Can Sustained Success be achieved with Mississippi players?

[OMlawdog]

Those guys are flourishing in Mullen's system. Im not certain they would be looking so good in Croom's system.

Mullen is taking advantage of their mobility and running plays that work, as opposed to the Cut/Croom offense of lining right at them and going straight ahead.

Im not sure they are overly talented, I simply think they are being utilized really well.

I think the part about USM is that they could get a guy in the 15-40 range that should have been ranked higher, but no one saw him at a camp or enough on film, but now the players ranked 25-40 are there for a reason. Now its not perfect, but I just don't see as many sleepers slipping through the cracks like 10 years ago.

Maybe there have been, but it seems like there is less.

I also think that Mississippi football recruiting coverage jumped the shark about 3 years ago. The coverage 30-40 kids from MS get compared to the rest of the country is ridiculous.</p>

 

[RebelBruiser]

Here is the problem. You basically have to sweep Mississippi, or at least get 75% of that talent.

In 1995 and 1996, we were on probation, which limited how many we could sign and who would want to sign with us. I wasn't following back then, but I'm betting you racked up in Mississippi in those classes. You went Juco heavy in your 1998 and 1999 classes and had some luck there too. Those are the classes that made up the veterans on your 1998 and 1999 teams in large part.

Of course if you dominate the state, you can sustain success. There lies the problem. No coach will likely ever dominate the state at Ole Miss or MSU unless the other is in a really bad state (like our probation in the mid-90s). Even then, there are often some players that are going to the other school no matter what.

I'm also on the boat that Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana, in that order are the best places to go for out of state talent. And no you don't have to beat out the big schools in those states. People in Mississippi have that idea because in Mississippi, if you aren't recruited by Ole Miss or MSU, you probably aren't any good.

In Florida, there is loads of NFL and at least SEC caliber talent that doesn't get a look from Florida, FSU, or Miami. In Georgia, the same with Georgia and Georgia Tech. In Louisiana, the same with LSU.

Leftovers in those states are good football players. I still don't get Mullen's strategy to NOT recruit Florida at all after spending so much time there.

 

[kired]

One thing you "go recruit Florida" guys are forgetting... EVERYONE is recruiting in Florida. You don't just have to beat UF, FSU, & Miami - you're competing with Bama, Georgia, Ohio St, Michigan, USC, Notre Dame... not to mention most of the other SEC & ACC teams. Go look atFlorida prospects - they've got guys spread out all over the US. How much effort would go into signing 2-3 Florida prospects who aren't guaranteed to be any better than the guys we sign here from MS?

 

[Dollabillz]

Maybe it is to MS players that are loyal, but not when you're talking about "out of state". Is a player from Mobile not as good as a player from Tampa? Good football players are everywhere. You are just high on "Florida" because Nutt is recruiting there. So what? And once the cards fall, you are recruiting the same type of athletes. So why not stay closer to home, save time, fuel, see more recruits, etc. etc. etc. You are just trying to paint a picture that shows Ole Miss and Nutt iN some sort of genius light while Mullen is an idiot. It's just not true.

Teams like Louisville, Iowa, Nebraska, Arkansas......they need to go to high population areas like that because they are using less time to see many players in fewer trips. Just odds....Texas, California, Florida, if you're going to make a trip by plane, the least you could do is go to a high population area. But the competition will likely be the same, and usually between the same caliber teams.

MSU doesn't need to do that. There's talent in Mississippi, Memphis, Birmingham, Mobile, Louisiana within driving distance. Hey, if you want to go to Florida, that's fine. But I'm just showing you that's it's not because Mullen has bad relations, is stupid, etc etc as the reason he isn't doing it. He's just making the best use of his time.

 

[Mikoma]

Do you realize that Florida has a population of 20 million? Mississippi has slightly less than 3 million. Afterthe Gators, Canes and Seminoles take their pick of the top players there are hundreds of very, very good prospects left who would rank very favorably with the best in Mississsippi. I doubt that Stateand Ole Misscan competeintheSEC by limiting their recruiting strictly toMississippi kids. There are simply not enough quality players in the state.