O.J. Smith Update

[I seen it dawg]

I'm sorry but if we can't reel in this guy at this stage of the game in this situation then it doesn't speak well at all for our coaches' ability to recruit. Bama is basically handing him over on a silver platter at this point.

I fear the kid just has national name school on his mind and is searching that out. Got nothing to do with our recruiting him. There are some kids that only want to hear the Bamas, FSu, Oklahomas, Texas, USC to come calling. If one of them does they will take it even if MSU is a better situation for him which we are if He isn't signing with Bama.

[Goat Holder]

Doubt he signs with us. He's delaying his announcement, and he's already visited us. Either he wants another option or he has someone else in mind.

[engie]

It's a rotating average. You can't just look at last year in most cases, because that class generally counted some back as well. At some point in the future, all this gets killed -- and it becomes a year-to-year basis only(I forget the exact day/year it enters effect) -- but it's not true yet. So, you've effectively got to "count back" until you have a class that actually has 25+ players in it as the "starting point".

[dawgs]

They have every intention to sign 34. Just watch. They are blatantly breaking the rule. How are they going to avoid being over the max 4 or 29? They have 5 too many already. Butch Jones and Tennessee are going to break the rule. I don't see how they will avoid breaking it at this point. Guess we find out tomorrow.

there was some loophole butch jones was talking about earlier in the recruiting cycle.

http://knoxblogs.com/evanseleven/201...rimming-class/

here's some info on it.

and the sec's response.

http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/college-r...ing-loopholes/

[engie]

So Tennessee can just sign 30 then? Anyone got an answer yet on why Butch Jones is being allowed to sign 34 this year? Just being nice to the new guy huh. Tennessee is blatantly breaking the rule put in place after Houston Nutt went full retard and nothing is being done/said about it.

He's not breaking any rules. He's simply exploiting the exact wording of the rule.

[maroonmania]

I fear the kid just has national name school on his mind and is searching that out. Got nothing to do with our recruiting him. There are some kids that only want to hear the Bamas, FSu, Oklahomas, Texas, USC to come calling. If one of them does they will take it even if MSU is a better situation for him which we are if He isn't signing with Bama.

This guy was supposed to be very high on us even before he committed to Bama. If he is only interested in some "national school" not sure why he is wasting our time.

[engie]

Doubt he signs with us. He's delaying his announcement, and he's already visited us. Either he wants another option or he has someone else in mind.

He's delaying his announcement simply to be 100% sure someone doesn't fall through -- thus getting him a full, immediate offer from Bama.

I don't see the problem with it?

[maroonmania]

Doubt he signs with us. He's delaying his announcement, and he's already visited us. Either he wants another option or he has someone else in mind.

A lot of kids SAY they are going to delay but very few do. Will be interesting to see what happens with him tomorrow.

[I seen it dawg]

This guy was supposed to be very high on us even before he committed to Bama. If he is only interested in some "national school" not sure why he is wasting our time.

He was interested because we were the best opportunity he had. When Bama offered he dove on it. He still has to go thru the process because he isnt qualified yet and because of it Bama wants to greyshirt him. Its a business and he has to treat it that way and keep us around because he made need us. I hope he does and i will welcome him ecstatically if a "national name" doesnt happen. As I said before this is the best spot for him to do what he wants to do.

[Johnson85]

Doubt he signs with us. He's delaying his announcement, and he's already visited us. Either he wants another option or he has someone else in mind.

I think it's clear he wants to go to Bama. If he's willing to grey shirt but his parents are pushing him to take a scholarship, I can understand holding a spot for him. But if he's not willing to commit that he is coming to MSU unless he gets a Bama offer, it's probably time for us to move on. Even if we ended up with him, I just have my doubts that someone that adamant about going somewhere else will ever fully commit to the program.

[Coach34]

A lot of kids SAY they are going to delay but very few do. Will be interesting to see what happens with him tomorrow.

ok- I'll spell it out:

He wants to go to Bama. Apparently Bama made it clear today they arent signing him. He is a kid that has always seen himself playing for a bright lights school. He is getting nibbles from another and they have him on standby- that is why he is delaying. We are his back-up plan it looks like.

[TheRef]

ok- I'll spell it out:

He wants to go to Bama. Apparently Bama made it clear today they arent signing him. He is a kid that has always seen himself playing for a bright lights school. He is getting nibbles from another and they have him on standby- that is why he is delaying. We are his back-up plan it looks like.

Question...do we want a kid who clearly doesn't want to come here? Honest question...

[Dawg61]

He's not breaking any rules. He's simply exploiting the exact wording of the rule.

Shouldn't we be doing the same then? Why let another SEC school get a competitive edge over us before it gets sewn up? This will probably be the only year the loophole still exists so it would seem to me MSU should be getting it while the getting is good.

[msstate7]

Question...do we want a kid who clearly doesn't want to come here? Honest question...

A kid that would probably bust his butt to show bama they screwed up then yeah. Who knows if he's that kid though

[Johnson85]

Question...do we want a kid who clearly doesn't want to come here? Honest question...

I sort of said it above, but I don't have a problem if we're a back up plan. Lots of people have to move on to a plan b in life and when they do they fully commit to it without sitting around moping about the plan a that didn't work out. But if he is holding out for any offer that he thinks is more prestigious, I'm guessing he's not ever going to be satisfied with playing at State. It kind of makes me question what he's looking for; why would you not want to go to the best conference and get a chance to prove the teams that snubbed you that they screwed up. I woudl not want to hold a spot to be a last resort; if he was good enough for that he'd get a scholarship from a 'big name' program. If we have a scholarship left over on signing day and just don't have anybody on our board we think merits a scholarship, sure, use it on him, but that would be very disappointing considering we aren't signing a full class to begin with.

[Really Clark?]

Question...do we want a kid who clearly doesn't want to come here? Honest question...

Depends on the situation and the talent. With this being a position of need with plenty of upside with the player, then yes. If its a Marlon Humphrey you still take him even if its not a position of need. If its a just someone who would only add depth and may never start then no, you don't.

[Goat Holder]

We don't need to move on until he moves on. We have recruited (or will) all we can get this season. It's not like we have others waiting in the wings. We need to wait him out as long as it takes. We will get Harris and everything else is simply gravy.

[Kosydawg]

IF he doesn't sign tomorrow...what are the rules on re-recruiting him for lack of a better word........What can and cant be done by us or another school?

[godlluB]

A kid that would probably bust his butt to show bama they screwed up then yeah. Who knows if he's that kid though

see "Brown, Titus".

[Goat Holder]

We were the backup plan for a lot of good players over the years. That's not an issue to me at all.

I WANTED to go to Stanford, but settled for MSU. Tough shit for me, I guess.