For Discussion purposes only: Not intended to flame

[tajussely]

There was a post on Genes premium board stating that MSU and OM are very close talent wise. My question is do yall agree? Going position by position who has the edge. Here are my thoughts:

QB: This one is not close. Jevan is at least a top four QB in the SEC and most have him as the second best. Edge: OM

RB: Dixon is a really good RB, but he is the only one who has had any sustained success. I thought Ducre did a decent job and Elliot hasnt show much. On the other hand, Bolden I believe is set for a breakout campaign. We also have plenty of depth at the position. Edge: Overall I say this is a push. We have more depth, but yall may have the more talented start at this point.

WR: We did lose Mike Wallace, but Shay Hodge and Dexter accounted for plenty of our recieving yards this past year. Shay has the best hands on the team and adding Patterson will only help a strong unit. MSU has one WR who has played significant minutes and thats McRea. Obviously, we dont know how he will respond from his injury. The rest of the WR corps is unproven so there is no accurate way to judge. Edge: OM

OL: I believe States OL will be improved this year, but the unit that gave up 11 sacks in the Eggbowl had a lot of work to do. OM has two OL on preseason All SEC teams. LT is the only question mark for us. Edge: OM

TE: Both TES are unproven, so I say this is a push. Edge: Push

DE: State has some athletic DEs, but im not sure another school in the conference has a better rotation than Tillman, Lockett and Hardy. Hardy will be a top ten pick. Edge: OM

DT: I think McPhee has a chance to be good, but at this point he is unproven. Williams and Love are solid players, but IMO they arent game changers. On the flipside, OM returns one starter in Lawon Scott and Ted Laurent filled in admirably while Peria was injured. Rocker did a good job rotating guys in and out so we have some depth. Edge: OM

LB: I think LB is the strongsuit of the defense. The poster on Genes page stated that MSU has a USC type LB corps. IMO that is insane. They do have a good group. OM I believe though has the edge due to having three starters back. Trahan was a diff player at the end of the year. Walker and Cornell continued to improve. Chris White from State is unproven and Jamar Chaney has been out for a year so I am unsure of how long it will take him to get back on track. Edge: OM

DBs: I think our FS gives us the edge. Our corners are good, but I believe States have a chance to be good as well. Charles Mitchell will be very good, but he will need time. Edge: OM althought its close here

Special Teams: I think MSU may have the edge on punting, but we have a preaseason all SEC kicker in Josh Shene. We will call this a push. Edge: Push

It will be interesting to hear yall's thoughts.

 

[FlabLoser]

There was a post on Genes premium board stating that MSU and OM are very close talent wise. My question is do yall agree?

No. Not even close.

 

[MSUCostanza]

is either blind, an idiot, or both. That is a ridiculously sheepish post. OM has a huge talent edge on us right now.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

<span>OT in his high school and college class . Out side of John Jerry, there is no one on their team better than Brignone, Saulsberry (now that he is in the right position), T. Smith or Sherrod. They may have some guys as good, but none of them are better then these 4 guys. They have two Fr scheduled to start. Edge MSU

WR, they lost their best WR last year in Wallace, a 3rd round NFL pick, with blazing speed and nack for the big play. They have no one to replace him. B-Mack (one of the most productive SEC WR even on a bad team) L. Berry, Wilder, Davis, and Robinson, are as good or better than Shay Hodges, McCluster, and Summers. EVEN

RB, no discussion need, we have one of the best in the country will an excellent supporting cast. Edge MSU.

TE, both side sort of unproven, so I say Even, although we have the potential to be more skilled. Even

DT, OM lost Jerry a 1st rounder that was unstoppable and very disruptive. They have Powe's potential, but Powe will probably be more of a run stopper that the disrupter Jerry was. I'll Say that Mcphee is as good or better than anything they have on at DT. OM Ted Laurent and Scott Lawon are Sophs, and serviceable to good, nothing special. K Love (don't let what coach Turner said last week fool you, I remember Croom says, that we are definite much better up the middle when Love is health, key is keeping his foot/toes health), Burns, and Lamarcus Williams are as good. Although I feel that Mcphee and Love give us the edge, I will say even because Mcphee has not played yet, but OM guys are unproven as well specially without Jerry getting the double team. Even

LB, not even close, we have potentially a USC type of LB corp. Edge MSU

CB, While this is probably the weakness of both defenses, I think that we have more experience with Washington , and better athleticism with D. Anderson. Their starters are Marshay Green and Cassius Vaughn, nothing special. Edge MSU

SS/FS OM lost a late round draft pick from an already weak position. I think we have more talent (Smith, Mitchell, and Bonner to their Johnny Brown and K. Lewis) but it is unproven playing behind three Sr. last year. Even

K/P I will say Even but we have the potential to be special with two Juco AA. Even

KR/PR OM McCluster and Green are more proven than the potential we have. Edge OM.

Now these next Two positions, they have a huge edge, so much so that it will make them 3 to 5 wins better than us.

DE, OM Hardy enough said, we have loads of potential in the young guys, but a health Hardy is a beast. If he goes down, this year their is no Jerry to hold it together. Edge OM

QB No debate Snead is possible one of the best in the country although it took him 5 or 6 games to get there. Will he pick up where he left off or where he started? Will he stay healthy? Edge OM</span>

 

[Original48]

Please stop bringing crap like that over here.

 

[VirgilCain]

PSYCHE!!!

 

[MSUCostanza]

That is amazing. Who posted that??

 

[Coach34]

at LB and starting TB. Other than that, Mississippi is better than us at every position group.

We will be improved this season, but Nutt should be sending Orgermoron a very nice Christmas gift every year from now on.

 

[mstatefanatic]

<span>OT in his high school and college class . Out side of John Jerry, there is no one on their team better than Brignone, Saulsberry (now that he is in the right position), T. Smith or Sherrod. They may have some guys as good, but none of them are better then these 4 guys. They have two Fr scheduled to start. Edge MSU ( The gap might not be huge as other spots, but it's still there. Advantage Ole Miss.)

WR, they lost their best WR last year in Wallace, a 3rd round NFL pick, with blazing speed and nack for the big play. They have no one to replace him. B-Mack (one of the most productive SEC WR even on a bad team) L. Berry, Wilder, Davis, and Robinson, are as good or better than Shay Hodges, McCluster, and Summers. EVEN (This is a joke. We don't have anyone in the same stratosphere as McCluster, and I like Hodges too. People forget how good average receivers can be made by a good QB.)

RB, no discussion need, we have one of the best in the country will an excellent supporting cast. Edge MSU. ( Honestly, I think Ole Miss has more depth and unless Dixon shows me something, they may have two guys better than him)

TE, both side sort of unproven, so I say Even, although we have the potential to be more skilled. Even ( Who gives a ****. Neither of us have a superstar. Ours will probably be a 6th OL)

DT, OM lost Jerry a 1st rounder that was unstoppable and very disruptive. They have Powe's potential, but Powe will probably be more of a run stopper that the disrupter Jerry was. I'll Say that Mcphee is as good or better than anything they have on at DT. OM Ted Laurent and Scott Lawon are Sophs, and serviceable to good, nothing special. K Love (don't let what coach Turner said last week fool you, I remember Croom says, that we are definite much better up the middle when Love is health, key is keeping his foot/toes health), Burns, and Lamarcus Williams are as good. Although I feel that Mcphee and Love give us the edge, I will say even because Mcphee has not played yet, but OM guys are unproven as well specially without Jerry getting the double team. EVEN (I love that the poster references Croom. McPhee is a monster, but Powe has a year of SEC experience and I think he will be alot better this year with more snaps.)

LB, not even close, we have potentially a USC type of LB corp. Edge MSU (You have got to be kidding me. How delusional can you get. Ole Miss isn't a ton better, but the only USC we might be close to is in Columbia, not California. And even that is a stretch.)

CB, While this is probably the weakness of both defenses, I think that we have more experience with Washington , and better athleticism with D. Anderson. Their starters are Marshay Green and Cassius Vaughn, nothing special. Edge MSU ( I wasn't overly impressed with Anderson last year. Washington will be a three year starter, which is nice. Not a huge difference)

SS/FS OM lost a late round draft pick from an already weak position. I think we have more talent (Smith, Mitchell, and Bonner to their Johnny Brown and K. Lewis) but it is unproven playing behind three Sr. last year. Even ( Might be the only position we have the edge with)

K/P I will say Even but we have the potential to be special with two Juco AA. Even (With our history of kickers I'll wait a couple games. They lost some guys so it probably is even.)

KR/PR OM McCluster and Green are more proven than the potential we have. Edge OM. (Spot on.)

Now these next Two positions, they have a huge edge, so much so that it will make them 3 to 5 wins better than us.

DE, OM Hardy enough said, we have loads of potential in the young guys, but a health Hardy is a beast. If he goes down, this year their is no Jerry to hold it together. Edge OM

QB No debate Snead is possible one of the best in the country although it took him 5 or 6 games to get there. Will he pick up where he left off or where he started? Will he stay healthy? Edge OM</span>

(Pretty accurate, although I don't see there being a adjustment period like last year. Wouldn't be shocked if he broke 3000 yards passing.)

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

[No message]

 

[GroveHard]

I would love to have Chaney. I know one LB doesn't a defense make, but we're short there. I think those predicting our D's downfall based on Peria's absence are misguided. If our D blows it, it will be because our LB corps didn't perform well. We could always be better in the secondary, but there aren't many SEC teams who are going to torch anybody through the air, and frankly if any of our non-conference opponents exploit our secondary, then we're fuc ked anyway.

 

[FlabLoser]

[No message]

 

[Coach34]

We are very good at LB, serviceable at DL and the secondary...people are going to be surprised how much having an offense that can sustain some drives and give the defense hope is going to make an impact</p>

 

[studentdawg87]

That is the one position on that field that we have a true advanatge over them. Trahan will be good, but Chaney and Wright would start over Cornell and Walker. Not to mention that we have proven depth and and they are really thin.

 

[Croomp]

Theres some insanity in between the lines of that post</p>

 

[Todd4State]

for GP.

I really don't know enough about Ole Miss's football team to really accurately compare, but I will say this- I think Ole Miss does probably have better overall talent. I'm not an UM football guru, but I don't live in a cave enough to not know who Snead, McCluster, Hardy, and etc. are.

And I'll say this about State- for us to beat people this year, it's going to take some creativity and some coaching. I don't think the cupboard is totally bare, and I do realize that there are some holes. I think the x-factor for us is Mullen and his staff. We don't know how good Mullen really is at the in-game decision thing yet. If he is very good at it, I think we can maybe close the gap on some teams and make up for a lack of talent.

Another thing that I do like about State is the fact that virtually all of our very difficult games are in Starkville. I think the emotion and having home field advantage will be worth at least one upset this year, and I think that will also help with the talent gap some to.

State just has too many questions at this point- QB- Russell or Lee? And how good will Russell be if he does play?

O-line- Other than Sherrod, there is no one that has proven that they can get the job done. I think this unit was horribly coached last year, and it was somewhat overlooked because of the crappiness of the rest of the offense and ST's, but coaching was a big issue with them. We're switching some people around, which I think will help guys like Saulsberry in particular, but again, they still haven't performed yet for the most part.

WR's- I think we'll be fine. We're going to see more guys get opportunities to make plays- like Delmon Robinson- because of the offense that we will be running. Will they be better than Ole Miss? I don't know, and I'm not sure that I care as long as they are productive.

RB's- We'll be fine here. You haven't heard much about Elliott because he blew his knee out. Dixon, Ducre, and maybe Montrell Conner will be fine, unless they start dropping like flies or something. I think Perkins will play a lot, to- especially if Elliott isn't back.

DL- Should be pretty good here, unless we have a ton of injuries. Croom recruited 45 DE's, so we should have some depth there.

LB's- Only questions I have are is Jamar Chaney healthy? Can Chris White adjust to the SEC? Who the hell is Bo Waters?

DB's- Safeties will be OK with Mitchell and Zach Smith, but CB's are a concern and the weakest part of the defense.

ST's- OK, I know Broccoli and Hutchins haven't done anything yet, but it will be hard to reach the depths of Carlson, McShank, and Miss Richards. Just going by the spring game, I feel pretty confident in saying we will be better here.

 

[FlabLoser]

We are very good at LB, serviceable at DL and the secondary...people are going to be surprised how much having an offense that can sustain some drives and give the defense hope is going to make an impact</p>

I made this point repeatedly when people were bashing Ellis Johnson's kick *** defense. Just didn't show in the stats because they had to play the whole damn game.

 

[RebelBruiser]

Obviously the guy is nuts anyway, but he's way off on our OL.

We're going to be starting 3 seniors and 2 redshirt sophomores, unless Massie beats someone out, which I doubt will happen by the Memphis game.

I also love how he thinks our DTs are unproven despite the fact that we return 4 of the 5 players that played significant snaps at the 2 positions last year. That equals unproven, yet McPhee, who hasn't taken a D-1 snap is proven based on one spring practice.

I also like how your LB corp compares with USC's LB corp that had 4 first day NFL draft picks. That's pure.

I love Spirit/GP. Those places are great for comic relief.

 

[bulldogbaja]

The line should really not be bad, mostly because of one Pernell McPhee. And the LB will be good, and the safeties might not can cover but they can lay a lick.