For those who haven't seen it....

[Bulldog Backer]

...this is my very early assessment of where we stand as a football team by position couched in terms of positives and negatives.

Although it is much too early to make any kind of predictions for next football season, but I don't think it is too early to take a look at units and compare them to last year. Here are my thoughts and if anyone else wants to chime in, please do.

++ QB: Tyson Lee and Chris Relf are more experienced, plus Tyler Russell is coming. We lost no one significant. I think the position is stronger, especially with Russell coming in.

++ RB: Anthony Dixon and Christian Ducre' are both in much better shape than last year. Arnil Stallworth has looked good. Robert Elliot may be ready to go this fall, and Montrell Conner and Ladarius Perkins are due in. This is a stronger position.

- FB: We lost Brandon Hart and Eric Hoskins, both journeymen. The position wasn't a strength last year, but there are no lettermen returning this year. Walkons are doing okay, and Shumpert is due in. Right now it is a slight negative.

+ H-Back: Ducre', Marcus Green, and Stallworth have looked good, plus Green isn't at full speed. Brandon Henderson has also helped here. This is a positive.

--- WR: We lost Jamayel Smith, CoEric Riley, and Aubrey Bell. McRae broke his leg and Wilder has knee cap problems. We only have Delmon Robinson and Arceto Clark healthy and with any experience. Terrance Davis has been added to the group and has looked good. We also added Juco Leon Perry, who has looked pretty solid, and have Chad Bumphis, Chris Smith, and Brandon Heavens due in. This is the current greatest need area of the team and the has to be the biggest negative on offense.

++ OL: We have Derek Sherrod, J.C. Brignone, Quentin Saulsberry back. Craig Jenkins also has started games. Moving Saulsberry inside to guard, plus Addison Lawrence putting on enough weight and doing well at RT has stabilized the line. The new simpler blocking schemes can't do anything but help. There is a lot of young, good looking linemen, but little experience. I think the O-Line will be much better. It couldn't get worse. This is a positive area.

++ TE: Everyone is back, and most are looking pretty good. Kendric Cook has been a positive surprise. Brandon Henderson has done well. Nelson Hurst and Thomas Webb are coming on. The experience here is a positive, even though it is a "young position."

If we can find WR's who are SEC calibre, this offense should be much better. The team practices in a "no huddle" fast paced scheme.

Defense:

+ DL: We lost Cortez McCraney and Jesse Bowman, arguably our two best defensive tackles last year. Fortunately, we added Pernell McPhee, a couple of good redshirt freshmen, and others got bigger and added experience. We also add more speed to the D-Line with the expected newcomers Josh Boyd and Fletcher Cox. This D-Line will be much faster. This is a positive and will be an improvement over last season, when we had little pass rush.

++ LB: We lost Dominic Douglas, who was the best healthy LB we had last year, but return Jamar Chaney, an All SEC, to the team. We also added Chris White, plus K.J. Wright is now 240. Our LB's will be big, fast and strong. The backups are a year older and more experienced. This will be the strength of the defense and a big positive.

- Secondary: We lost Derek Pegues, Keith Fitzhugh, Demond Glanton and Jasper O'Quinn. That is 3 starters and a key reserve who will have to be replaced. Marcus Washington is the only returning starter. We have some good athletes, but we will be much less experienced. Charles Mitchell will make folks forget about Pegues. Zach Smith and Wade Bonner are both solid. We add Dennis Thames, so the safeties will be at least as good. Maurice Langston would have really helped this unit at CB, but his future with MSU is very uncertain. Having a much better pass rush will help. This has to be a big negative until game experience proves otherwise. Anthony Johnson will NOT be back, he will be playing at Jackson State next season.

+++ Special Teams: Our coaching staff is spending a lot of time in practice on special teams. Both Sean Brauchle and Heath Hutchins have been very bright spots in practice. From limited exposure, Brauchle is the best FG kicker I have seen at State in years. Hutchins may be the best punter as well. This is a huge positive. It could be worth 5-10 yards in field position with every punt or kickoff and 3-6 points per game.

I see two areas of real concern. We need game breakers at WR very bad and need good cover corners equally as bad. Otherwise, at this point, I think we are overall a better team than last year. Both are key skill areas, and that has been what Coach Mullen has said all along. The one area I would say we are vastly improved is the coaching, leadership and direction of the program. That one variable can make up for areas we think are problems today.

I'd really like the opinions of others, especially those of you who have been to practices.

 

[Bulldog Backer]

...this is my very early assessment of where we stand as a football team by position couched in terms of positives and negatives.

Although it is much too early to make any kind of predictions for next football season, but I don't think it is too early to take a look at units and compare them to last year. Here are my thoughts and if anyone else wants to chime in, please do.

++ QB: Tyson Lee and Chris Relf are more experienced, plus Tyler Russell is coming. We lost no one significant. I think the position is stronger, especially with Russell coming in.

++ RB: Anthony Dixon and Christian Ducre' are both in much better shape than last year. Arnil Stallworth has looked good. Robert Elliot may be ready to go this fall, and Montrell Conner and Ladarius Perkins are due in. This is a stronger position.

- FB: We lost Brandon Hart and Eric Hoskins, both journeymen. The position wasn't a strength last year, but there are no lettermen returning this year. Walkons are doing okay, and Shumpert is due in. Right now it is a slight negative.

+ H-Back: Ducre', Marcus Green, and Stallworth have looked good, plus Green isn't at full speed. Brandon Henderson has also helped here. This is a positive.

--- WR: We lost Jamayel Smith, CoEric Riley, and Aubrey Bell. McRae broke his leg and Wilder has knee cap problems. We only have Delmon Robinson and Arceto Clark healthy and with any experience. Terrance Davis has been added to the group and has looked good. We also added Juco Leon Perry, who has looked pretty solid, and have Chad Bumphis, Chris Smith, and Brandon Heavens due in. This is the current greatest need area of the team and the has to be the biggest negative on offense.

++ OL: We have Derek Sherrod, J.C. Brignone, Quentin Saulsberry back. Craig Jenkins also has started games. Moving Saulsberry inside to guard, plus Addison Lawrence putting on enough weight and doing well at RT has stabilized the line. The new simpler blocking schemes can't do anything but help. There is a lot of young, good looking linemen, but little experience. I think the O-Line will be much better. It couldn't get worse. This is a positive area.

++ TE: Everyone is back, and most are looking pretty good. Kendric Cook has been a positive surprise. Brandon Henderson has done well. Nelson Hurst and Thomas Webb are coming on. The experience here is a positive, even though it is a "young position."

If we can find WR's who are SEC calibre, this offense should be much better. The team practices in a "no huddle" fast paced scheme.

Defense:

+ DL: We lost Cortez McCraney and Jesse Bowman, arguably our two best defensive tackles last year. Fortunately, we added Pernell McPhee, a couple of good redshirt freshmen, and others got bigger and added experience. We also add more speed to the D-Line with the expected newcomers Josh Boyd and Fletcher Cox. This D-Line will be much faster. This is a positive and will be an improvement over last season, when we had little pass rush.

++ LB: We lost Dominic Douglas, who was the best healthy LB we had last year, but return Jamar Chaney, an All SEC, to the team. We also added Chris White, plus K.J. Wright is now 240. Our LB's will be big, fast and strong. The backups are a year older and more experienced. This will be the strength of the defense and a big positive.

- Secondary: We lost Derek Pegues, Keith Fitzhugh, Demond Glanton and Jasper O'Quinn. That is 3 starters and a key reserve who will have to be replaced. Marcus Washington is the only returning starter. We have some good athletes, but we will be much less experienced. Charles Mitchell will make folks forget about Pegues. Zach Smith and Wade Bonner are both solid. We add Dennis Thames, so the safeties will be at least as good. Maurice Langston would have really helped this unit at CB, but his future with MSU is very uncertain. Having a much better pass rush will help. This has to be a big negative until game experience proves otherwise. Anthony Johnson will NOT be back, he will be playing at Jackson State next season.

+++ Special Teams: Our coaching staff is spending a lot of time in practice on special teams. Both Sean Brauchle and Heath Hutchins have been very bright spots in practice. From limited exposure, Brauchle is the best FG kicker I have seen at State in years. Hutchins may be the best punter as well. This is a huge positive. It could be worth 5-10 yards in field position with every punt or kickoff and 3-6 points per game.

I see two areas of real concern. We need game breakers at WR very bad and need good cover corners equally as bad. Otherwise, at this point, I think we are overall a better team than last year. Both are key skill areas, and that has been what Coach Mullen has said all along. The one area I would say we are vastly improved is the coaching, leadership and direction of the program. That one variable can make up for areas we think are problems today.

I'd really like the opinions of others, especially those of you who have been to practices.

 

[Coach34]

but after touting Dixon as a Heisman possibility last year and proclaiming we were ready to win 8 games, somebody else needs to take over your role of evaluation during practice

 

[Barkman Turner Overdrive]

I agree with this statement the most.

I see two areas of real concern.

For you it was WR and DBs. For me that is the offense and defense.

 

[patdog]

That said, I automatically lower all of your grades by at least 1 point. For example, QB. You rate it as a ++. I like Tyson Lee. I like him a lot. But honestly, my grade of him as an SEC QB is "he doesn't suck." I can promise you that no other SEC coach is looking at our QB situation and saying, "That's a ++ for the Bulldogs." I do think that long-term (i.e. not this fall), Tyler Russell can be a very good SEC QB. Chris Relf is a I-AA QB. And we have nobody else.

 

[dawgman42]

. . . <span style="font-weight: bold;">somebody else needs to take over your role of evaluation during practice</span>

 

[Dawg in a pile]

++ QB: Tyson Lee and Chris Relf are more experienced, plus Tyler Russell is coming. We lost no one significant. I think the position is stronger, especially with Russell coming in.

I agree with Pat. And thanks for putting the QBs first Backer so I didn't waste any more time reading that. I literally stopped after ++ QB. Good Bulldog or not, no one likes to read their own nonsense more than Backer.

 

[JimHalpert.nafoom]

I don't really know much about Lee or Mullen's system.

Is Lee good enough to where Mullen can still run his offense, or will he need to adjust the gameplan until he gets Tyler Russell under center?

 

[99jc]

transferred.

 

[War Machine Dawg]

Lee should be a very good fit for Mullen's system. He ran a spread offense at ICC and led a solid passing offense at Columbus. I know he had major issues with play calling and formations last year, to the point of calling what we were doing "stupid" when talking to his ICC coaches. Lee told them the combination of routes & dropback passing we were using wouldn't work and that we needed to be in the shotgun more. He said they ran some of the same routes at Columbus we were last year, but they ran them out of the shotgun and they actually worked. Lee won't be all world, but putting him in the shotgun and in an offense he's comfortable with should help him. He's a midget, but he's got a huge heart and is a tough little SOB. I'm comfortable with him running the show, but unlike Backer, I say he's maybe the 5th or 6th best QB in the league simply because he's so short.

 

[TBonewannabe]

If that is the case I would agree with most of it. QBs should be greatly improved purely due to someone who knows what the hell a QB is supposed to do is now coaching them. Tyson Lee is a servicable QB, if he was 4 or 5 inches taller he would be top half of the league. I would say the secondary is a big - . What we have at corner doesn't make me feel very comfortable with the fact we had like 4 sacks last year. OL should be a positive due to coaching like the QBs. We actually return alot of players but we also sucked last year. I just hope the coaching can overcome the talent deficiency.

 

[Bulldog Backer]

Lee should be a very good fit for Mullen's system. He ran a spread offense at ICC and led a solid passing offense at Columbus. I know he had major issues with play calling and formations last year, to the point of calling what we were doing "stupid" when talking to his ICC coaches. Lee told them the combination of routes & dropback passing we were using wouldn't work and that we needed to be in the shotgun more. He said they ran some of the same routes at Columbus we were last year, but they ran them out of the shotgun and they actually worked. Lee won't be all world, but putting him in the shotgun and in an offense he's comfortable with should help him. He's a midget, but he's got a huge heart and is a tough little SOB. I'm comfortable with him running the show, but unlike Backer, I say he's maybe the 5th or 6th best QB in the league simply because he's so short.

...I said the performance of the QB position will be improved. I don't think he is the #anything QB in the SEC. I don't know where he stands in comparison to others in the league, but I would suspect that he is not someone else would pencil in as their starter. He could be #6 or #12, but he will be somewhat better than last year just through experience alone. My positives and minuses were related to what I thought at this point the relative improvement or decline over last year, not to any qualitative standard. Half my ++ for QB came from Russell coming in.

 

[Bulldog Backer]

...the pluses and minuses referred to relative improvement or relative decline. I am not saying, for example, that Lee is a better QB than X number of other SEC QB's, but rather that the QB position is ++ better for a year of experience and Tyler Russell coming in. The WR and Secondary, in my opinion, based on who we lost and who we have coming back are worse as positions than they were last year. This was just a subjective look, by position, of what Mullen has to work with. Right now, I would guess he has the #12 group of WR in the SEC. Right now, I would guess he has about the #9 or #10 group of Defensive Backs. Here is a scale:

+ slightly improved.
++ moderately improved
+++significantly improved

- slightly worse
--moderately worse
---significantly worse

 

[olemissbydamn]

Considering the number of years that you have kept up with college football, it's hard to believe that you still mention all of the incoming freshmen in your analysis. You mention 11 freshmen that you feel will help their position.

Some may play, but few will make a difference.

 

[Toag Redloh]

If Chad Bumphis by himself comes in and contributes right out of the gate, then that will be a huge lift.

 

[thunderclap]

BDJ position writeup for DBs says he WILL be back, no doubt.

Just sayin'.

 

[graddawg]

That's interesting because in the last few days Paul said he'd gone from confident he would be back to not feeling that good about the situation. Let's hope everything works out.

Edited to add the DB position write-up was posted on 3/27 and Paul made his comments regarding AJ's status the next day, after practice. I don't have a good feeling about this.

 

[thunderclap]

oh well.

 

[hotdigitydog]

The secondary, according to your scale should be a double or triple minus and the DL should be a minus as well.......No way you can lose Bowman and McCraney and replace with freshmen..........Yeah, Kyle Love is back and so is Williams but we have no depth..........That will be painfully obvious in the SEC games..........I'm dreading it already.......

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

I mean I know Mitchell was a huge prospect and that he has the potential to be very good, but he is going to make us forget about Pegues? Could you clarify that? Do you mean immediately? Because I watched him a good bit last year. I know he is still young, but he did not look like a game-changer to me. He may be solid - because I can't say that he was badly out of position a lot, but you have to be out of your mind to say the safeties are going to be "at least as good."

Hell, forget Pegues, what about Fitzhugh? He was our best DB last year. According to your Legend, the secondary should be at lease a triple negative or (---).

 

[Toag Redloh]

I do not know why people think this guy can come close to Pegues or Fitzhugh. This is going to be a weakness. May as well put Thames back there and see what happens.

 

[memphodawg]

++ QB: Tyson Lee and Chris Relf are more experienced, plus Tyler Russell is coming. We lost no one significant. I think the position is stronger, especially with Russell coming in.

I agree with Pat. And thanks for putting the QBs first Backer so I didn't waste any more time reading that. I literally stopped after ++ QB. Good Bulldog or not, no one likes to read their own nonsense more than Backer.

Too true.

 

[Jackdragbean]

The majority of you are posting just to be dicks. Some of you idiots like getting your "internet cred" more than actually looking into what someone else has to say. Is Backer a sunshine pumper? I believe so, but he does go to damn near every MSU function there is and he gives his description of what he sees and he actually has some pretty good knowledge concerning players and coaches from what I've read. It was an opinion on quality of play between this spring and last year. Get over your damn selves.

Holy ****! Some of you ******** are Gene's Bizzaros and are just as annoying.

+1 for the comic reference

 

[lawdawg02]

we lose 4 year starters in pegues and fitzhugh. our best backup was glanton, who played significant minutes, and he's gone. sure, smith played a good bit. but he's not the playmaker that pegues and fitzhugh were. mitchell, while he looked good at times, is only going to be a true soph, and still has some learning to do before we "forget about pegues". mullen has said that the depth at safety is good, with bonner and whoever else. but replacing two four-year starters will take it's toll.

the biggest negative in the secondary is corner, like BB said. if we don't have anthony johnson back, then i don't think we have any corners who are SEC caliber. washington is not. this, coupled with losing fitzhugh and pegues, means that our secondary deserves several more minuses than the 1 BB gives.

i also like that at fullback, BB mentions that we lost both lettermen and are using walk-ons at the position, but it's only a "slight" negative. hopefully that speaks more to mullen's system and hoping shumpert is a player than our last coaches' recruitment and use of fullbacks...

 

[OMlawdog]

But he seems to get trashed on here a good bit, and I thought the last two years he played really well at least most of the time he did on defense, and his Junior year I don't think you go bowling without him.

Plus he is on a bill board.

 

[War Machine Dawg]

Is that it's SPS cool to hate DP, much in the same way it's SPS cool to hate Randy Stewart. Both are very good players, both disliked by this board. I agree, we don't bowl without him in '07. And he was playing with injury most of the year last year. I'd be willing to wager he'll be a long time starter in the NFL.

 

[awalkerdog]

The majority of you are posting just to be dicks. Some of you idiots like getting your "internet cred" more than actually looking into what someone else has to say. Is Backer a sunshine pumper? I believe so, but he does go to damn near every MSU function there is and he gives his description of what he sees and he actually has some pretty good knowledge concerning players and coaches from what I've read. It was an opinion on quality of play between this spring and last year. Get over your damn selves.

Holy ****! Some of you ******** are Gene's Bizzaros and are just as annoying.


+1 for the comic reference

 

[rebfan04]

.

 

[Dinkle]

<a target="_blank" title="Hi View people, Although the format is not perfect, after much research, it was the best option. Please check out the older threads from our days of testing the features for some helpful hints and an intro into how this forum works. You can pick colors, fonts, and emoticons but they don't "save" so it has to be done each time. Bummer, I know. But it seems to have a decent format so hope you all can adjust. Take some time to play on the old threads to see how it works. Hope it is a good option for us, but if anyone has a better one, we can always migrate there. Have fun, be nice. view me" href="http://www.edhardymalls.com">Hi
View people, Although the format is not perfect, after much research,
it was the best option. Please check out the older
threads from our days of testing the features for some helpful hints
and an intro into how this forum works. You can pick colors, fonts, and
emoticons but they
don't "save" so it has to be done each time. Bummer, I know. But it
seems to have a decent format so hope you all can adjust. Take some
time to
play on the old threads to see how it works. Hope it is a good option
for us, but if anyone has a better one, we can always migrate there.
Have fun, be
nice.</a>



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</a>

what the hell

 

[SLUdog]

won 7-8 games with our schedule last year. Dixon as Heisman candidate was a stretch. I still think he could carry the load with a good Oline and some decent receiving core.

 

[RocketCityDawg]

His assessment as a guy who actually attends practices, talks with players, coaches, and other observers/fans.

He asked for honest feedback, and some of y'all did that.

Does he have an ego? Yes; most of us do.

Does he deserve the personal character attacks? No more than those of you casting stones.

Having tailgated with a group that includes Backer for the past few years, I disagree with him on a LOT of things that have nothing to do with MSU sports. But I do respect his passion and interest in that one area we have in common.

Whenever he makes a post like this, I take it as an opinion piece, duh, it's an internet board.
Some of you need to get a life, or...see lipstick lady's advice.

I welcome informational input from anyone lucky enough to witness what's happening.
And, as always, nobody here will get very excited or aroused about my posts, and I like that.

 

[Chem70]

Most of the criticism I have seen of your very thorough and accurate analysis can probably be attributed to ADHD suffered by those who tried to read and understand it but failed--or to those who admitted that they could not concentrate long enough to complete the first section on our quarterbacks. Thanks for the sigificant effort you put into this post and for sharing with us your insights.

 

[Berserker.sixpack]

Right. Opinions, discussions, put-downs, etc are why we have internet boards.

 

[GloryDawg]

Lee took a beating last year. Our offense sucked last year, not because of the QB, WR or RB it because are fat boys were too slow and had no clue on the blocking assignments. Majority of this problem I feel was type of offense they ran and coaching. Until you fix the Offensive line we are not going to be worth a **** no matter who you have in the back field. That's the way it is.

 

[AdamDawgDude]

Lee took a beating last year. Our offense sucked last year, not because of the QB, WR or RB it because are fat boys were too slow and had no clue on the blocking assignments. Majority of this problem I feel was type of offense they ran and coaching. Until you fix the Offensive line we are not going to be worth a **** no matter who you have in the back field. That's the way it is.