A look back at the 2011 recruiting class...

[DeviousDawg]

It was a big year for Mississippi prospect wise, maybe the deepest ever on paper. There were 11 4* prospects from the state of Mississippi.

LB CJ Johnson
CB Jermaine Whitehead
WR Nick Brassel
S Dee Arrington
WR Joe Morrow
WR Donte Moncreif
WR Tobias Singleton
DT PJ Jones
TE Malcolm Faciane(early Bama commit)
OT Aaron Morris
CB Senquez Golson

Story time: Rewind to Big Dawg Camp 2010. State gets commitments from Joe Morrow, Dee Arrington, Justin Cox, James Maiden, Daniel Knox and 2 Louisiana guys with only 1 offer a piece, Josh Robinson and Dak Prescott. These 7 guys added to a already strong class headlined by long time commits CJ Johnson and Jermaine Whitehead.

The 2010 football season comes around and MSU is rolling while Ole Miss is on their way to a losing season. In a surprising move, USP 4* WR Snoop Brassel committed to MSU in October, MSU is poised for a top 20 class. Now to the Egg Bowl in Oxford, CJ Johnson gets his lanyard ripped off by a Ole Miss fan when he cheers for a State touchdown. He claims that he dislikes Ole Miss very much and can't wait to beat them in the Egg Bowl as a Dawg. State goes on to win the Egg Bowl and finished the regular season at 8-4 while OM is home for the Holidays after a 4-8 season. State then goes on to whoop Denard Robinson and Michigan in the Gator Bowl, and we have all the momentum in the State our way heading into January.

Que the 2011 Army All American Bowl. Mississippi is represented by 4 guys, CJ Johnson, Jermaine Whitehead, Nick Brassel and Tobias Singleton, 3 of which were MSU commits. During this week a little birdie named Yancy Porter starts chirping about a Mississippi Homerun (CJ, Whitehead, Brassel and Tobias) for Ole Miss. After whooping a 4-8 OM in the Egg Bowl and slaughtering national powerhouse Michigan in the Gator Bowl, it looks like CJ, Whitehead and Brassel might all be headed to Ole Miss. They all decommit and our class falls apart. Whitehead ends up at Auburn, while Ole Miss signs CJ, Brassel, Donte Moncrief, Tobias Singleton, Aaron Morris and Senquez Golson. MSU ends up with just 3 of the 11 4*, Joe Morrow, Dee Arrington and PJ Jones.

After a loss in the Egg Bowl and a 4-8 season, Ole Miss signs the #20 recruiting class in the nation, while state's class ended up horribly at #45.

Now that the stage has been set, lets take a look at the 22 guys that we signed. It's a very odd class, the headliners are strong, but the majority of us probably bitched when they committed.

4* WR Joe Morrow- overrated but was a solid contributor
4* S Dee Arrington- injuries ended his career at state before it ever started- BUST
4* DT PJ Jones- nice career at state
3* RB Derrick Milton- Fumblitis lead to a transfer- BUST
3* DE Jon Harris- BUST
3* OT James Maiden- BUST
3* TE Daniel Knox- BUST
3* WR Devin Fosselman- transfered DII- BUST
3* TE Rufus Warren- converted to OT his Sr. year, played decent
3* S Zach Jackson- frustrated the hell out of me but had a nice career.
3* OT Nick Redmond- BUST
3* CB Justin Cox- had to go JUCO but ended up having a good career at state.
3* RB Josh Robinson- great career, the run against Kentucky was one of the best I've ever seen.
3* QB/TE Dak Prescott- 2016-2017 NFL MVP
2* RB Shaq Perry- Never made it to campus- BUST
2* OT Joey Trapp(JUCO)- BUST
2* OT Justin Malone- nice career at State
2* S Kendrick Market(Snoop's "package deal")- great career at state.
2* CB Taveze Calhoun(many thought we signed him to help with Quay Evans in the 2012 class)- Great career at state
2* DE Preston Smith- Balling out in the NFL
2* MLB/QB Benardrick McKinney- one of the leading tacklers in the NFL
2* CB Darius Slay(JUCO)- from the #89 ranked JUCO player in the 2011 class, to the #1 cornerback in the NFL

-9 of the 22 were busts
-10 of the 22 were solid contributors
-4 of the 22 are some the best in the NFL at their respective positions. Dak, BMac, Preston Smith and Slay.

Looking back at the Mississippi Homerun group and the rest of the 11 4*s:

Jermaine Whitehead: Packers practice squad I believe
CJ Johnson: White girls
Snoop Brassel: never made it past his freshman year at OM
Tobias Singleton: never made it past his freshman year at OM
Dee Arrington: injury bug got em
Joe Morrow: decent player
Donte Moncrief: one of the best WR in the NFL
PJ Jones: good career at state
Malcolm Faciane: have no clue how he did at Bama, which means he probably didn't do much
Aaron Morris: fat ass
Senquez Golson: Solid CB for the Steelers

Other guys who were overlooked by the scouting sites:

Benardrick Mckinney: starting MLB for Texans
Woodrow Hamilton(OM): Reserve DT for Patriots
Jalen Collins(LSU): Starting CB for Falcons
Cody Prewitt: All American at Ole Miss(titans practice squad)
Taveze Calhoun: spent some time on the Chicago Bears roster in 2016
Maikhail Miller: Best QB in our state's history
Christian Ringo(ULL): reserve DT for Packers

Only 4 of the 11 4 stars have been on a NFL Roster; Whitehead, Moncrief, Golson and CJ Johnson(although it lasted shorter than he did on his OV to OM, white girls)

While 2011 was on odd class for MSU, there were 50 guys from Mississippi in 2011 that signed a D1 scholarship. 10 of those 50 guys have been on an active NFL roster. Pretty impressive. Even more impressive that we signed 3 unknown out of state guys(Slay(2*), Dak(3*), Preston Smith(2*)) and a small town MS High School QB converted to LB(BMac(2*)) that are now at the top of their positions in the NFL.

[Political Hack]

The main difference between that class and this one is everyone knows how good our QB commit is this time.

That class shows we need more depth in our classes. We can't have half a class not contribute in some meaningful way.

[PassInterference]

The main difference between that class and this one is everyone knows how good our QB commit is this time.

That class shows we need more depth in our classes. We can't have half a class not contribute in some meaningful way.

Depth might be what kept our 2014 season out of the playoffs.

[Cloak]

Donte Moncrief: one of the best WR in the NFL

I like the write up. Only thing that doesn't make sense in your post is about Moncrief being one of the best in the NFL. He's no where close. Hasn't topped 65 yards in a game that he's played in this season and is a WR2 behind Hilton.

[Todd4State]

Depth might be what kept our 2014 season out of the playoffs.

That's what frustrates me about Dan Mullen's recruiting. Flame away.

[InTheIttaBenaHotSun]

I'd say that's exactly what kept our class out of the 2014 playoffs.

[TUSK]

"Depth" is what keeps >120 teams outta the CFP....

[ShotgunDawg]

The main difference between that class and this one is everyone knows how good our QB commit is this time.

That class shows we need more depth in our classes. We can't have half a class not contribute in some meaningful way.

We certainly have to do better, but my guess is that a 50% contribution rate is fairly normal for everyone.

Everybody gives Bama tons of credit, but my guess is that they only have about a 50% contribution rate. Sure they turn guys into a great players, but there are just as many 4 & 5 stars that bust there.

If you hit on 12 contributing players per signing class, including redshirts, you are looking at about 55 or so contributing players on your roster. With NFL rosters being 53 guys, that sounds about right.

[TUSK]

We certainly have to do better, but my guess is that a 50% contribution rate is fairly normal for everyone.

Everybody gives Bama tons of credit, but my guess is that they only have about a 50% contribution rate. Sure they turn guys into a great players, but there are just as many 4 & 5 stars that bust there.

If you hit on 12 contributing players per signing class, including redshirts, you are looking at about 55 or so contributing players on your roster. With NFL rosters being 53 guys, that sounds about right.

I've not run the numbers, but I'm not certain this is accurate, Gun...

I guess it depends on what ya mean by "contribute" and "bust"....

[PassInterference]

"Depth" is what keeps >120 teams outta the CFP....

We were #1, had a few guys get hurt, and it went to shit.

>120 teams not in contention get a few guys hurt and it doesn't matter because they were never in contention.

[TUSK]

We were #1, had a few guys get hurt, and it went to shit.

>120 teams not in contention get a few guys hurt and it doesn't matter because they were never in contention.

yeah, you're right... 120 was too big a number....

[Political Hack]

We certainly have to do better, but my guess is that a 50% contribution rate is fairly normal for everyone.

Everybody gives Bama tons of credit, but my guess is that they only have about a 50% contribution rate. Sure they turn guys into a great players, but there are just as many 4 & 5 stars that bust there.

If you hit on 12 contributing players per signing class, including redshirts, you are looking at about 55 or so contributing players on your roster. With NFL rosters being 53 guys, that sounds about right.

That means you'd have 24 Jr's and Sr's contributing each season. It should be more than that. You need 44 on offense and defense alone and that's before you start looking at different personnel packages and special teams. Assuming the young players play ST, you still need probably around 30+ minimum. Otherwise you're going to have a lot of inexperienced and undeveloped players on the field. That's not Mullen's plan.

Redshirting helps some but attrition is pretty high these days so that window has gotten tighter. Anyone staying needs to be contributing by the time they're a Jr or Sr.indint think its that far off, but we need more than 12 per class. Otherwise we'd never have more than 48 players worth a damn.

[Reason2succeed]

Had those guys come to state they either would've been coached better and actually made it to the NFL or they would have flamed out in our rigorous program that actually makes you go to class.

Your post also points to the obvious dubious actions of "The Network". Next time send a MSU "ambassador" with prospects and commits to the Ms/al game.

[I seen it dawg]

I'd like to see maybe the last 10 dandy dozen classes and how they ended up. Lot of work there I know.

[bulldawg28]

"Depth" is what keeps >120 teams outta the CFP....

Great post by OP. Dammit Tusk you know a thing or two I see.

[PSYCHO(thesis)DEFENSE]

Maikhail Miller: Best QB in our state's history

Nice post DDawg. Just curious to know what makes you say this about Maikhail. Not disagreeing, I've just never heard anyone make that claim, & considering some of the MS greats, I'd love to hear the argument for him. Great guy & teammate.

[lamont]

So basically DD34- that 2010 asswhippin in the Egg Bowl is was the catalyst that has led to OM heading toward serious probation and show causes for coaches to lose their livelihoods???

[dawgday166]

Depth might be what kept our 2014 season out of the playoffs.

Don't agree. We outplayed Bama for last 2 and 1/2 quarters. We outgained them by ~100 yds for the game. What kept us out of CFP was how uptight we were going into that game and all the miscues we made on offense to start the game and put ourselves into a hole multiple times. Dan and staff didn't do a good job in preparation. The stage was too big for us. Dak throwing 3 picks down in Bama's end didn't help either.

OM was the walking wounded going into the Egg Bowl. We should've destroyed them. It did hurt us on D to lose Cox due to domestic violence issues the week before AND then Kendrick Market blows out a knee in like the 1st quarter of game. Still should've destroyed them tho.

I go agree that most years depth is what keeps >120 teams out of playoff each year tho.

[msstate7]

Dak throwing 3 picks down in Bama's end .

Lord knows we wouldn't have been #1 at bama for that game without dak, but he sure picked a bad time to play bad.

[DeviousDawg]

Nice post DDawg. Just curious to know what makes you say this about Maikhail. Not disagreeing, I've just never heard anyone make that claim, & considering some of the MS greats, I'd love to hear the argument for him. Great guy & teammate.

Either Yancy or Chuck said that when he committed to OM. They were just trying to hype him up so he would have an extra star beside his name.