1. What a wonderful day it was to enjoy lacrosse and foosball. Woke up in a great mood after another home win and clinched playoff berth. Quite the feat for a team that starts 5 ninth graders plus had two other starters suspended for their final home game. Can't behave in the building- cant get on the field tho amirite? Very proud of The Enforcer as his team won 17-4 in lacrosse and he helped to hold the other team scoreless during his 2Q's of play. But he is on an all-star team basically so its an expectation. Curious to see how they do in Dallas next weekend. Rewarded him with a seafood gumbo for dinner last night that turned out perfectly.
2. Last night was bad. Earth-shaking news huh? Injuries are really hurting this team and its just ugly.
3. Really liked the long drive last night but of course we couldnt finish it off like we should have. Did what we needed to do in keeping the D off the field and burn clock. Wright continued his terrible decision-making with a Pick-6 that totally changed the game. Took a sack on 2nd and 8 to kill another drive. Took a sack on a roll out pass. Terrible, terrible decisions at the QB position. I have heard that we have reached to a couple of QB's for next year that are interested in coming to State. All that could change obviously depending on the direction of our program.
4. We finally had a Parson sighting. Did ok for his first college game but of course had a delay of game to start things off. Held the ball too long as most young guys do. Should see more of him moving forward
5. Kentucky came out and abused Preston on the first drive. Deep pass then a PA pass for the TD. Makes you wonder why our Secondary is so bad? We dont have the talent we had last year obviously. McBath is still here coaching CB's- but we have a new Safety coach. Our Secondary is just terrible. Our course we dont rush the passer well and our LB's couldnt cover me. Jett dropped a pick to start the 2nd half that could have built some momentum. Just not making plays.
6. Nice job by Lewis on the jet Kentucky ran. It was so good the announcer said he should hang with the Hookers in Pontotoc-
https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/s...12810619277680
7. Now let's address the elephant- what to do with our football program? I laugh when I see some of the names thrown out by people on their coaching wish list or who they think we could possibly get. Some of you act like it's still 2019 or 2005. It simply comes down to one thing:
N I L
Want better players? Contribute to NIL. EVERYBODY that signs now is demanding some type of NIL deal. Mad this staff is recruiting jucos? Well, they are cheaper than portal guys. Our pocketbook isnt deep enough for going strictly portal. Mad that Mississippi is winning? Mississippi is paying over 300K for their back-up QB. They are paying a TE 100K. They spent money. Their fans live to talk about how they pay for players. They have alot more money committed to NIL than we do. We, on the other hand, do not remotely have that mentality in our fanbase. Many of our fans are the opposite. "Screw that. If a scholarship and what they get now isnt enough then I'll do something else with my money" I've heard and read that many times. We are currently 13th in the SEC in NIL- and Vandy is only behind us because they dont care enough. Want better players? Write a check. Nobody signs for free now. NIL is no longer for your best guys- it's everybody.
Want to hire a new Coach and staff? The first question every interested coach in our job is going to ask is- "Why are you 13th in the SEC in NIL? What is your plan as AD to raise the 10MM-15MM NIL per year it takes to compete in SEC football?" That is going to be what every coach asks our AD when we try to make a hire. Tom Herman is 48- he is going to choose his next P5 hire wisely because it could be his last chance. He willing to go at it with the 15th ranked war chest out of 16 in the SEC? Highly unlikely. And that will be the case with many guys looking to advance their career.
You guys keep on with the fallacy that I'm covering for this staff because of personal reasons. I dont care if we fire Arnett or not. I was just willing to give them a chance unlike many of you. Want to pull the trigger? ok. Just know now that things have changed from just 4 years ago when we hired Leach. We are sitting here with very little draftable talent now- and a tiny NIL compared to the rest of the SEC as it adds 2 more giants. It's an arms race out there and we are Denmark.
Hail State