BearShark's OL may be getting a little thinner.

[DCdawg]

I saw Clayborn last year and was pretty impressed for him to be a true freshman.

[esplanade91]

5 years ago I'd scoff at the idea of a RT being 280 lbs in the SEC and until last year I would think that would mean we were bound for 3-9, but having a Tebow-type QB eliminates a big need for a massive offensive line. DE's aren't going to be bulldozing guys to get into the backfield.

Now, 280 is still small and I'm not saying I'm ok with having a 280 lbs guy out of principal.... But if he wins the job fair and square I'm not going to write him off because of size. Our system allows for a smaller OL.

ETA: If he's 280 lbs he better be athletic.

[mic]

It depends on your definition of deep. And this board's confidence in our O-line is higher than mine. We are laughing at Ole Miss for their RT issues while at the same time this board has Malone penciled in as the starter despite Zero Playing time or Practice time at RT. We also hope/think Clayborn is going to be good but he wasn't good last year albeit as a true freshman. Some argued Beckwith was the weak link last year and now he is back and we call RG solid? And Clausell has never been particularly good as a run blocker. Senior hasn't moved to RT b/c you can't be 280 pounds and play RT in the SEC. Day is an above average Center due to all of the playing time, but his injury has been rumored to be somewhat serious. This is the unit that may prevent us from hitting our high expectations.

Clayborn wasn't good as a frosh.???? Everyone I have talked with has said right now in his career Clayborn is ahead of where Gabe was at this time
Clausell has been very solid and steady at LT
Im not sure where you get 280 from with Senior. He was listed at 300 last year. And he seems pretty athletic
Who has said Dillions injury is that serious..?? he practiced basically the entire spring
Malone may be good enough to play and start at RT if he isn't then we have very good depth at the Guard position. He didn't do much in the spring because of injury.
Johnson may come in and lock up the RT spot. Again had a injury limited in spring
All the coaches said that Robinson had a good spring. (Im still not sold on him)
Jake Thomas, Flowers, Depser, Cole, Senior are all just Soph and have a shot at being good SEC players.
Rufus may be the wildcard out of the bunch. Very athletic

Yes RT is an issue right now. But Depth wise with or without Golson we are much deeper than the Bears ... And I guess they are all counting on a Juco to step in now and start at RT. Cooper isn't even on campus yet and if he does make probably wont get there till August..

[Coach34]

It depends on your definition of deep. And this board's confidence in our O-line is higher than mine. We are laughing at Ole Miss for their RT issues while at the same time this board has Malone penciled in as the starter despite Zero Playing time or Practice time at RT. We also hope/think Clayborn is going to be good but he wasn't good last year albeit as a true freshman. Some argued Beckwith was the weak link last year and now he is back and we call RG solid? And Clausell has never been particularly good as a run blocker. Senior hasn't moved to RT b/c you can't be 280 pounds and play RT in the SEC. Day is an above average Center due to all of the playing time, but his injury has been rumored to be somewhat serious. This is the unit that may prevent us from hitting our high expectations.

We'll just have to disagree on the OL

Clayborn was very good for true freshman at the end of the season last year. Everybody seems to think Chris Jones is going to be All-SEC, well he wasnt winning anymore than 50% of the battles with Clayborn this Spring.

Clausell is good SEC LT and will be signed by an NFL team as FA at worst

Who said Beckwith was a weak link? Go back and watch the Egg Bowl and you will change your opinion

Day is a good SEC Center

Whether he has played RT or not- Malone has been an SEC starter and played live football in the trenches. Myself and others wondered why he wasnt at Tackle in the first place.

Johnson is experienced
Flowers redshirted and had a great Spring
Senior is a solid back-up
Warren was getting better everyday.

I feel really good about 9 of our guys. Not to mention- we have 3-4 TE's that can play and help out our OT's if we have problems somewhere. It's already rumored we plan to run some 3 TE sets to be more physical

[Johnson85]

It depends on your definition of deep. And this board's confidence in our O-line is higher than mine. We are laughing at Ole Miss for their RT issues while at the same time this board has Malone penciled in as the starter despite Zero Playing time or Practice time at RT. We also hope/think Clayborn is going to be good but he wasn't good last year albeit as a true freshman. Some argued Beckwith was the weak link last year and now he is back and we call RG solid? And Clausell has never been particularly good as a run blocker. Senior hasn't moved to RT b/c you can't be 280 pounds and play RT in the SEC. Day is an above average Center due to all of the playing time, but his injury has been rumored to be somewhat serious. This is the unit that may prevent us from hitting our high expectations.

Our OL situation is not great, but it's not as bad as you say. Clausell, Clayborne, Day, Beckwith, and Malone (at G) are all known quantities if healthy. I don't think any of them are great although Clayborne may be, but Clausell, Day, and Malone (at G) are all pretty good. You put another OT the quality of Clausell and another OG the quality of Malone with that group, and you have a very good line overall even if there aren't any high draft picks in the group.

I do agree that RT and the possibility of an injured Day have me very worried. But if I weren't worried about injuries, I'd feel pretty good about our O-Line. A few years ago when we were screwed at OT, we moved a starting DL to OL for his senior season. The fact that there weren't open tryouts at RT in the spring has me feeling a little better about that spot. If Mullen wasn't very confident that we had a solid option at that spot, I think we'd have seen him trying a lot more options there this spring.

[Johnson85]

I worry more about Day staying healthy than anyone...losing him would cause some problems

What is Desper now, a redshirt sophomore? Is he not ready for SEC football yet?

[RossDawg82]

BS!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't buy one minute of the grandparent story. Is the guy like a nurse or something? why does he need to be closer? What is he gonna babysit them at night or something? No matter where he plays he is gonna be practicing, traveling, studying, or playing pretty much the whole week. He has been bought by AUB. We shouldn't release him to another SEC school. He Can go to Troy and babysit his pappy at night.This is from the Spirit Board. What a bunch of ****ing dicks.

[Pollodawg]

Doubt the dude goes anywhere.

[HoopsDawg]

We'll just have to disagree on the OL

Quick question, did you think our O-line was a good run blocking O-line last year? If your answer is yes, then we will have to agree to disagree. And we just lost a 2nd round road-grader from that group and a serviceable RT.

[mic]

Quick question, did you think our O-line was a good run blocking O-line last year? If your answer is yes, then we will have to agree to disagree. And we just lost a 2nd round road-grader from that group and a serviceable RT.

I bet we run the ball better this year than last year...

[HoopsDawg]

I bet we run the ball better this year than last year...

Only if we are willing to let Dak take an absolute pounding which is something I hope we can avoid.

[thf24]

Quick question, did you think our O-line was a good run blocking O-line last year? If your answer is yes, then we will have to agree to disagree. And we just lost a 2nd round road-grader from that group and a serviceable RT.

I wouldn't call our run blocking bad last year. We had 190 rushing yards per game, which isn't terrible and was good for middle of the pack in the conference. And that was with playing the wrong running back for most of the season. Could be better, but it wasn't bad by any means.

[mic]

Only if we are willing to let Dak take an absolute pounding which is something I hope we can avoid.

Not true.
The threat of Dak running will help our backs.
Dak's improved passing and the entire WR core back will help
Playing more TE sets will help our running.
Not having Perk as crazy as that sounds will help.
A close to or 100% Griffin will help
And our line will be fine.. Siddoway gone isn't that big a deal. Of course losing Gabe is , but another year with Clayborn, and 3 SR along with him will be fine...

[Todd4State]

Quick question, did you think our O-line was a good run blocking O-line last year? If your answer is yes, then we will have to agree to disagree. And we just lost a 2nd round road-grader from that group and a serviceable RT.

Yes we had a good run blocking o-line. It's not their fault that Dan tried to use Perkins like Vick Ballard. They did their job for the most part.

And they'll be even better because:

1. They're more experienced

2. Dak is going to be an even better passer, which makes it easier on them when we run the ball because it will take a man out of the box, which means one less guy to block.

3. Robinson and Shumpert can be used like Vick Ballard and be effective, which again is going to make them look better.

[Todd4State]

Only if we are willing to let Dak take an absolute pounding which is something I hope we can avoid.

I'm not worried about that. Dak is going to be a better passer than he was last year. And I have to wonder if the reason why he kept it a lot of times was because he didn't think Perkins could pick up the yardage.

[Coach34]

Only if we are willing to let Dak take an absolute pounding which is something I hope we can avoid.

No

Having J-Rob in there makes our rushing attack better. Look no further than the UPig game for evidence. It's a different rushing attack with him in there. Dakota is going to get his carries also- there is no doubt there. You can count on 175 carries out of him probably.

As far as the OL- I think Malone will be better than Siddoway- but Clayborn wont be as good as Jackson was as a Sr.

[mic]

I would like to see a up to date ranking now of that "top 10" class.
I know of these if Golson does leave... there may be some I left off..
Morgan TE 4*
Golson OT 4*
Snoop CB 4*
Jackson TE 3*
Robinson OLB 3*

[esplanade91]

I would like to see a up to date ranking now of that "top 10" class.
I know of these if Golson does leave... there may be some I left off..
Morgan TE 4*
Golson OT 4*
Snoop CB 4*
Jackson TE 3*
Robinson OLB 3*

It's been a minute since Snoop signed.

Not to be the beacon of reasonable bickering, but if we start adding up guys who sucked or left from MSU's pool of highly touted lot it would stack up pretty nicely.

I'd still kill to have a top 10 class. The thing that's puzzling to me is why a bonafide starter would want to transfer. That's fishy, I don't care which way you spin it.

[Todd4State]

It's been a minute since Snoop signed.

Not to be the beacon of reasonable bickering, but if we start adding up guys who sucked or left from MSU's pool of highly touted lot it would stack up pretty nicely.

I'd still kill to have a top 10 class. The thing that's puzzling to me is why a bonafide starter would want to transfer. That's fishy, I don't care which way you spin it.

They counted Brassell in that class as well.

I'd kill to have a legit top 10 class. Like Alabama's- NOT like Ole Miss.

[msstate7]

It's been a minute since Snoop signed.

Not to be the beacon of reasonable bickering, but if we start adding up guys who sucked or left from MSU's pool of highly touted lot it would stack up pretty nicely.

I'd still kill to have a top 10 class. The thing that's puzzling to me is why a bonafide starter would want to transfer. That's fishy, I don't care which way you spin it.

I think the kid is transferring for one or more of the following reasons:

1. The reason he gave

2. He knows he can play for a national power in his home state.

3. Realizes OM is mediocre at best

4. Doesn't like the culture surrounding the program