Mullen recruiting Philosophy

[cheewgumm]

I would have been happier if these stories about State's recruiting philosophy of finding diamonds in the rough would have been kept quiet. I realize it's a great story and may help us with other recruits, but I don't want anyone else trying it.

And probably nobody else will, because they wont be able to not recruit stars.

For the record, I'm for State recruiting that way, but also picking up some "star" players. Stars do matter, but they arent everything.

[Goat Holder]

I wouldn't worry too much. People have known forever that MS had players. The problem is getting to them. Other SEC teams aren't going to spend time evaluating, and driving back and forth for one player in Ruleville, MS. And schools from other conferences can't easily fly into the state to recruit them for that same reason - they'd rather focus on Miami, Atlanta, Tampa, Houston, Dallas and Los Angeles. Same goes for the under-rated guys in Louisiana, West Tennessee and Alabama.

Mullen's 5-hour radius comment when he was hired was right on. You don't recruit for MSU out of an airplane.

[maroonmania]

I would have been happier if these stories about State's recruiting philosophy of finding diamonds in the rough would have been kept quiet. I realize it's a great story and may help us with other recruits, but I don't want anyone else trying it.

And probably nobody else will, because they wont be able to not recruit stars.

For the record, I'm for State recruiting that way, but also picking up some "star" players. Stars do matter, but they arent everything.

No worries, nobody else around is going to intentionally recruit players that are lower rated. The fanbases won't stand for it and to be honest, we did that early in Mullen's tenure a lot because we didn't have the draw to reel in higher rated players when competing against AL, LSU and the like. We are getting more and more higher rated recruits now but Mullen and staff still are keeping an eye out for the "overlooked" prospect. I think McNair from FL that was discussed yesterday is a good example of that as well as Jung that we just committed from JUCO.

[HoopsDawg]

The main thing Mullen is doing differently is something I have been talking about for 20 years and that's to attack the state of LA. LSU can only sign 25 and they sign several out of state players every year. That is fertile ground down there and Mullen has plucked Dak, J-Rob, Ry Brown, and others to compliment our usual haul from AL and MS.

It's pretty simple, sign the best players from MS that you can. Sign 3-4 MS Jucos. Then fill out the class with overlooked players from AL and LA with the occasional TN player. It's not too hard to find 25 quality players in a 350 mile radius.

[maroonmania]

The main thing Mullen is doing differently is something I have been talking about for 20 years and that's to attack the state of LA. LSU can only sign 25 and they sign several out of state players every year. That is fertile ground down there and Mullen has plucked Dak, J-Rob, Ry Brown, and others to compliment our usual haul from AL and MS.

It's pretty simple, sign the best players from MS that you can. Sign 3-4 MS Jucos. Then fill out the class with overlooked players from AL and LA with the occasional TN player. It's not too hard to find 25 quality players in a 350 mile radius.

We've been getting some very nice players from Georgia as well lately.

[Percho]

I believe our staff likes to bring them in and watch them work out, evaluate them, then offer them.

[Barking 13]

I believe our staff likes to bring them in and watch them work out, evaluate them, then offer them.

Big Dawg Camp...

[Coach34]

Mullen isnt doing anything that other coaches arent doing except 2 things:

1. He and the staff waste less time on the real big names. They decided not to waste time on alot of those guys that want a national recruitment process

2. They take chances on big, athletic HS football players that are still somewhat undeveloped moreso than other schools. We have decided to take guys that will take a couple of years to teach how to be an SEC level football player technique-wise.

[Coach34]

The main thing Mullen is doing differently is something I have been talking about for 20 years and that's to attack the state of LA. LSU can only sign 25 and they sign several out of state players every year. That is fertile ground down there and Mullen has plucked Dak, J-Rob, Ry Brown, and others to compliment our usual haul from AL and MS.

It's pretty simple, sign the best players from MS that you can. Sign 3-4 MS Jucos. Then fill out the class with overlooked players from AL and LA with the occasional TN player. It's not too hard to find 25 quality players in a 350 mile radius.

Absolutely. Plenty of great athletes around this area that just need some extra development

[archdog]

That and he focuses in on players that played qb at their high schools. How many of our players played qb in high school. Maybe 10 of them. So an 1/8 of our skill players played qb and managed games. That is key.

[smootness]

Mullen's recruiting philosophy is one reason why I believe he may just stay here. You can argue that perhaps being at State forced his hand and that he would go after a lot more big names at a bigger school, but I'm not sure about that.

I believe he truly believes in getting kids who want to work hard and preaches that to them during the recruiting process, which naturally turns off some big-time kids who aren't hearing that from other programs. And I think he also trusts his evaluations of what guys will be in 2-3 years more than he trusts what others are saying.

At Mississippi State, you can get away with that. At Florida or Michigan or anywhere else like that, you don't recruit a class largely consisting of 3-stars and keep your job. They don't allow you time to build that. If you aren't winning huge, they will fire you over your perceived recruiting failures. Heck, even our own fans have crushed Mullen for his recruiting at times. I have a feeling that will die down quite a bit now, but the fact is, big-time schools expect big-time recruits. It is part of it for them. I don't think Mullen cares about that, and I think he's smart enough to understand that his recruiting would have to change somewhat at those places.

What Mullen likes to do is perfectly suited for Mississippi State. Either that, or he is a genius at figuring out what will work in a specific place and executing it. Either way, he's proven his method works at Mississippi State, and he has the full support of the administration and now the entire fanbase. You run the risk of losing that by leaving for somewhere else.

This isn't Boise State or Utah or La-Lafayette where you can't win a national title. You can, and we may be in the process of doing it. And I can't remember a single coach who won the national title then leaving for a 'better' program. If we win it all this year, it pretty much ensures Mullen stays. Even if we don't, I think he's proven to himself he does have enough here to get it done.

[FootLongDawg]

He does more with less stars than anyone I think I've ever known.

[smootness]

He does more with less stars than anyone I think I've ever known.

No doubt about that. Think about Boise State...even with all the praise they got, what did everyone always say about them? 'Yeah, but if they played in the Big 12 or SEC, they'd lose 6 games a year. They only have to get up for one game a year, they don't have enough talent to get it done every week.'

Well, we're in the process of getting it done every week in the SEC West. If we pull this off, it will be the single biggest feat by a coach in the history of college football. Think about it. Give me one coach who has won a national title, or even a conference like the SEC, with the kind of talent the recruiting services told us we have.

[Todd4State]

We are the Moneyball team in the SEC in terms of identifying and developing talent. I like the way Dan does things- although sure I have been frustrated over things like the Mississippi Home Run debacle- but look how that has turned out. Of those four guys that everyone was clamoring over, only one has turned out to be a guy that has had a solid career- and I'm not sure he would be starting for us.

But the reality is when you find players that have the measureables and the work ethic you will have quality players- it just means that we have to make them work hard in the weight room and that we have to have good position coaches that can teach fundamentals, which we do indeed have.

We may not win the press conference on NSD every year, but we have been on the cover of SI the past two weeks.

But the recruiting philosophy that we have is going to continue to be sound because Mississippi has always had guys like Benardrick McKinney that were small town guys that no one knew about, and that isn't going to change. If McKinney played at Madison Central, he would have been a 4-5 star guy. But he's from Tunica. Think about the great players from Mississippi- Payton, Rice, Favre, McNair- very few of those guys were the equivalent of five star guys in their time and they all were from small schools. Dan is identifying those guys and it is going to pay dividends for us when they get to the NFL- Banks, Chris Jones, McKinney, etc.

[IMissJack]

I believe Dan said the reason no one else offered Banks was because they couldn't find him.

[Offshore Dawg]

I believe Dan said the reason no one else offered Banks was because they couldn't find him.

This^^^^ sums up a lot of what Dan is doing.

[maroonmania]

We are the Moneyball team in the SEC in terms of identifying and developing talent. I like the way Dan does things- although sure I have been frustrated over things like the Mississippi Home Run debacle- but look how that has turned out. Of those four guys that everyone was clamoring over, only one has turned out to be a guy that has had a solid career- and I'm not sure he would be starting for us.

But the reality is when you find players that have the measureables and the work ethic you will have quality players- it just means that we have to make them work hard in the weight room and that we have to have good position coaches that can teach fundamentals, which we do indeed have.

We may not win the press conference on NSD every year, but we have been on the cover of SI the past two weeks.

But the recruiting philosophy that we have is going to continue to be sound because Mississippi has always had guys like Benardrick McKinney that were small town guys that no one knew about, and that isn't going to change. If McKinney played at Madison Central, he would have been a 4-5 star guy. But he's from Tunica. Think about the great players from Mississippi- Payton, Rice, Favre, McNair- very few of those guys were the equivalent of five star guys in their time and they all were from small schools. Dan is identifying those guys and it is going to pay dividends for us when they get to the NFL- Banks, Chris Jones, McKinney, etc.

Odds would have been pretty high that if Mullen had been the coach here at MSU that Jerry Rice, Walter Payton, Brett Favre and Steve McNair would have all been Bulldogs. Never seen a coach any better at identifying raw talent in the MS high school system.

[Todd4State]

Odds would have been pretty high that if Mullen had been the coach here at MSU that Jerry Rice, Walter Payton, Brett Favre and Steve McNair would have all been Bulldogs. Never seen a coach any better at identifying raw talent in the MS high school system.

No question. It would have been awesome to watch Dan develop McNair.

[SallyStansbury]

I like this comment a lot. Taking 10 of the best QB's in MS highschool ball and doing whatever with them. Excellent strategy so long as you have the coaching, and program in place to back it up.

Not being a football player, I have often wondered why we wouldn't do a similar thing with DT's and take the most raw, asskicking, Nick James kind of players, redshirt them, train them for a year or two like we are doing with all our O-linemen, and line up 2-3 of them on either side of some highly intelligent Center (Day, Beckwith, whomever) and let our O-Line maul people? If this were easy I am sure someone would already have done it? Surely it could be done? Why not?

[Todd4State]

I like this comment a lot. Taking 10 of the best QB's in MS highschool ball and doing whatever with them. Excellent strategy so long as you have the coaching, and program in place to back it up.

Not being a football player, I have often wondered why we wouldn't do a similar thing with DT's and take the most raw, asskicking, Nick James kind of players, redshirt them, train them for a year or two like we are doing with all our O-linemen, and line up 2-3 of them on either side of some highly intelligent Center (Day, Beckwith, whomever) and let our O-Line maul people? If this were easy I am sure someone would already have done it? Surely it could be done? Why not?

In Mississippi a lot of college o-linemen played both sides of the line in HS. To me, that's actually what I would want to look for- the guys that they play on both sides of the ball regularly because usually those are the players that are really, really good. Same thing with HS QB's- a lot of times those are the players that are playing there because they are the best athletes.