When you are bored, the Rebel messageboards are great entertainment

[Homedawg]

You think he magically became a "better" college player on day 1 at Ole Miss? He hit .328 as a true freshman -- and hit 11 bombs as a soph. You think Bianco "developed" him in college unlike almost anyone else that ever played there? No. Fact is -- he was basically as good of player on day 1 as he was when he left -- like practically every player that came out of HC during that era.

"You can tell me first hand without question"? What would I know**

I don't have a problem w a differing opinion, but it doesn't change mine. However, Logan power didn't hit 328 as a true fr. He was redshirted his tr fr year.

[Fader21]

Mullen and Cohen are not the most polish guys in the world and lord knows they are not great speakers but I will take them over the two Ole Miss has any day.

Wait a minute... You mean to tell me that you wouldn't take Rev. Beaver in a heartbeat? Wait till the Ole Miss faithful hear about this.

[Jack Lambert]

Wait a minute... You mean to tell me that you wouldn't take Rev. Beaver in a heartbeat? Wait till the Ole Miss faithful hear about this.

I would rather have Butch Davis then Freeze. At lest with him you know who you have. I don't trust Freeze and I think he is a fake christian.

[engie]

I'm not trying to get in a "pissing match" with you about it -- I'm just strongly disagreeing with your sentiment on one player. My point was simply that if there is one single thing in sports that I actually know the most about -- it is this specific situation -- and this specific group of players.

Of the whole bunch that came through at that point in time, Logan Power was WAY more of a "can't miss" college prospect than a question mark. Of the HC crew, only Head(as a pitcher) was I as confident would find success in the SEC coming out. Everyone had a good idea that Smitty could -- but no one knew for sure if he was primarily going to focus on football, basketball, or baseball coming out of highschool(yes, Rod Barnes talked with him about the third option as well). Logan has like 30 Ole Miss hitting records now. It seems silly to short sell him as a prospect.

[Jacksondevildog]

THIS! DAMN IT. THIS!

It's a lot more difficult to win in baseball at Ole Miss than they think/realize. They've been spoiled by the Polk II era. The only way that the recruit well enough to build a program that is elite nationally is to clean up the best in Mississippi every year. The only way that happens is if we pass on a bunch of the top players in state. In Memphis they have to compete with us, Tennessee, Vandy, Memphis, and Arkansas for talent and the city gets split up.

It's also going to get even more difficult the more success we have plus the fact that we have an impending basically new stadium coming in the near future.

It's not a coincidence that Ole Miss started to decline and we started to improve markedly during Cohen's third year.

[engie]

I don't have a problem w a differing opinion, but it doesn't change mine. However, Logan power didn't hit 328 as a true fr. He was redshirted his tr fr year.

Medical...I had forgotten about that.

You are welcome to your opinion -- I just disagree based on the absolutely huge sample size I had involving him -- and really all of the central MS prospects of that era.

The bottom line is -- Polk/McMahon and Raffo absolutely shat the bed in recruiting for a NUMBER of years there. Once Stephen and Pettway went to Ole Miss and had success, that pipeline was secured until it dried up...

[Jacksondevildog]

Don't forget former MSU player Shane Kelly was the head coach at Hillcrest that sent that talent to Oxford.

Edited to add: I'm not blaming Kelly on actually sending them there. I'm aggravated that he didn't say, "Hey Polk, these guys are the real deal. I don't give a damn if they camped or not. You need to sign them pronto or the Rebels will and they will take over the momentum in the state and you will be out of a job in 3 years."

[shoeless joe]

I don't feel like I was short selling him. I'm just goin off things I remember seeing with my own eyes. No doubt you had a closer look so I won't argue with your opinion but mine won't change either.

Maybe he was misjudged by many, maybe it was his size, but I was surprised that he had the success he had at ole miss...again, no slight at all there.

I would have been less shocked if he had been an all American on the golf course vs his solid college baseball career.

[shoeless joe]

Engie, on another note, since we both played with and against many of the top players in the area during that time I would be interested to hear who you thought the best of that group was?

Some had huge ceilings they never reached on the next level and some busted thru their percieved potential. But there were definitely some that struck fear at the HS level above and beyond the others. Thoughts?

[engie]

Don't forget former MSU player Shane Kelly was the head coach at Hillcrest that sent that talent to Oxford.

That ship sailed long before Shane got that head coaching job -- and I'm no huge Shane Kelly fan. Let's not forget that Coach Wy also was a GA under Polk at MSU...

No Hillcrest players were ever pushed in any way to that or any other school honestly. As fun as that conspiracy may be. Fact is -- at the time -- Ole Miss was the MORE ATTRACTIVE OPTION. Dan McDonnell was at HC twice a week at least recruiting, was constantly accessible, etc...for years... The only time Polk, McMahon, Raffo, Shoenrock, etc were around was at regional showcases(State Games) and/or the MSU baseball camp, where they were pretty snobbish and unapproachable unless you were one of "their guys". They were lazy as hell on the recruiting trail -- and it ultimately costed them their jobs and in some ways their legacies.

Stephen never had a committable offer from MSU. Polk asked him to come official visit during football season -- with no guarantee of ever getting an offer -- while OM and USCe both wanted an answer from him in June/July. Waiting on MSU would have been burning all of his other bridges. In that manner, Polk never gave MSU any chance. Once Stephen signed with Ole Miss and went off as a freshman -- right on the heels of Seth's SEC Freshman of the Year performance -- everyone with HC hats were treated like rock stars in Oxford and outcasts in Starkville -- and the baseball pipeline was set for that era...

[messageboardsuperhero]

That ship sailed long before Shane got that head coaching job -- and I'm no huge Shane Kelly fan. Let's not forget that Coach Wy also was a GA under Polk at MSU...

No Hillcrest players were ever pushed in any way to that or any other school honestly. As fun as that conspiracy may be. Fact is -- at the time -- Ole Miss was the MORE ATTRACTIVE OPTION. Dan McDonnell was at HC twice a week at least recruiting, was constantly accessible, etc...for years... The only time Polk, McMahon, Raffo, Shoenrock, etc were around was at regional showcases(State Games) and/or the MSU baseball camp, where they were pretty snobbish and unapproachable unless you were one of "their guys". They were lazy as hell on the recruiting trail -- and it ultimately costed them their jobs and in some ways their legacies.

Stephen never had a committable offer from MSU. Polk asked him to come official visit during football season -- with no guarantee of ever getting an offer -- while OM and USCe both wanted an answer from him in June/July. Waiting on MSU would have been burning all of his other bridges. In that manner, Polk never gave MSU any chance. Once Stephen signed with Ole Miss and went off as a freshman -- right on the heels of Seth's SEC Freshman of the Year performance -- everyone with HC hats were treated like rock stars in Oxford and outcasts in Starkville -- and the baseball pipeline was set for that era...

Damn, that's just depressing...

It's crazy to think how different both UM and MSU's programs would be today had we shown those guys the interest they deserved. UM probably would have never made that run, might not have done that renovation to their stadium, wouldn't have the fan support/interest they have now, etc.

Then again, if those guys had come here, Tommy Raffo might be our coach today instead of John Cohen. You never know.

[engie]

Engie, on another note, since we both played with and against many of the top players in the area during that time I would be interested to hear who you thought the best of that group was?

Some had huge ceilings they never reached on the next level and some busted thru their percieved potential. But there were definitely some that struck fear at the HS level above and beyond the others. Thoughts?

Man, that's a great question. I'll have to think about it more in depth and get back to you...

At that snapshot of time in high school, I thought Micah Schilling was probably the best offensively I'd seen. He was the only player I'd played with at the HS level that could go full fledged cocky on the level of Beau Gentry(in Trouble with the Curve) and still dominate. Of course, that kind of stuff didn't fly for "us" -- so I don't know who else may have had that capability. And my sample size with him was pretty small overall.

The best on the hill was probably a push between Les Dykes and Zach Grienke -- although I only saw Grienke once. I put both of them a notch above Tankersly in high school(and Tony Sipp deserves to be on this level as well from JUCO)...and down from there to Pope, Head, Goskowski, etc... Stephen played in Iowa the summer between his JR and SR years -- and as soon as he came back, I knew he would be very successful on the hill in college -- but his "stuff" just wasn't quite what some of those other guys had. What Stephen had was a great mentality on the mound, craftiness, and tremendous command of 4 pitches.

[shoeless joe]

Just based on what they did in high school I would have to say pope is the best high school guy I saw at that time. He could do it all. Tatum was a beast and that Hattiesburg team with he and grant was quite intimidating. As were the tankersley pettway teams at WC. of course this type of list would useless without head and gostkowski. The times I saw dykes he was not dominant.

[Homedawg]

Different folks different opinions, but I'd take tankersly over dykes. To be fair I only saw dykes once and he was pedestrian on that day. I saw Taylor 3-4 times and he was dominant every time w great command. One was a 1-0 showdown w Madison and gostkowski at Madison. Great game.
Eta, I take back that it was gostkowski, it might have been the lefty Madison had at the time, I've gone blank as to his name Rob????Either way great game.

[shoeless joe]

Different folks different opinions, but I'd take tankersly over dykes. To be fair I only saw dykes once and he was pedestrian on that day. I saw Taylor 3-4 times and he was dominant every time w great command. One was a 1-0 showdown w Madison and gostkowski at Madison. Great game.
Eta, I take back that it was gostkowski, it might have been the lefty Madison had at the time, I've gone blank as to his name Rob????Either way great game.

You may be thinking of bogue. He was an ole miss signee but never did much. He was good but no where near the level of tankersley.

As far as being just flat out crafty pigott would have to be there. He did more with less than anybody I can recall in the state at that time.

[Homedawg]

You may be thinking of bogue. He was an ole miss signee but never did much. He was good but no where near the level of tankersley.

As far as being just flat out crafty pigott would have to be there. He did more with less than anybody I can recall in the state at that time.

I don't think the guy I'm thinking of signed d1. It will hit me. And I wasn't in anyway comparing him to tankersly, was just saying they had a pitchers duel and was a great game.

[Homedawg]

It for sure wasn't bogue. Didn't like him at all.

[Todd4State]

I don't think the guy I'm thinking of signed d1. It will hit me. And I wasn't in anyway comparing him to tankersly, was just saying they had a pitchers duel and was a great game.

Rob Blackledge.

[Homedawg]

Rob Blackledge.

Yep that's him.

[Todd4State]

That ship sailed long before Shane got that head coaching job -- and I'm no huge Shane Kelly fan. Let's not forget that Coach Wy also was a GA under Polk at MSU...

No Hillcrest players were ever pushed in any way to that or any other school honestly. As fun as that conspiracy may be. Fact is -- at the time -- Ole Miss was the MORE ATTRACTIVE OPTION. Dan McDonnell was at HC twice a week at least recruiting, was constantly accessible, etc...for years... The only time Polk, McMahon, Raffo, Shoenrock, etc were around was at regional showcases(State Games) and/or the MSU baseball camp, where they were pretty snobbish and unapproachable unless you were one of "their guys". They were lazy as hell on the recruiting trail -- and it ultimately costed them their jobs and in some ways their legacies.

Stephen never had a committable offer from MSU. Polk asked him to come official visit during football season -- with no guarantee of ever getting an offer -- while OM and USCe both wanted an answer from him in June/July. Waiting on MSU would have been burning all of his other bridges. In that manner, Polk never gave MSU any chance. Once Stephen signed with Ole Miss and went off as a freshman -- right on the heels of Seth's SEC Freshman of the Year performance -- everyone with HC hats were treated like rock stars in Oxford and outcasts in Starkville -- and the baseball pipeline was set for that era...

If people had opened their eyes, they would have noticed that Hillcrest wasn't the only place that was happening when Polk was around. Jarrod Parks from MC was a dandy dozen player and opted to go to Meridian and actually was committed to Tulane before Cohen swooped in at the last minute and got him for us.

When Polk was around there was a joke among people in Mississippi that goes "How do you get a baseball scholarship to MSU?" And then you shrug your shoulders. Sometimes people would go to the camp and Polk would completely blow them off. He literally expected the program to recruit itself. But even then his decisions were puzzling to say the least a lot of times. Louis Coleman? JUCO fodder.