Just wanted to say that I like our recruiting strategy this year....

[MaroonFlounder]

Speaking of Key Thompson, do we have to worry about LSU or another school closeby to his home stealing him away from us?

[HoopsDawg]

My info is 100% accurate on AJ. Saban told him the same thing also.

LOL, I don't really want to get into his recruitment, but we wanted him at WR and we told him he would have a chance to play early. We never really had a shot for reason's I'm not going to revisit. AJ Brown may not have elite top end speed but he is a really good athlete and will be a strong receiver at OM for the next 4 years.

[maroonmania]

I agree that we have had some misses. It appears thougj with the coaches he hired this past spring and bringing Peterson in too, that he's trying to correct it. Also the fact we got a pretty good class going right now and some others on the way that he may still have a little fire left. I'm really anxious to see how the team and the coaches respond this Saturday. I think we will find out which direction the ships headed.

Mullen has made some moves FINALLY to help our recruiting situation out but it took him 7+ years to do it and the changes made we won't really see a lot of effect from for another couple of years. Mullen has acted like for a long time that recruiting is almost an afterthought to him. A necessary evil so to speak. We have been very fortunate in the past that some lightly recruited guys like McKinney, Preston Smith, Jonathan Banks and so on have turned out to be such good players but you roll the dice on 2 stars and low 3 stars long enough and you are going to end up with snake eyes. The corrections that Mullen made this offseason are some that should have been made years ago along with the fact that he should take Hevesy off of the recruiting trail permanently (if he is not going to get rid of him altogether). But as far as I know he hasn't done that. I'm still putting a lot of the blame on losing Brown and especially Lashley directly on him.

[Commercecomet24]

That's because nothing this bad has happened since the board existed.

I don't know the 2015 baseball season and Rick Rsy were pretty bad. I understand where you're coming from though.

[HoopsDawg]

Speaking of Key Thompson, do we have to worry about LSU or another school closeby to his home stealing him away from us?

LSU is set at QB. Thompson has been solid and has recruited for us. He is also an early enrollee. Having said that, a 3-9 year could change a lot of things. We need to win some games.

[HoopsDawg]

Mullen has made some moves FINALLY to help our recruiting situation out but it took him 7+ years to do it and the changes made we won't really see a lot of effect from for another couple of years. Mullen has acted like for a long time that recruiting is almost an afterthought to him. A necessary evil so to speak. We have been very fortunate in the past that some lightly recruited guys like McKinney, Preston Smith, Jonathan Banks and so on have turned out to be such good players but you roll the dice on 2 stars and low 3 stars long enough and you are going to end up with snake eyes. The corrections that Mullen made this offseason are some that should have been made years ago along with the fact that he should take Hevesy off of the recruiting trail permanently (if he is not going to get rid of him altogether). But as far as I know he hasn't done that. I'm still putting a lot of the blame on losing Brown and especially Lashley directly on him.

All very true. I think you continue the mantra, "we are a developmental program" and say it over and over again, you actually start believing it. The bottom line is, we need to upgrade our recruiting and talent level. It's going to be a struggle this year, but Mullen has earned the right to try and turn it around.

[maroonmania]

Agreed. It's been worse than I ever remember seeing it.

That should be expected when you suffer a historic loss. This USA loss will go down in MSU lore along with Maine and the Troy tornado game. Its in the same discussion. And the sad part is we just got beat. Its not like we had 5 turnovers and they had none. Fairly clean game and we just lost. Yea, we missed the last makeable FG off the upright but heck, they missed TWO makeable FGs off the upright.

[Bubb Rubb]

Question: do you think our young RBs being nailed to the bench helps with recruiting?

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

LSU is set at QB. Thompson has been solid and has recruited for us. He is also an early enrollee. Having said that, a 3-9 year could change a lot of things. We need to win some games.

I think kids are concerned more with their relationship to coaches and how coaches develop their position more than how many games they won. The kids with the most potential want to make it to the league, and they will go where they have the best chance to get there. Key sees what Dak did and finds himself similar and has been sold on the fact that he could take the same path as Dak and be a MSU legend. It dont hurt that Dak is starting for the Cowboys in week 1 either.

[HoopsDawg]

Question: do you think our young RBs being nailed to the bench helps with recruiting?

I think the perception that we don't play young guys hurts recruiting. Especially when you turn on Ole Miss game and you see DK Metcalf and AJ Brown catching balls and Benito Jones making plays. I think this perception is not reality. Some of those young guys at RB aren't as good as we fans think they are. I do think Aeris Williams needs to be featured more.

[HoopsDawg]

I think kids are concerned more with their relationship to coaches and how coaches develop their position more than how many games they won. The kids with the most potential want to make it to the league, and they will go where they have the best chance to get there. Key sees what Dak did and finds himself similar and has been sold on the fact that he could take the same path as Dak and be a MSU legend. It dont hurt that Dak is starting for the Cowboys in week 1 either.

Yes, I agree and no one can knock Dan for his ability to coach and develop QB's. It's his best trait.

[maroonmania]

I think the perception that we don't play young guys hurts recruiting. Especially when you turn on Ole Miss game and you see DK Metcalf and AJ Brown catching balls and Benito Jones making plays. I think this perception is not reality. Some of those young guys at RB aren't as good as we fans think they are. I do think Aeris Williams needs to be featured more.

I'm sure not all of them are but when there are FOUR of them (Williams, Lee, Gibson and Murphy) and our coaches STILL think our best option is to pound Holloway up the middle then something is off. Either we are just ridiculously jaded with regards to playing veteran RBs OR our evaluation of HS RBs is terrible.

[msstate7]

Yes, I agree and no one can knock Dan for his ability to coach and develop QB's. It's his best trait.

Yet we (myself included) slammed Mullen for his use of qb's last week. Perhaps Mullen saw something in fitz's play that led Mullen to believe fitz should sit last week in order to get a point across to help him long term. Perhaps I'm reaching haha

[HoopsDawg]

I'm sure not all of them are but when there are FOUR of them (Williams, Lee, Gibson and Murphy) and our coaches STILL think our best option is to pound Holloway up the middle then something is off. Either we are just ridiculously jaded with regards to playing veteran RBs OR our evaluation of HS RBs is terrible.

Let's be honest, Lee and Murphy weren't highly touted recruits. Williams need to be featured more and I think we will see more of him this weekend, but neither he nor Gibson have breakaway speed. It's not like Mullen has Norwood or Ballard sitting over there on the bench.

Holloway needs a few touches, but Holloway up the middle in the 4th quarter HAS to STOP.

[HoopsDawg]

Yet we (myself included) slammed Mullen for his use of qb's last week. Perhaps Mullen saw something in fitz's play that led Mullen to believe fitz should sit last week in order to get a point across to help him long term. Perhaps I'm reaching haha

A lot of stupid things have been said the last week. Fact is, Fitz went 6 and out. Damien came in and led us to 3 straight scoring drives. I think any smart coach would have stuck with him at that point.

[msstate7]

A lot of stupid things have been said the last week. Fact is, Fitz went 6 and out. Damien came in and led us to 3 straight scoring drives. I think any smart coach would have stuck with him at that point.

I think halfway thru the 3rd might have been a good time to give fitz another shot running zone read. Williams definitely earned the right to finish the 1st half and start the 2nd half

[HoopsDawg]

I think halfway thru the 3rd might have been a good time to give fitz another shot running zone read. Williams definitely earned the right to finish the 1st half and start the 2nd half

In hindsight, I agree. But Damien was actually effective running the ball. If we bring in Fitz and he goes 3 and out again, we would have been mad for not sticking with Damien. I was more upset about the offsides on Calvin, the missed FG's, and the playcalling before our first missed FG.

Having said that, I think we need to go with Fitz on Saturday. Tell him he's the guy, and give him a real shot to win the job. He's need to play the entire first half without looking over his shoulder.

[Really Clark?]

I think halfway thru the 3rd might have been a good time to give fitz another shot running zone read. Williams definitely earned the right to finish the 1st half and start the 2nd half

But we only had 2 drives in the 3rd. The first one lead to a FG and we were up 20-7. I think if we went up by 3 scores then Fitz might got another series. But it just didn't happen.

[msstate7]

But we only had 2 drives in the 3rd. The first one lead to a FG and we were up 20-7. I think if we went up by 3 scores then Fitz might got another series. But it just didn't happen.

Wow... I only watched live, but I thought we had more than 2 drives. That's a pretty damning stat on our 2nd half defense

[HoopsDawg]

Wow... I only watched live, but I thought we had more than 2 drives. That's a pretty damning stat on our 2nd half defense

Yep, Damien only had 8 possessions. 4 scoring drives, 2 missed FG's, and 2 punts.