Things I found Interesting on MSU Media Day

[Ifyouonlyknew]

According to one of their parents- that is 100% the plan. Mullen has been asked to make a decision by the end of week 3

I could see that but I wouldn't want none of the guys leaving until the season is over.

[lamont]

I could see that but I wouldn't want none of the guys leaving until the season is over.

I'm sure Mullen doesn't either. Curious to see how he handles it. If nobody transfers out- we are going to see both of them play early. The thing is, you don't want to keep someone around that's going to be a problem either. That could easily happen into the season if he doesn't make a decision and one of them ends up sitting. They want to be able to transfer out to play juco and then find another school.

[Todd4State]

2. I expect Shump to be a great special teams guy & get very few carries & lead block on occasion. Again I expect Aeris to be the guy.

5. Rankin wasn't ready in September but by November he was but didn't want to waste a year on 4 games.

7. Dear played like Akers in HS. He rarely played at RB. He played mostly Wildcat QB & in the Slot. Don't expect much if any Dear playing RB. He'll still get those jet sweeps but he's going to make more plays downfield this year like our slots in the past (Bump & Tubby)

8. Gray is, has been, & will always be an outside WR. We have to stop looking at his height & look at his skill. He's never played Slot he's always been outside & will show why this year. He's the starter at X & will show out.

2. I hope you are right about Aeris. I want to have a running back that is more a between the tackles kind of runner. I'm not as down on Holloway as some people are though. Like any other player he is productive if used correctly as he was last year.

5. We still probably should have tried Rankin last year. Warren wasn't ready either. I find it hard to believe that a player could go from not being anywhere close to ready to being one of our best guys in two months. May be the case here- especially as bad as our o-line was. It wasn't like the bar was set real high.

7. Going by how Dear was used against Madison Central. They had him playing all three- QB/WR/RB. I would tend to say from the two times I watched Dear against MC that he was probably used in more spots than Akers has been to this point which has been mainly QB. It is possible that on the whole year that Dear was used mainly as the QB and they moved him around more because MC was one of the better teams they played. My point still stands that he should have been able to run a draw play and some type of outside run more than he was last year.

8. Actually, we do have to look at his height. Much like Tyson Lee who was a good QB- it does come into play at this level and it will come into play in the red zone for us because his height essentially eliminates him as a target making it easier for the defense to key in on Ross, Myles, and Dear, and whatever 6'5" WR we decide to play. Just like we had to roll Lee out a lot so he could see downfield. I am looking at his skill set too though- I want his skill set on a guy like a safety or a LB because he would be hell to cover and it would make it even easier on him to get deep. I think he would be a beast on screens as well. Yes, he can beat corners for Troy consistently deep- but in the SEC I can only remember a couple of times that he did so. Just because Cam Akers is a QB in high school it doesn't mean he should be a QB at Ohio State. Most WR's can transition between the slot at outside pretty well- like Fred Ross. The thing that worries me is Dan had Deddrick Thomas listed as Gray's back up at the X and he's even more of a slot WR than Gray is. I don't want a 6'5" guy on one side and a 5'8" guy on the other.

[Todd4State]

I'm sure Mullen doesn't either. Curious to see how he handles it. If nobody transfers out- we are going to see both of them play early. The thing is, you don't want to keep someone around that's going to be a problem either. That could easily happen into the season if he doesn't make a decision and one of them ends up sitting. They want to be able to transfer out to play juco and then find another school.

Staley, Fitzgerald, and Williams are all RS sophomores and older correct? I don't think JUCO is an option for any of them really- and by the time Dan figures out who is/isn't the starter the JUCO season would have started. I think the options for Fitz and Staley would be to transfer to a I-AA school and be immediately eligible, transfer to another I-A school and sit out, or I guess be an early grad and play immediately somewhere else although can be an early grad and play somewhere else for two seasons instead of one.

Hopefully it goes as well as some of the other guys we have had transfer out like the running back from Pineville, La or Quadry Antoine.

If Fitz wins the job we could see Williams transfer out after this year to JSU or somewhere like that and Staley leave which would leave us with Fitz, Tiano, and Keytaeon next year.

[HSVDawg]

No. 5 is really strange given how bad we were on the OL last year.

Yep. Gonna go ahead and call 9 kinds of BS on that one.

[HSVDawg]

What he said was that Rankin could've helped towards the end of the year last year...he wasn't ready early on so it made no sense to burn a year of eligibility. Regarding Dear, Gonzalez noted that he was capable of playing some RB but, as IYOK noted, don't expect a lot of that.

If Rankin could have helped us beat Ole Miss or Bama, it would have been worth the entire year of eligibility even if he only played one game. And a big reason we lost both of those games is that we gave up like 17 sacks combined and had countless other occurrences of pressure leading to bad throws, INT's, or other busted plays. And you would think a solid Left Tackle would have gone a long way in alleviating some of that pressure. But all that being said, I'm calling BS on Dan's statement about Rankin. Coachspeak that he should have just kept to himself is all it is.

[lamont]

Staley, Fitzgerald, and Williams are all RS sophomores and older correct? I don't think JUCO is an option for any of them really- and by the time Dan figures out who is/isn't the starter the JUCO season would have started. I think the options for Fitz and Staley would be to transfer to a I-AA school and be immediately eligible, transfer to another I-A school and sit out, or I guess be an early grad and play immediately somewhere else although can be an early grad and play somewhere else for two seasons instead of one.

Hopefully it goes as well as some of the other guys we have had transfer out like the running back from Pineville, La or Quadry Antoine.

If Fitz wins the job we could see Williams transfer out after this year to JSU or somewhere like that and Staley leave which would leave us with Fitz, Tiano, and Keytaeon next year.

Williams is a R-Jr. Fitz/Staley are R-Sophs and can go juco. The idea behind going juco is to be able to be picked up again by another D-1 school. Even if they play half a season in juco- it puts plays on film for them to be recruited.

[Todd4State]

Williams is a R-Jr. Fitz/Staley are R-Sophs and can go juco. The idea behind going juco is to be able to be picked up again by another D-1 school. Even if they play half a season in juco- it puts plays on film for them to be recruited.

Yes but can they realistically go into another team mid season like that and pick up their offense that quickly? It just seems like it would be hard to just show up and do that. Especially as short as the JUCO season is.

[lamont]

Yes but can they realistically go into another team mid season like that and pick up their offense that quickly? It just seems like it would be hard to just show up and do that. Especially as short as the JUCO season is.

They will be on a team before the 1st game is played. They can pick up offenses and roll on. Every juco would be happy to have them and get them plenty of reps

[Ifyouonlyknew]

If Rankin could have helped us beat Ole Miss or Bama, it would have been worth the entire year of eligibility even if he only played one game. And a big reason we lost both of those games is that we gave up like 17 sacks combined and had countless other occurrences of pressure leading to bad throws, INT's, or other busted plays. And you would think a solid Left Tackle would have gone a long way in alleviating some of that pressure. But all that being said, I'm calling BS on Dan's statement about Rankin. Coachspeak that he should have just kept to himself is all it is.

You don't waste a year of a guys eligibility for 1 or 2 games. That's not how you run a program. We will now get 2 full seasons of him starting instead of playing 3-4 games & this year. Mullen made the right choice on this 1.

[Jack Lambert]

Does no. 8 mean Ross is staying inside?

As long as he is on the field I really don't care. He'll make plays.

[Jarius]

They will be on a team before the 1st game is played. They can pick up offenses and roll on. Every juco would be happy to have them and get them plenty of reps

If they want Mullen to pick a starter by week 3, they aren't going to get to juco by the time the 1st game is played. Their schedule starts the same as ours. They aren't going to go through our fall camp and 2 weeks of the season and then go to a juco team and pick up the playbook in the middle of the football season (if you are talking about week 3 of the season). If you are talking about week 3 of training camp, well he isn't going to make a decision by then more than likely so they are probably going to have to get over it.

[Jack Lambert]

A few more nuggets. One QB will transfer but not Tiano. Would not be surprised if Tiano ends up being the guy

Someone is going to leave maybe two.

[HSVDawg]

You don't waste a year of a guys eligibility for 1 or 2 games. That's not how you run a program. We will now get 2 full seasons of him starting instead of playing 3-4 games & this year. Mullen made the right choice on this 1.

You are making a big assumption there. If he does have a good year this year (basically meaning that Mullen was right in his assessment of him coming on strong in the 2nd half last season), then he is a 4th year player with a year under his belt at left tackle or right tackle in the toughest league in America. He's likely gone in the draft at that point, which makes the redshirt year pointless. A scenario where he plays 4 games as a Junior plus a full season as a senior is better than him just playing a full season as a redshirt junior and then leaving.

But again, I'm thinking Rankin's ceiling is probably as another Charles Siddoway or Justin Senior type (a solid but not spectacular tackle prospect). Therefore I'm calling BS on Mullen's statement. He may have been another body we could have thrown out there, but chances are he really wouldn't have been an upgrade over Jenkins / Senior / Warren.

[lamont]

If they want Mullen to pick a starter by week 3, they aren't going to get to juco by the time the 1st game is played. Their schedule starts the same as ours. They aren't going to go through our fall camp and 2 weeks of the season and then go to a juco team and pick up the playbook in the middle of the football season (if you are talking about week 3 of the season). If you are talking about week 3 of training camp, well he isn't going to make a decision by then more than likely so they are probably going to have to get over it.

By the end of week 3 of practice. Mullen will know who the QB will be by then. Whether he lets them know or not is a different story

[Interpolation_Dawg_EX]

I think Fitz is the guy this year. But I like Tiano better, but he is a year away. Next year Tiano could take the job, but it is really hard to beat out an incumbent. It's going to be an interesting race. The safe pick is Damian Williams (age and experience) but he definitely has the least upside. When it comes to moving the ball, scoring points, and winning games, I put Damian at #4. He has a real ceiling.

I agree with a lot of that....I think it's very interesting to hear from Mullen that there is no separation between the 4 and that leads me to believe Tiano could actually be in the mix. In the end though, we all know that Mullen will play the players that he trusts. He even said as much with his coach roaches analogy.

[Bubb Rubb]

If Tiano is the guy, then he must be a bad ass. I think Fitz is the guy personally, but I feel confident that the winner of the QB job will do fine.
Remember, last year at this time, Freeze "still wasn't sure who the QB was going to be" for Ole Miss.
Lots of smoke and mirrors this time of year

I hoped it would be Fitz but it's looking less and less likely.

[msstate7]

I hoped it would be Fitz but it's looking less and less likely.

Who is looking likely?

[Johnson85]

If Rankin could have helped us beat Ole Miss or Bama, it would have been worth the entire year of eligibility even if he only played one game. And a big reason we lost both of those games is that we gave up like 17 sacks combined and had countless other occurrences of pressure leading to bad throws, INT's, or other busted plays. And you would think a solid Left Tackle would have gone a long way in alleviating some of that pressure. But all that being said, I'm calling BS on Dan's statement about Rankin. Coachspeak that he should have just kept to himself is all it is.

I think you're probably right that it's coach speak. He probably could have helped in the sense that he would have been slightly better than Warren or Jenkins, but he probably wouldn't have made a difference in the W column. That said, even if he had, our OL recruiting has been shit and it was probably obvious to Dan that we would likely need him in 2017. Looking at the OL roster, what do you think we would look like next year if we lost Rankin, Senior, Clayborne, and Desper after this year?

Something Like:

LT - Jenkins - RS Jr.
LG - Deion Calhoun - RS Jr.
C - Harrison Moon - RS Soph
RG - Darryl Williams - RS Soph
RT - ??? Tommy Champion? Or Michael Story? Or a RS Freshman?

That's a lot of unknowns as of right now. Even if Champion or somebody provides another solid OT option, having Rankin gives us the option to move Jenkins to a guard spot if Williams and Moon don't work out. Looks like 2018 we should have the opportunity to have another good OL. Hopefully we can keep the rest of the positions stocked to take advantage of it.

[Johnson85]

Yes but can they realistically go into another team mid season like that and pick up their offense that quickly? It just seems like it would be hard to just show up and do that. Especially as short as the JUCO season is.

I suspect that Fitz and Staley are good enough compared to most JUCO QBs that there are only a handful of JUCO teams that wouldn't promise them a starting position immediately.