 5th kid is Fletcher Adams who's brother is on our team.

We just have to start recruiting better out of state. We need to hire a Larry Porter or Frank Wilson type coach that can get in good with a certain area. Arkansas did this with Shannon and south Florida, AU did it with Garner and GA, LSU locked down south LA with Frank Wilson, and we need to go do something similar. If we don't, we are bring a knife to a gun fight.

[maroonmania]

Either way you look at it, we are not recruiting well.

I feel like with the fact that Mullen and Hevesy have ticked off numerous coaches around in HS and JUCO and the hearsay that boosters are going hands off its like we are really boxed in for recruiting given the SEC schools around us that are "all in". Recruiting is obviously the lifeblood of the program and the issues there actually have me more itching to make a change at this point than actual play on the field. These days you get some good recruits just for playing in the SEC but our staff doesn't seem to be doing much beyond that even though MSU is more competitive now from an infrastructure standpoint with the rest of the league than we've ever been.

[DownwardDawg]

he was a lock the whole time. you were following the wrong people if you were being told anything else.

His coach told him to stop visiting OM. He didn't want to hear that so he shut his coach outbid his recruitment. People took that as a sign that he was flipping. It was an assumption based on a single source. It's wasn't. He wasn't. He was going up there for one reason and one reason only. He had no intentions of ever going to school there.


there are five groups of people that matter for every recruit. 1) theirselves. 2) their families. 3) their high school coaches. 4) the college coaches. 5) their friends.

knowing what those groups are saying can tell you where a guy is going. Four out of five were saying CJ was headed to State.

No. According to Chris Jones himself, he was leaning toward ole miss as late as Monday night/tuesday morning. Signing day morning!
Who knows. maybe this was a made-up quote also. I have no idea. You can't believe anything a recruit says and you can't believe anything that is being said about a recruitment of a player. Someone was being very misleading in that whole recruitment and was telling outright lies.

[DownwardDawg]

I spoke to a high school coach a couple of years ago. I'm not sure what school he was HC at but it's in the Hattiesburg area. I don't know his name either. My son was attending a certain event along with his son. (that's all the info I can give) I think he had a player committed to State that got hurt and we dropped his offer. He told me that he loves State but Mullen is a liar and he wouldn't let any of his players come to State as long as Mullen is the coach. (those aren't his exact words but it was along those lines)

[Political Hack]

No. According to Chris Jones himself, he was leaning toward ole miss as late as Monday night/tuesday morning. Signing day morning!
Who knows. maybe this was a made-up quote also. I have no idea. You can't believe anything a recruit says and you can't believe anything that is being said about a recruitment of a player. Someone was being very misleading in that whole recruitment and was telling outright lies.

he was being nice given their hospitality.

[maroonmania]

Other schools do not have to find the diamonds in the rough, they go with the sure thing 5* all americans. Dan does what he has to, that is until we make a BCS bowl and look good doing it. That is what high school players want. That and really hot easy hostesses.

This is not true. On the first point, there aren't that many 5 stars out there period, but an SEC school worth much should have a lot more 4 star recruits in their signing class than we do. OM with Freeze and even now this year with KY and TN are showing that you definitely do not have to even sniff a BCS bowl to have a good recruiting year. Slutty hostesses probably do help.

[Political Hack]

I spoke to a high school coach a couple of years ago. I'm not sure what school he was HC at but it's in the Hattiesburg area. I don't know his name either. My son was attending a certain event along with his son. (that's all the info I can give) I think he had a player committed to State that got hurt and we dropped his offer. He told me that he loves State but Mullen is a liar and he wouldn't let any of his players come to State as long as Mullen is the coach. (those aren't his exact words but it was along those lines)

if this is the episode I'm thinking of, the coach told them his injury wasn't serious and then out other players on him own team ahead of this kid for the MS/AL all star game even after he had told our staff that this kid was his best player. the coaches at the all star game told our staff what the guy had said in confidence behind closed doors about the kid and the offer was revoked.

could be a separate incident, but sounds like the one I'm thinking of.

[ShotgunDawg]

I spoke to a high school coach a couple of years ago. I'm not sure what school he was HC at but it's in the Hattiesburg area. I don't know his name either. My son was attending a certain event along with his son. (that's all the info I can give) I think he had a player committed to State that got hurt and we dropped his offer. He told me that he loves State but Mullen is a liar and he wouldn't let any of his players come to State as long as Mullen is the coach. (those aren't his exact words but it was along those lines)

That sounds like a bad high school coach, that can't see the big picture. Every school in the SEC does this, but he is so small minded and has only had 1 or 2 kids that could play SEC football, that he probably doesn't realize that every SEC school operates in this manner.

[maroonmania]

I spoke to a high school coach a couple of years ago. I'm not sure what school he was HC at but it's in the Hattiesburg area. I don't know his name either. My son was attending a certain event along with his son. (that's all the info I can give) I think he had a player committed to State that got hurt and we dropped his offer. He told me that he loves State but Mullen is a liar and he wouldn't let any of his players come to State as long as Mullen is the coach. (those aren't his exact words but it was along those lines)

I know the coach you speak of and his player ended up at USM and never played there because he reinjured the same knee again that caused the issue with us. We did offer a greyshirt because it was going to take the kid awhile to be able to recover and contribute at an SEC level but that still caused hard feelings. Definitely 2 sides to the story though. Main issue really though is that Mullen is just not a people person AT ALL and that hurts his relationship with recruits, coaches and big time boosters. The HC has to have PR skills and Mullen does not have many skills in that area.

[stxdawg]

I spoke to a high school coach a couple of years ago. I'm not sure what school he was HC at but it's in the Hattiesburg area. I don't know his name either. My son was attending a certain event along with his son. (that's all the info I can give) I think he had a player committed to State that got hurt and we dropped his offer. He told me that he loves State but Mullen is a liar and he wouldn't let any of his players come to State as long as Mullen is the coach. (those aren't his exact words but it was along those lines)

As far as HS coaches go, there are always going to be situations where a kid is dropped or promise is broken that results in comments like this.

Also, when I look at Dan's recruiting, he has been consistent in building our program with good team players instead super stars that usually don't pan out. He also is developing the right type of players into his system that allow him to run his style of offense and defense. I expect this to continue and expect a lot of people to be surprised with what we are able to accomplish over the next few years.

[bluelightstar]

I've been hearing for years how Dan's "diamond in the rough recruiting and development" strategy was going to surprise people. The only people it's surprised have been our fans, and not in the good way.

[mic]

IF we keep who we have now and pick up a surprise or 2 it will be a good class considering our numbers.
The State of Miss is rather weak for SEC talent this year..
we have 4 guys (Aries, Graham, Green, and Jackson) with some possible diamonds in rough.. so we did good in state this year
Out of state.. you get what you can.. We have a few good looking prospects..(Harris, Cooper , Staley, Nick)
Juco.. need to feel some needs and hopefully finish strong with a good OL prospect..

The problem is going to be next year.. HUGE year in the state for talent.. A dozen or more kids that are already 4 stars or will be 4 and a few possible 5.... We lead for 2 maybe 3.. IF we lose out on recruiting next year then we are going to be in trouble..

[maroonmania]

So is Cory Thomas the only guy that a one time we thought was a lean to us that it looks like we won't get? Only other one I can think of would be the guy from AL that committed to us briefly but then got the offer from Saban and flipped.

[HancockCountyDog]

IF we keep who we have now and pick up a surprise or 2 it will be a good class considering our numbers.
The State of Miss is rather weak for SEC talent this year..
we have 4 guys (Aries, Graham, Green, and Jackson) with some possible diamonds in rough.. so we did good in state this year
Out of state.. you get what you can.. We have a few good looking prospects..(Harris, Cooper , Staley, Nick)
Juco.. need to feel some needs and hopefully finish strong with a good OL prospect..

The problem is going to be next year.. HUGE year in the state for talent.. A dozen or more kids that are already 4 stars or will be 4 and a few possible 5.... We lead for 2 maybe 3.. IF we lose out on recruiting next year then we are going to be in trouble..


Here is my concern - we have talked for years about MSU being dominant in the state of MS, and the problem is that we can't just split up the instate recruits and be ok. Signing 4 instate kids is not a good year. Players like Tito Windham (Going to OK) should be coming to MSU - Im hoping we are in on him still.

[engie]

NM DP

[engie]

My question is -- of our recruiting this year, how many of these players would Croom not have gotten? Elijah Staley is really the only one that resonates with me.

We should be going HARD after the Moore twins. They are pretty interested in us by all accounts I've heard -- and flipping them would guarantee Jamal Peters next year, a unanimous top 50 player at a position of dire need for us. Both of those twins should be categorized as athletes -- and both have tremendous, tremendous football speed...

Instead, we only want one of them(guaranteeing we don't get either -- and also guaranteeing we don't get Peters)...

[BankerDog]

As a student at State there are a lot of things I see as a problem:

1) You can say what you want about the twitter relationships with players but there is a reason we lost Corey Thomas and that was a problem. I graduated with Nelson Adams, he is one of my best buds so naturally he tells me things about Fletcher. Ole Miss fans tweet him 24/7, much like Tenn. fans were doing Corey Thomas. There is only a handful of college guys that I know that actually know who is a recruit and who isn't. Ole Miss girls know who a recruit is and will talk to him. Another thing is former players and current players communicate with guys over twitter. I have YET to see that from any of our players, current/former.

2) Finally for once, we have some guys coming in on a big weekend. We have three very successful rap artists coming in. This is a first in my time here something like this has happened. The word has gotten out. Recruits are very pumped. It's going to be a fun weekend. But this needs to be happening every big weekend in Starkville. It would help if we could get some former alumni or players to open a bar and have people in there every weekend.

3) We need to unite our fan base and come together. You want to recruit better, you need your fans on the same page. Filling up the stadium ringing cowbells every down. Standing up and just being crazy. The management needs to come together with the gameday atmosphere too. We need everyone working together. It doesn't matter if you like the coach or not, to help the program you need to help do some things to get guys in. Just the way it is, if every other school is doing it we need be doing it too; Help us out a little bit Bracky.

4) As much as our baseball and basketball twitter accounts work, our football team's sucks compare to others. We need a major rehaul in this department.

[smootness]

Here is my concern - we have talked for years about MSU being dominant in the state of MS, and the problem is that we can't just split up the instate recruits and be ok. Signing 4 instate kids is not a good year. Players like Tito Windham (Going to OK) should be coming to MSU - Im hoping we are in on him still.

I don't think we ever wanted Tito Windham much, and I'm not sure he's that good a prospect. I'll never understand why fans criticize coaches for bringing in talent they don't think is great and then push for them to offer other guys who seem to be only ok. It's like KPG in basketball; people criticize Ray's recruiting and then pile on him for not offering a kid with an offer from UGA and nobody else?

We don't only have 4 in-state players coming in; those are just the top 4. And we will never dominate in-state recruiting on a year-in, year-out basis and neither will Ole Miss. It just isn't the way it works.

[smootness]

My question is -- of our recruiting this year, how many of these players would Croom not have gotten? Elijah Staley is really the only one that resonates with me.

It depends on what year you're talking about. If we're talking Croom's first few years, he would have brought in virtually none of them. If we're talking 2009, then you're probably right. But 2009 was a darn good class; I have no issue with us 'recruiting like Croom' if that's the year being discussed.

[maroonmania]

I don't think we ever wanted Tito Windham much, and I'm not sure he's that good a prospect. I'll never understand why fans criticize coaches for bringing in talent they don't think is great and then push for them to offer other guys who seem to be only ok. It's like KPG in basketball; people criticize Ray's recruiting and then pile on him for not offering a kid with an offer from UGA and nobody else?

We don't only have 4 in-state players coming in; those are just the top 4. And we will never dominate in-state recruiting on a year-in, year-out basis and neither will Ole Miss. It just isn't the way it works.

The only thing making the KPG thing look bad for Ray is that we signed a marginal JUCO talent that couldn't even get in and we signed the C from Florida that now has to sit out a year before he can even play and looks to be a project anyway. If we had more than 1 of 3 signees actually contributing on this year's team nobody would say much at all about not offering KPG.

[engie]

It depends on what year you're talking about. If we're talking Croom's first few years, he would have brought in virtually none of them. If we're talking 2009, then you're probably right. But 2009 was a darn good class; I have no issue with us 'recruiting like Croom' if that's the year being discussed.

I'm talking 2007, 2008, etc... That was when I started closely following recruiting -- and we haven't gotten any players other than Staley that we wouldn't have gotten under Croom. The bad thing is -- Croom was figuring out recruiting as he went along and consistently improving. Can't really say the same for Mullen at this point.

And no, I'm not just talking about the shared 2009 class. Comparing that class to this Mullen class would be ridiculous as hell. That class had more elite offers along the DL than this class has total.

[smootness]

The only thing making the KPG thing look bad for Ray is that we signed a marginal JUCO talent that couldn't even get in and we signed the C from Florida that now has to sit out a year before he can even play and looks to be a project anyway. If we had more than 1 of 3 signees actually contributing on this year's team nobody would say much at all about not offering KPG.

I don't know why Ndoye not playing this year means we should have offered KPG. Ray obviously likes Ndoye more (and we certainly need him more long-term since we need frontcourt depth badly), and he will still play 4 years after this. Ray isn't a pro GM where he can re-make the roster every year. You don't take a lesser talent just because he will play a year earlier.

In reference to Daniels, I can see the argument, but Ray obviously thought there was a good chance Daniels would make it (and there was; all he had to do was pass one class, and he didn't). There was no way to know, when signing day came around, whether Daniels would be eligible or not. You can say that based on the risk, he should have gone with the sure thing, but Daniels would have helped us a lot more for the next 2 years than KPG. And there's still a chance Daniels could play for us.

Regardless, in basketball especially, you don't use a scholarship for 4 years on somebody who you don't think is good enough to really help you long-term, and that was obviously Ray's opinion on KPG, and it was shared by a huge majority of the coaches in our league. Time will tell whether he evaluated KPG's talent accurately, but saying that complaining about his recruiting and then wanting him to bring in a kid that most would have complained about had we signed him makes no sense.

[smootness]

I'm talking 2007, 2008, etc... That was when I started closely following recruiting -- and we haven't really gotten any players other than Staley that we wouldn't have gotten under Croom. The bad thing is -- Croom was figuring out recruiting as he went along and consistently improving. Can't really say the same for Mullen at this point.

And no, I'm not just talking about the shared 2009 class. Comparing that class to this Mullen class would be ridiculous.

I hear you on Croom figuring out recruiting as he went along...but Mullen similarly went through a period of figuring it out, too, and then he hit pretty well in 2012 and 2013. Yes, this year is going to end up down somewhat...but based on numbers, it isn't going to be an awful class. We have to do better, and there is a concern because Mullen is now on his 5th full class. But it's still quite a bit better than 2010 and 2011.

We had very down recruiting years from 2004 through 2006. 2007 and 2008 were a little better (though many of the top guys didn't pan out) and then 2009 was very good. We had a very good team in 2010. 2010 and 2011 were bad recruiting years, then 2012 and 2013 were much better. We are seeing a bit of a dip in the level of our teams, but we've shown that when we can string together a couple of good classes, we have success. We should see that over the next couple of years, and it doesn't look like we're going to dip back to 2010-2011 levels, so we should see that success more easily sustained going forward.

I get people's frustration with what we see on the field and with Mullen's recruiting. But you have to at least look at it honestly. This year is built on the foundation of 2010 and 2011 recruiting, which were not good. Yet we're still better than we were several years ago and could still end up in a bowl. The next couple of years will be built on better recruiting classes, and if we continue to recruit at a level higher than 2010 and 2011, it would seem to follow that we would field consistently better teams than this year going forward.

[engie]

I don't know why Ndoye not playing this year means we should have offered KPG. Ray obviously likes Ndoye more (and we certainly need him more long-term since we need frontcourt depth badly), and he will still play 4 years after this. Ray isn't a pro GM where he can re-make the roster every year. You don't take a lesser talent just because he will play a year earlier.

In reference to Daniels, I can see the argument, but Ray obviously thought there was a good chance Daniels would make it (and there was; all he had to do was pass one class, and he didn't). There was no way to know, when signing day came around, whether Daniels would be eligible or not. You can say that based on the risk, he should have gone with the sure thing, but Daniels would have helped us a lot more for the next 2 years than KPG. And there's still a chance Daniels could play for us.

Regardless, in basketball especially, you don't use a scholarship for 4 years on somebody who you don't think is good enough to really help you long-term, and that was obviously Ray's opinion on KPG, and it was shared by a huge majority of the coaches in our league. Time will tell whether he evaluated KPG's talent accurately, but saying that complaining about his recruiting and then wanting him to bring in a kid that most would have complained about had we signed him makes no sense.

We don't give out 4 year scholarships in any sport. They are one-year scholarships. Basketball requires more attrition that most sports if you are ever going to compete. Of all his faults, this is one thing Stans understood and did a good job with.

The fact is -- Ray has had 2 recruiting classes now -- and we've got ONE center on roster. That is unacceptable. It's not his fault Wendell can't put down the pipe -- but it's not like he just suddenly started failing drug tests for the first time either. Yes -- you give a scholarship to a "body" at center and see if he can help you for a year before you decide whether or not to renew his scholarship.

[HancockCountyDog]

I'm talking 2007, 2008, etc... That was when I started closely following recruiting -- and we haven't gotten any players other than Staley that we wouldn't have gotten under Croom. The bad thing is -- Croom was figuring out recruiting as he went along and consistently improving. Can't really say the same for Mullen at this point.

And no, I'm not just talking about the shared 2009 class. Comparing that class to this Mullen class would be ridiculous as hell. That class had more elite offers along the DL than this class has total.

I really thought the 2012 class would be the norm - we pretty much dominated the state in-state, landed a few key out of state players (B. Brown, Will Redmond) and a got a couple of key JUCO players (Autry, Siddoway). It seems we are getting away from this method.

[engie]

I hear you on Croom figuring out recruiting as he went along...but Mullen similarly went through a period of figuring it out, too, and then he hit pretty well in 2012 and 2013. Yes, this year is going to end up down somewhat...but based on numbers, it isn't going to be an awful class. We have to do better, and there is a concern because Mullen is now on his 5th full class. But it's still quite a bit better than 2010 and 2011.

We had very down recruiting years from 2004 through 2006. 2007 and 2008 were a little better (though many of the top guys didn't pan out) and then 2009 was very good. We had a very good team in 2010. 2010 and 2011 were bad recruiting years, then 2012 and 2013 were much better. We are seeing a bit of a dip in the level of our teams, but we've shown that when we can string together a couple of good classes, we have success. We should see that over the next couple of years, and it doesn't look like we're going to dip back to 2010-2011 levels, so we should see that success more easily sustained going forward.

I get people's frustration with what we see on the field and with Mullen's recruiting. But you have to at least look at it honestly. This year is built on the foundation of 2010 and 2011 recruiting, which were not good. Yet we're still better than we were several years ago and could still end up in a bowl. The next couple of years will be built on better recruiting classes, and if we continue to recruit at a level higher than 2010 and 2011, it would seem to follow that we would field consistently better teams than this year going forward.

This year = 2010. Same amount of 4* talent.

Mullen didn't "figure it out" in as much as Ole Miss was a dumpster fire in 2012 -- and we got lucky with Chris Jones' stock soaring, while having an artificially inflated class in 2013 with Gray and Sandberg not making it.

We're back at square 1 in recruiting right now... and next year looks like a nightmare scenario ala 2011.

[mic]

My question is -- of our recruiting this year, how many of these players would Croom not have gotten? Elijah Staley is really the only one that resonates with me.

We should be going HARD after the Moore twins. They are pretty interested in us by all accounts I've heard -- and flipping them would guarantee Jamal Peters next year, a unanimous top 50 player at a position of dire need for us. Both of those twins should be categorized as athletes -- and both have tremendous, tremendous football speed...

Instead, we only want one of them(guaranteeing we don't get either -- and also guaranteeing we don't get Peters)...

If the numbers are there in the end I have no problem bringing both of them aboard, but in No Way does it guarantee we get Peters. See Hoytt and Cory on that theory.
The #1 player we need to thro everything at next year is Patterson from Petal.. With JJ in the boat that helps.. We have to somehow get this kid..

[Ragingclue]

Dan has proven that he can take 2 stars and develop them better than most coaches can handle their 4 stars. Sit back and watch - he promised us a championship and he will deliver...2014 will be the year.

[engie]

I really thought the 2012 class would be the norm - we pretty much dominated the state in-state, landed a few key out of state players (B. Brown, Will Redmond) and a got a couple of key JUCO players (Autry, Siddoway). It seems we are getting away from this method.

2012 = Good MSU recruiting class. That was a good class on the level we should expect basically every year.

2013 would have been close to the same had Sandberg and Gray shown up, or we hit on any of the elite targets we went after late, but as such, was underwhelming.

2010 and 2011 were dumpster fire classes. I bought the "Mullen can develop them into stars" line at the time -- since we thought that he'd essentially just done that with the 2009 team. Time has proven that incorrect.

This class is somewhere between 2010 and 2013, but is alot closer to 2010 than 2013.

[HancockCountyDog]

The #1 player we need to thro everything at next year is Patterson from Petal.. With JJ in the boat that helps.. We have to somehow get this kid..

Don't get your hopes up, he has been to oxford multiple times this year and Bama is all over him. At best we are third with Bama and the bears battling for his signature.

[mic]

Don't get your hopes up, he has been to oxford multiple times this year and Bama is all over him. At best we are third with Bama and the bears battling for his signature.

I agree we aren't his fav by any means, just saying this is the #1 guy we should be all in for..

[engie]

If the numbers are there in the end I have no problem bringing both of them aboard, but in No Way does it guarantee we get Peters. See Hoytt and Cory on that theory.
The #1 player we need to thro everything at next year is Patterson from Petal.. With JJ in the boat that helps.. We have to somehow get this kid..

Peters likes us. But he ain't coming here by himself. Package deals work -- we are just ignorant on how to make it happen.

Fact is -- the Moore twins both have ELITE speed. As such, you can easily find roles for them worthy of a scholarship, and I think they both have the ability to develop into LB/S hybrids. Both are very similar to Matt Wells coming out -- with very similar overall measurables. They are going to be very good players at the next level.

Of course, I thought the same thing about Derrick Jones last year who basically begged us for an offer. And he's been a basically elite true freshman starting cb for OM...

[HancockCountyDog]

Peters likes us. But he ain't coming here by himself. Package deals work -- we are just ignorant on how to make it happen.

Fact is -- the Moore twins both have ELITE speed. As such, you can easily find roles for them worthy of a scholarship, and I think they both have the ability to develop into LB/S hybrids. Both are very similar to Matt Wells coming out -- with very similar overall measurables. They are going to be very good players at the next level.

Of course, I thought the same thing about Derrick Jones last year who basically begged us for an offer. And he's been a basically elite true freshman starting cb for OM...

Alvin Moore is going to be an extremely good player. I know that we offered both at Big Dawg camp, Im not sure what the issue is, other than we waited a long time. That is the only thing I can think of.

Im not sold on Jones yet, he has been playing out of necessity so far, not based on his talent.

[engie]

Alvin Moore is going to be an extremely good player. I know that we offered both at Big Dawg camp, Im not sure what the issue is, other than we waited a long time. That is the only thing I can think of.

Im not sold on Jones yet, he has been playing out of necessity so far, not based on his talent.

Only one of the offers was and is committable. That's the problem...

Jones contained Odell Beckham right after he shut down Mike Evans. He's been frigging tremendous.

Of course he's playing out of necessity -- he was recruited as a WR for goodness sake and didn't move to CB until 6 weeks ago -- but that doesn't change the fact that he will be freshman all-SEC and wouldn't surprise me at all if he was freshman all-American as well...

[EnterpriseDawg]

Peters likes us. But he ain't coming here by himself. Package deals work -- we are just ignorant on how to make it happen.

Fact is -- the Moore twins both have ELITE speed. As such, you can easily find roles for them worthy of a scholarship, and I think they both have the ability to develop into LB/S hybrids. Both are very similar to Matt Wells coming out -- with very similar overall measurables. They are going to be very good players at the next level.

Of course, I thought the same thing about Derrick Jones last year who basically begged us for an offer. And he's been a basically elite true freshman starting cb for OM...

This is why I'm done with Mullen. He is lost as a play caller and as a recruiter. Remember how everyone thought he would be able to pull talent out of Florida? He did for like the first couple of years, but I guess that well dried up. He should be imbarrassed the way Freeze is beating his ass in recruiting. Which explains why most OM fans want us to keep him and not go after Hud. I guess we will have to wait a couple more years till everyone is tired of the same ole song and dance.

[maroonmania]

This is why I'm done with Mullen. He is lost as a play caller and as a recruiter. Remember how everyone thought he would be able to pull talent out of Florida? He did for like the first couple of years, but I guess that well dried up. He should be imbarrassed the way Freeze is beating his ass in recruiting. Which explains why most OM fans want us to keep him and not go after Hud. I guess we will have to wait a couple more years till everyone is tired of the same ole song and dance.

Give him a break, its our administration's fault or so we are being told. And who knows, maybe Keenum or Strick are phoning in play calls to the sidelines also.

[jimbo352]

So... When are we going ALL in....?

Maybe I shouldn't care about recruiting rankings, but it's frustrating as all hell...

Why we haven't offered both Alvin and Calvin is beyond comprehension... Even if one of them isn't good enough to play, you get an entire year(or two if they commit early enough) of those two recruiting one of the best players in state... 5-10 players per class don't make it through college anyway, why not use one of those spots to help you recruit an absolute bad @ss for the next recruiting class....

Maybe I'm wrong(or don't know something the coaches do), but it seems clear as day to me.

[DownwardDawg]

I know the coach you speak of and his player ended up at USM and never played there because he reinjured the same knee again that caused the issue with us. We did offer a greyshirt because it was going to take the kid awhile to be able to recover and contribute at an SEC level but that still caused hard feelings. Definitely 2 sides to the story though. Main issue really though is that Mullen is just not a people person AT ALL and that hurts his relationship with recruits, coaches and big time boosters. The HC has to have PR skills and Mullen does not have many skills in that area.

I think this is the exact player I'm referring to. I thought I remembered the greyshirt off too.

[Political Hack]

I think this is the exact player I'm referring to. I thought I remembered the greyshirt off too.

and the same one I was talking about.

[maroonmania]

I think this is the exact player I'm referring to. I thought I remembered the greyshirt off too.

Sad part is the coach you speak of is an ex-MSU football player.

[dawgs]

Also, when I look at Dan's recruiting, he has been consistent in building our program with good team players instead super stars that usually don't pan out.

i hate to break it to you, but the rate of 4* and 5* panning out is much much much higher than the rate of 3* and 2* panning out. sure more 3* and 2* might pan out than 4* and 5*, but that's because of the sheer numbers. the % clearly favors 4* and 5*.