Its almost August and I don't think I can remember

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Originally Posted by Coach34

This is correct. The lack of recruiting was catching up. Bert Bielema was a bigtime winner in the BTen. Came to the SEC and got his ass handed to him. Bert returned to the BTen- and is winning again at a program that hasnt had alot of success historically.

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I would say based on his career at Wisconsin, Arkansas, and Illinois it's looking a lot like Arkansas and Illinois is the trend for him and Wisconsin was a short peak outside the norm. Especially considering that Illinois is in the Big 10.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

Well, he did do it so the trend still applies. Really the only thing that stopped us from 8+ wins in 2021 was not having a kicker. And the fact that with his "bad recruiting" he was able to land a QB that is up the Heisman at Baylor right now that Arnett ran off for Mike Wright and his goofy hat, plus our renewed improvement in NIL I feel pretty safe in saying that the trend would have continued. And he certainly would have won more than Arnett did in 2023 with a group of mostly seniors running an offense they were recruited for. Trends are a lot more accurate and reliable than biases such as "powder puff football" especially when he was winning with it.

It didn't matter if Dillion Johnson left or not- he played the most expendable skill position in the game. That's why Leach didn't care if he left or not.

And to show that you are just making up BS- we were 7th in the SEC in TOP in 2022. Right in the middle. The team with the lowest TOP was Tennessee by a good six minutes more than MSU. They also led the SEC in PPG that year. Poor defense right? There was no way they could ever rest their poor darling hearts. Nope- their defense allowed fewer PPG than Arnett's that year.

Also, I guess the 40+ points against Arkansas and MSU cult hero Kendall Briles, 40+ against Texas A&M, and 39 in back to back games is "not scoring"? Oh wait because we had to go to overtime to bail out the defense which completely choked against Auburn.

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Leach did a great job maximizing the talent recruited for him and bringing in some WRs. I mean even Rogers was recruited by JoVester. He left the program bare in recruiting with the younger guys. The fact we were so devoid of talent in 2024 is directly on Leach's shoulders

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Originally Posted by Coach34

Leach did a great job maximizing the talent recruited for him and bringing in some WRs. I mean even Rogers was recruited by JoVester. He left the program bare in recruiting with the younger guys. The fact we were so devoid of talent in 2024 is directly on Leach's shoulders

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Not with the portal and two full cycles passed it isn't. The fact of the matter is recruiting got even worse once he passed away. You can literally bring in an entirely new team every offseason if you want to now. Essentially what Ole Miss does almost. And what Lebby did this year. There were players like Makhai Polk and Gardner Minchew that wanted to play for Leach because he was a HOF coach. No one wanted to play for Kevin Barbay because he sucked and they had to lie to keep Leach's players around to play for the guy.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

Not with the portal and two full cycles passed it isn't. The fact of the matter is recruiting got even worse once he passed away. You can literally bring in an entirely new team every offseason if you want to now. Essentially what Ole Miss does almost. And what Lebby did this year. There were players like Makhai Polk and Gardner Minchew that wanted to play for Leach because he was a HOF coach. No one wanted to play for Kevin Barbay because he sucked and they had to lie to keep Leach's players around to play for the guy.

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But we didnt have the NIL set up ready for that. Which would have hampered Leach as well

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Originally Posted by cheewgumm

Maybe Kamario Taylor can be that spark we need

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Let's assume he is. He'll be tapped up by a Bama, UGA, TX, etc and offered more than we can hope to match or beat. He'll hit the portal and be wearing a new jersey next season. We just don't have the resources required to compete in the age of unlimited money and unlimited transfers. The best sport ever has been completely ruined. I can't remember ever being less excited about an upcoming season. I'm much, much more invested in the English Premier League. That's a statement I'd have never believed I'd make in my life, but here I am.

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Originally Posted by mckeen

Unfortunately, it has been worse. I lived through 1966-1969: 5 wins over 4 seasons.

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I lived through the same era. It was brutal.