Recruiting. This may be worthless

[drummerdawg]

...and I might have wasted my time. But I did some figuring on 4* and 5* recruits.

This past week I've been reading a lot on how disappointed everyone is with our recruiting efforts and while I don't have a reason for that, I do think we can definitely do better regional recruiting and probably national too. It seems our coaches and probably some fans think that we can't go in to other states and get some quality recruits, they seem to think we need to stick to MS and just hope something else falls in our lap. Well that's not exactly how it is or should work. Of course we should focus on MS and make it a top priority, but that doesn't mean we can't put effort elsewhere too. I know we've gotten some "out of staters" and we've actually done pretty well in Alabama, but there are so many other recruits out there to be looked at. Last year (using 247 composite) there were 174 4* and 5* recruits in what I consider to be regional recruiting areas, these include MS, TX, LA, AL, TN, GA, and FL. These states are loaded with talent and there are plenty of them to go around.

State - 4* & 5* recruits

2015
TX - 47
LA - 13
AL - 12
GA - 34
FL - 50
TN - 11
MS - 7
Total: 174, 4* & 5* recruits

2016
TX - 51
LA - 18
AL - 7
GA - 27
FL - 49
TN -7
MS - 10
Totals: 169, 4* & 5* recruits

I took the major schools and added up how many 4* and 5* recruits they kept that was from their home state.

Last year (2015) 174 4* & 5* recruits

State of TX: 47 = 4* & 5*
UT, A&M, TT, Baylor, TCU
Totals: 31 leftovers 16

State of LA: 13
LSU - 8
Total: 8 leftovers 5

State of AL: 12
Bama & Aub - 10
Totals: 10 leftovers 2

State of GA: 34
UGA & GT - 9
Totals: 9 leftovers 25

State of FL: 50
UF, FSU, & Miami - 18
Totals: 18 leftovers 32

State of TN: 11
UT, Memphis, & Vandy - 6
Totals: 6 leftovers 5

Total playing for major home state team = 82
Total leftovers = 92

That's 92 highly recruited guys that were left for anyone else. That means State only has to fight off smaller in-state schools or other out of state schools for those remaining 92. For comparison sake, these are some of the schools that are picking up the remaining top recruits out of these states that I think MSU can compete with...


UCLA, OM, and Michigan St all got 4 & 5* commitments from Texas.

Oregon, TCU, and Ok St got them from Louisiana.

Oregon, Om, and Wisconsin pulled some from Georgia.

OM, West Virginia, North Carolina, Ark, Rutgers, Virginia Tech, South Carolina, and Maryland all pulled top recruits from FLorida.

OM and Illinois both picked up some from Tennessee.

We've done ok in Alabama.

The last two years (I know things can change for this year but this is how it stands now)
TX:
OM 2
MSU 0

LA:
OM 0
MSU 0

AL:
MSU 1
OM 0

GA:
OM 2
MSU 0

FL:
OM 1
MSU 0

TN:
OM 2
MSU 0

Totals:
OM 7
MSU 1

This may not mean too much but it sounded cool to do at the time. Anyway with all that said, I think we definitely can do more than we are in recruiting.

[Taog Redloh]

Don't tow the same dumb party line.

TX, FL and GA have a bunch of recruits, yes. But the whole damn country recruits them. There aren't "enough to go around". No, the ticket for us is AL and LA, where the rest of the country cannot recruit easily.

If you want to figure out how to get better players, you have to figure out how to beat other schools. There aren't an geographic areas that are untapped. Maybe Europe or Australia I guess. Either that or innovate. I still say we don't use the JUCOs effectively.

[Coach34]

thank you for the research

[Coach34]

I still say we don't use the JUCOs effectively.

I could beat to death your other points- but I'll focus here:

Jucos cant get on the field for us for over a half a year for the most part.

We signed the #1 juco OT- and he couldnt even win a spot on our craptastic OL this year
Slay became a 2nd round pick for us- hardly played as a Jr

Apparently our system takes people so long to learn- nobody can pick it up their 1st year. We need MENSA recruits to get our system

[SDDawg]

I think we should be recruiting AR and MO more than we do as well. The point is clear though, when you make MS and AL your main recruiting areas there aren't enough 4 and 5* players to go around. Gotta widen the net and hire coaches that can recruit in those areas.

[drummerdawg]

Don't tow the same dumb party line.

TX, FL and GA have a bunch of recruits, yes. But the whole damn country recruits them. There aren't "enough to go around". No, the ticket for us is AL and LA, where the rest of the country cannot recruit easily.

If you want to figure out how to get better players, you have to figure out how to beat other schools. There aren't an geographic areas that are untapped. Maybe Europe or Australia I guess. Either that or innovate. I still say we don't use the JUCOs effectively.

That's kinda my point though. There is a ton of talent in these states we should have a shot at. If Maryland and Virginia Tech among others can do it we should too. Yes other big schools recruit everywhere but I didn't even add up all the recruits outside of this region that we could even go after. Something's got to change and there is no excuse when we are surrounded by this much talent in the south/south east.

[SDDawg]

We need MENSA recruits to get our system

Obviously that's not it, is it that we have the wrong expectation on how guys will develop and learn? Are we giving players meaningful reps early enough to learn from? Is this a case of being too conservative?

[drummerdawg]

I think we should be recruiting AR and MO more than we do as well. The point is clear though, when you make MS and AL your main recruiting areas there aren't enough 4 and 5* players to go around. Gotta widen the net and hire coaches that can recruit in those areas.

I looked in to Arkansas but they don't seem to hardly have any highly rated guys and the few they do they go to UPig.

[Taog Redloh]

I could beat to death your other points

Dude, NO, you really can't. This really isn't your day to be calling out other people's logic, especially mine.

We need MORE JUCOs, period. You really use DARIUS FREAKING SLAY to make the point that we don't? No wait, you're just doing that to further your shiny new anti-Mullen agenda. We had a crowded backfield in 2011, remember a guy named Charles Mitchell?

[Taog Redloh]

That's kinda my point though. There is a ton of talent in these states we should have a shot at. If Maryland and Virginia Tech among others can do it we should too. Yes other big schools recruit everywhere but I didn't even add up all the recruits outside of this region that we could even go after. Something's got to change and there is no excuse when we are surrounded by this much talent in the south/south east.

Yeah but it's not enough for us to have an advantage. That's my issue with it. We probably disagree on this, but I think the conventional 'go out and get better players' isn't really the way for MSU. It's not like we haven't tried that. Ole Miss tried it, and the best they got was 9-3.

[Taog Redloh]

I think we should be recruiting AR and MO more than we do as well. The point is clear though, when you make MS and AL your main recruiting areas there aren't enough 4 and 5* players to go around. Gotta widen the net and hire coaches that can recruit in those areas.

You have done bumped your head. There isn't even enough talent in AR for one school to field a team.

[drummerdawg]

Yeah but it's not enough for us to have an advantage. That's my issue with it. We probably disagree on this, but I think the conventional 'go out and get better players' isn't really the way for MSU. It's not like we haven't tried that. Ole Miss tried it, and the best they got was 9-3.

Different coaches though. Our coaches are known for developing players which is not the case in Oxford. I personally would like to see what we could do when starting with more talent. Maybe it wont work but I guarantee you there are at least two or three 4* o-linemen out there that wouldn't mind playing for State. We just need to find them and we can't find them only looking in two or three states.

[Taog Redloh]

Different coaches though. Our coaches are known for developing players which is not the case in Oxford. I personally would like to see what we could do when starting with more talent. Maybe it wont work but I guarantee you there are at least two or three 4* o-linemen out there that wouldn't mind playing for State. We just need to find them and we can't find them only looking in two or three states.

I'm all for that. It really seems like we need to go outside MS for most of our offensive talent, except maybe tailback. I just don't know that any one place has the secret sauce.

[Bothrops]

We don't use the juco system effectively, and we don't recruit Texas or Florida very successfully.

[SDDawg]

You have done bumped your head. There isn't even enough talent in AR for one school to field a team.

I checked the stats and you're right - not nearly enough talent in either MO or AR to justify much investment in either. I expected more, especially from MO but the stars aren't there.

[Todd4State]

Obviously that's not it, is it that we have the wrong expectation on how guys will develop and learn? Are we giving players meaningful reps early enough to learn from? Is this a case of being too conservative?

That's a nice way of saying it. It's honestly like Dan looks at the roster and just starts the seniors and then fills in the holes with whomever is a junior. Regardless of anything else. There's no way in hell that are juniors and seniors ALWAYS look better than every freshman and sophomore in practice.

Dan has to learn how to trust younger player in some cases- and at the very least he needs to try to get them more playing time early. Like 10-15 reps in game one.

I think Westin Graves vs. Devon Bell is a good example of this. Graves was kicking well- but when the game was on the line Dan preferred to go with the older kicker despite a history of not performing as well and not having attempted a FG in two seasons.

[Tbonewannabe]

Dude, NO, you really can't. This really isn't your day to be calling out other people's logic, especially mine.

We need MORE JUCOs, period. You really use DARIUS FREAKING SLAY to make the point that we don't? No wait, you're just doing that to further your shiny new anti-Mullen agenda. We had a crowded backfield in 2011, remember a guy named Charles Mitchell?

You do realize Charles Mitchell was a safety and Slay was a corner.

[Coach34]

Dude, NO, you really can't. This really isn't your day to be calling out other people's logic, especially mine.

We need MORE JUCOs, period. You really use DARIUS FREAKING SLAY to make the point that we don't? No wait, you're just doing that to further your shiny new anti-Mullen agenda. We had a crowded backfield in 2011, remember a guy named Charles Mitchell?

was does Charles Mitchell playing safety have to do with Slay playing CB? Corey Broomfield was keeping Slay off the field. The same Corey Broomfield we moved to Safety to put Slay at CB his Sr year.

Jucos don't get on the field for us for the most part until deep in their 1st season or 2nd season

[engie]

And how long before we have trouble recruiting Juco because we are redshirting them all and/or waiting two years to allow them to earn their rightful slots? I'd argue that we are already seeing issues here...

[mic]

Recruit Texas more.... It's that simple...