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

[WinningIsRelentless]

It wasn't just the second half d it was the d the whole game. We couldn't get off the field. On the second drive of the second half we had the big holding call on green that took away a first down inside the red zone.

[msstate7]

It wasn't just the second half d it was the d the whole game. We couldn't get off the field. On the second drive of the second half we had the big holding call on green that took away a first down inside the red zone.

Yeah, the defense was subpar the whole game. We did completely shut down the run 1st half though, but 2nd half that stopped too

[Homedawg]

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.

This. And I have no idea where the we told him safety crap came from. It's just not accurate. We said we had a starting spot at wr that he could challenge for from day 1.

[maroonmania]

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.

Well neither was Holloway. In fact Holloway might have been the lowest recruited guy of the bunch but Dan knew he at least had speed. And I'll give you Lee was not heavily recruited as a RB (most thought he would end up a LB) but Gibson and Williams were both 4 stars and Murphy was at least a mid to high 3 star with some pretty decent offers.

[HoopsDawg]

Well neither was Holloway. In fact Holloway might have been the lowest recruited guy of the bunch but Dan knew he at least had speed. And I'll give you Lee was not heavily recruited as a RB (most thought he would end up a LB) but Gibson and Williams were both 4 stars and Murphy was at least a mid to high 3 star with some pretty decent offers.

I'm not sure if we are agreeing or disagreeing. I think Williams needs more than 2 touches. I still think Holloway needs a few touches per game. I don't think Murphy, Lee or Gibson need touches at this point.

[maroonmania]

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

10 possessions for the entire game is not very good and is an indictment of our defense. The biggest negative on Damien I guess is we had too many drives bog down and end up in FG attempts. But that is mainly a result that we had almost ZERO big plays in the game. Ross had a run of about 40 yards and that's it. No other explosive plays to speak of.

[msstate7]

10 possessions for the entire game is not very good and is an indictment of our defense. The biggest negative on Damien I guess is we had too many drives bog down and end up in FG attempts. But that is mainly a result that we had almost ZERO big plays in the game. Ross had a run of about 40 yards and that's it. No other explosive plays to speak of.

Williams had some nice runs

[HoopsDawg]

10 possessions for the entire game is not very good and is an indictment of our defense. The biggest negative on Damien I guess is we had too many drives bog down and end up in FG attempts. But that is mainly a result that we had almost ZERO big plays in the game. Ross had a run of about 40 yards and that's it. No other explosive plays to speak of.

Defense didn't force any turnovers. No explosive plays in the passing game or special teams. And when we go uptempo, it just doesn't look right. It never has under Mullen.

[maroonmania]

I'm not sure if we are agreeing or disagreeing. I think Williams needs more than 2 touches. I still think Holloway needs a few touches per game. I don't think Murphy, Lee or Gibson need touches at this point.

I know Shumpert is not the answer and Holloway should be getting around 7-8 carries per game plus his pass receiving. Now that leaves a lot of carries out there in the RB department that either need to go to Williams or one of those other 3. If none of those other 3 are ready for ANY meaningful carries then that is a huge coaching problem in either evaluation or development. There are true freshman all over the country at RB being productive much less RSOs and RFR. I don't know, maybe its time for Greg Knox to be replaced.

[Commercecomet24]

We have to get aeries involved. He's big, strong, balance, vision and can catch the football.

[HSVDawg]

And then there are the guys we missed because we didn't do our homework- Norman Price went to USM because of his girlfriend and was on the 49ers this preseason

I'm not sure how Norman Price falls into the category of us not doing our homework. We wanted him and took his commitment before he left us at the alter. Its not our coaches fault he was *****whipped. Agree with the rest of your points though.

[Tripp McNeely]

Man, y'all can ruin a good recruiting thread

[Tbonewannabe]

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

One of those missed fgs was a 48 yarder so that wasn't a great drive. The biggest issue with the 2nd half was not making any adjustments. USA adjusted to the fact Damian wasn't going to throw it more than 5-10 yards so they took away the WR screens. We made no adjustments in the 2nd half per Dan Mullen's post game so we really just got outcoached. It seems our coaches were on cruise control like the players and it wasn't until USA took the lead that they tried to make something happen. This game was on the coaches more than anything else.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

Man, y'all can ruin a good recruiting thread

ha I was just thinking this...^^

[RougeDawg]

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

Playing the best one is his Achilles heel though.

[msstatelp1]

The guys you are mentioning got bought! Hoops has it figured out and it's what I've been saying. Yes Dan looked around and yes he got lazy on recruiting. But he knows now that he isn't going anywhere and with great recruiters like Buckley and Sirmon and others, we are going to finish strong in recruiting. Willie Gay will be at State. We had a hiccup and Mullen deserves our support. We will be fine. Quit self destructing and get on board guys!

Bingo! Everybody throws out AJ Brown just because he went to SHS. AJ Brown was NEVER coming to State unless we matched or exceeded what he was getting from other schools.

[RougeDawg]

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.

Dude, do you completely throw out the play callingnofneach QB? The plays called for Damien were low risk high reward plays. Easy plays and the players caught the ball. pretty damn simple if you asked me.

[WinningIsRelentless]

Rouge you are pushing an agenda. Dwilliams ran a lot more of the playbook than nick. I'm a nick fan but Damian came in and made plays and reads that nick either missed or wasn't caught. Once Damian was in he never gave us a chance to pull him.

Nick has the high upside but Saturday Damian seized the opportunity when it was given to him.

[tcdog70]

From my point of view the biggest problem Dan has is he has missed out on some of the bigger recruits in the Mississippi HS ranks over the years. AJ Brown, Lashley, Raekwon Davis, and Knott is a LOT of misses for a program that is supposed to be the best in Mississippi. This year Willie Gay is still committed to Ole Miss. That could be a big miss. Matt Womack looks like he could be a miss. Then you had the Army AA Game debacle and I do think that Singleton would have had a much different career here as would have CJ Johnson had we landed them. Channing Ward is in the NFL.

And it's not that we miss on all of them- Chris Jones, Jeffrey Simmons, Leo Lewis, etc. But we've been missing on too many. We have to get a higher percentage of those upper level recruits from Missisippi.

And then there are the guys we missed because we didn't do our homework- Norman Price went to USM because of his girlfriend and was on the 49ers this preseason. Addarius Barnes played cornerback at La Tech and flipped to them on or about NSD and he is in a NFL camp right now. We misevaluated Brandon Mahaffey TWICE- once in high school and once in JUCO and he would have helped our o-line out immensely last year.

Dylan Bradley and jarvcious jackson (sp) both of Noxubee and wanted to come to State. Bradley was a stud and still is.

[fishwater99]

If we don't sign 5 or 6 for the OL then we are screwed..