Good article on MSU from Saturday Down South
https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/mi...ike-leach-era/
I'm excited about our future and next year too. For some of the reasons stated.
Offense: They talk about the Mike Leach bump in year two. I think we will see a similar bump as well. The last five games we saw our offense begin to run more smoothly and with fewer hiccups even though hiccups were still there. Except for the Auburn game which I will chalk up to a bad day since we looked better in four out of the five. The offensive line began to block better and gel and as the article stated Rogers was good at taking care of the ball. We had some playmakers emerge- mostly freshmen. We ran the ball better because the line gelled. We still have a ways to go but once we develop a deep passing attack to go along with our running attack we will be very exciting to watch and difficult to stop. We can beat the rush three drop eight running the ball and throwing it into space in the zone coverages which is what we did so much better late in the year. Once that happens it will force the defense to play more man and bring people up into the box and that will open the deep passing attack. That's why Leach's offense is so lethal because if you can't stop it with a three man rush you have to decide whether you want us to kill you in space or over the top- and neither is a great option.
QB is going to be unique for us in the offseason. I don't know what will happen but I think Rogers will start. I also think that Jack Abraham will be a really good addition and he will compete and possibly start as well. So what we have is Rogers- a guy who has been here a year and is very accurate and doesn't turn the ball over but needs to develop some aspects of his game since he is a very young player. He also has really good intangibles as well. Then you have Abraham who is a veteran guy and has started against some SEC teams like MSU and Alabama but also has a history of turning the ball over. And then you have Sawyer Robertson who has the highest ceiling of any QB on the roster but also has the least amount of experience and will miss the spring. I think it will really be between Rogers and Abraham and I don't know that it will be settled until sometime during the season in September. At any rate I think all three QB's will push each other and make each other better- which will make us a better team. It's the old Bill Walsh Joe Montana/Steve Young trick. Get as many good QB's as you can and let them compete and bring the best out in each other.
RB- Marks and Johnson are both really good backs that improved as the season went on. By the Mizzou game they were starting to put moves on people and juking them out and they both catch the ball adequately for this offense. They should be better next year as they add strength and agility and hopefully they develop enough to where they can be used on wheel routes more in this offense and add a little more of a dimension than we saw this past year.
WR- For the first time since 2014 WE HAVE SEVERAL RELIABLE WEAPONS AT WR! Walley and Tulu are going to be stars for us. Walley has emerged as our legit go to guy in the slot. Tulu came on at the end of the year and will be trouble on screen and drag routes from the z position. Austin Williams is a consistent performer who has great hands. Heath showed flashes at times as well and could emerge as our deep threat. We also are getting Javonta Payton back and he will be a veteran guy for us. Leach did a good job of adding to this group and adding to the diversity of it- Teddy Knox will likely see a progression similar to Walley and Tulu next year where he may be more a weapon later in the year as he gets acclimated . I really like Jacobi Moore as well and I think he will play a lot. Cumbest and Spivey add size in the slot we can use in the red zone. Caleb Ducking could be a wild card here. I loved his video and he sat out because of academics. He played in a triple option system at Holmes but he has really good length and would have been much more highly sought after in a different system.
TE- LOL.
OL- We had a really young offensive line this year thanks to Hevesy. They took their lumps big time this year having to pass block more than ever as well as being thrown out there at times. Cole Smith has to clean up his snapping and I think he will. Cross is a legit future NFL player at LT. I think we will see a similar progression that we saw with Derek Sherrod where you see the talent but he takes some lumps and then as an upper classmen takes off. Kam Jones did a really good job at RT. I think Dollar Bill will move to RG and replace Eiland and he will be better as he develops. And then I think Nick Jones will play LG for us. Still a pretty young offensive line- but with four guys you have started games for us and a JUCO guy. This will only get better and better over time as Leach is here.
Defense: The key here is keeping Arnett. Everyone sees what he did with an undermanned team and it's exciting to think about what he can do with a team stocked with players. In the bowl game we were playing several walk-ons and that's a recipe for disaster in the SEC. I think the odds of Arnett staying are pretty high though. The 3-3-5 is a pretty unique defense like the Air Raid.
DL- Losing Kobe Jones and Spencer will hurt. Getting Pickering and Crumedy back at NT makes us pretty solid there. Not to mention Cameron Young. I like moving Jordan Davis down to DE and picking up Randy Charlton will be good moves for us. Aaron Odom is a solid depth guy who has been around too. I thought Jevon Banks showed good promise and then we have a couple of wild cards in Armondous Cooley at NT and Deontae Anderson at DE. This isn't a Simmons and Sweat elite level DL but appears to be solid on paper.
LB- The wild card here is whether we get Errol back or not. If we get him back it will offset losing Strong in the short term. If not we have to find a MLB. I'm not sure what Arnett will do but if I were in their shoes I would move Brule to MLB and then start Wheat and DeShawn Page or Watson at OLB. I think the other wild card here is Demonte Russell. He has been injured and that's a concern. But he is also a former four star recruit who was UA All-American that Ole Miss tried to get to transfer during their COVID transfer party last year. We also saw him bust look pretty nimble in the brawl so from a certain point of view that's good too. If Russell is healthy it makes even more sense to me to move Brule to the middle. Brule just is an impressive athlete to me and I think putting him in the middle would make him even more active. He also has a really high football IQ.
CB- Emerson and Forbes are legit SEC CB's. No questions here other than depth. Most teams in the SEC would love to have these two. Depth is certainly a bit of a concern though. We'll see how Decamarion Richardson develops though. Of course we could add a CB through the portal as well.
DOG/S- Lots of question marks here. Fred Peters coming back is big. The wild card here is whoever we pick up in the portal. As it is, we could be starting Peters, Shawn Preston or Londyn Craft who looked good for a walk-on, and then Collin Duncan at FS. I think Janari Dean will be a wild card here and be in the rotation as well. I'm not counting on CJ Morgan this year although I hope he comes back strong. Basically it comes down to how we fare in the portal with this group.
Special teams- Matt Brock is every bit as elite as Arnett as a ST coach and he also appears to be a very good recruiter. Ruiz moving on will hurt but at least Christmann has kicked before and he did a good job. Kickoffs will be a little more dicey but Scott Goodman has done that before too. Day and Bowman are both solid punters so we look OK here. In the return game Tulu has emerged as a legit return threat. I'd like to see Knox maybe get a shot at returning punts. If he isn't ready we know Austin Williams can do a good job of at least catching the ball.
S&C- Having Tyson Brown putting our guys through another year of his program will be beneficial to our guys. Especially since we were so young. I think we will have a bigger more physical team than we did this year.
Lagniappe- As they mentioned in the article we had a TON of freshmen and sophomores who are already contributing for us. The experience we got this year will start to pay off for us in the future. I also think our team is in a good spot in that we won our bowl game and finished the year on a high note but at the same time I think the brawl and the unfair media backlash totally blaming it on MSU has unified both the team and the fans. We also have a team that I think will be hungry and want to prove itself next year to people and want to get to get the Egg Bowl Trophy back. We also have an easier schedule in 2021 than this year as well. We have our three OOC opponents and I'm not sure what the status of the NC State game will be. Memphis on the road will be tough but winnable. We have Kentucky in Starkville and Vanderbilt on the road. We also have Arkansas, A&M, and Auburn on the road and those teams have some question marks and then a rebuilding LSU team in Starkville, Alabama in Starkville and a home game against Ole Miss.
All in all- I think we will look better and take a step forward but have a game or two that we look really good and a game or two like Auburn this year. Basically I don't think we will be a finished product at all but the signs of progress will be there.
Hail State my friends!
