How do you know there is new blood...

[maroonmania]

at the football HC position at MSU? Well, here is something you would have never heard from the previous regime, a positive reference to the Kang himself from the Guv article:

I asked him (Mullen) if he had looked through the State record book and seen how many coaches have failed at the job he now undertakes.</p>

"No," he said. "But I have looked at the players who have come out of Mississippi, and I know that the state of Mississippi produces enough football players to win if you can get them. We're going to work to get them. I do know enough to know that Coach (Jackie) Sherrill had some pretty solid teams here. I know we can win here."</p>

 

[RebelBruiser]

"But I have looked at the players who have come out of Mississippi, and I know that the state of Mississippi produces enough football players to win if you can get them."

I still think I disagree with this statement. I just don't think there is enough talent in the state of Mississippi to win. Maybe if you completely sweep the state every year, and all of the athletes qualify, then there may be enough, but I don't think that it's possible to sweep the state, and I don't think you'll ever see all of them qualify.

Yes, Mississippi produces a ton of NFL athletes (per capita), but when you look at the gross numbers, it's not nearly enough to build a winning program just with guys in the state. That's just my opinion, and I may be wrong, but I'll stick with that opinion until proven otherwise.

 

[thunderclap]

if anybody knows how to win at State, it's Jackie. Yes, a horrible last three years, but from 91-00:
Six bowls (and a 7-4 team screwed out of a bowl)
10-win season
Atlanta
#1 defense in nation

Not a bad 10-year run at a school with little history of winning. The King also believes you can win at State. And that's a big, big plus.

 

[dawgfan77]

Bruiser, you and your OM folks better get used to that fact Nutt will not recruit MS. You will see Mullen and MSU rack up on in state recruits and sprinkle in a few from the Southeast. You have 5 MS kids commited, and are in on about two more. Nutt and OM cannot survive recruiting exclusively out of state, with the new Cell South game plan kids in MS will now get eligible, and there has never been an issue with talent in this state

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

I am sure he know he will have to go out of state to get players, he is just doing a sales job on the state of Mississippi in these early days in the spotlight. When he did his radio interview on JOX, he was talking about Alabama players.

I do agree with you though, Bruiser. It will take more than just in-state talent for State or OM to win.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

It's disheartening how they turn out. There are 5-8 players in the state each year that are legit. Past that, it's not great.

We do need to do better in those top 8.

 

[DerHntr]

i don't see how so many OM fans got their feathers ruffled over his statements about recruiting the state of MS so hard. surely no one can believe that he is going to stick exclusively to MS.

the confusion from OM fans may be coming from having croom around for 5 years. he clearly was as stubborn as they come. he was stubborn to the point of getting himself fired. but, for example, Croom said he wouldn't bring on JUCO guys and even he figured out that this was impossible when trying to build a program. if croom could figure out that it wasn't possible to go without JUCO players and eventually made changes, then I am 100% certain that Mullen will be able to figure quickly that he can't recuit primarily in MS (even if he truly meant that he was going to recruit primarily instate, which i don't believe of course).

/sorry for rambling there a bit.

 

[Anti Dawg.nafoom]

prod, prod.

But anyway, you and I both know USM is not really a factor. They get who State, UM and everybody else doesn't want. So there's really only 2 schools left. So with the new "plan" in place, you probably can win with MS talent. Just have to have a coach.

 

[prairiereb]

but damn near close, and I don't understand any argument that says MSU, USM or UM can't do it. There just arent' enough legitimate D1 players who are academically eligible and have their **** together to "live" off of. I'll be happy with the 3 to 6 range of MS kids every year as long as we can be competitive in recruiting FL, GA, and TX.</p>

 

[RebelBruiser]

Bruiser, you and your OM folks better get used to that fact Nutt will not recruit MS. You will see Mullen and MSU rack up on in state recruits and sprinkle in a few from the Southeast. You have 5 MS kids commited, and are in on about two more. Nutt and OM cannot survive recruiting exclusively out of state, with the new Cell South game plan kids in MS will now get eligible, and there has never been an issue with talent in this state

In all seriousness, neither school will ever dominate the state in recruiting. There will be years where we sign more of the top guys and there will be years when you sign more, but it'll never be to the point where one school takes all the top talent. It hasn't been that way at all post-integration.

And, yes we can survive primarily on out of state guys. This year roughly 2/3 of our scholarship players were from out of state, and we did alright. If we're recruiting Florida and Texas as heavily as it looks like we will, then we will be able to win without recruiting Mississippi heavily. I've always said there isn't enough talent in Mississippi to win on that alone. As long as we pull in good players, I don't care where they are from.

 

[RebelBruiser]

prod, prod.

But anyway, you and I both know USM is not really a factor. They get who State, UM and everybody else doesn't want. So there's really only 2 schools left. So with the new "plan" in place, you probably can win with MS talent. Just have to have a coach.

Yes, USM is not a factor, but LSU and Alabama and sometimes Auburn are all factors as well. We've both done a better job fending off those schools in the last couple years, but they will still steal one or two every year, and there really isn't enough talent to go around in state unless you are able to get all of it, and even then I still think you'd have to be able to supplement with quality athletes from other states.

 

[Anti Dawg.nafoom]

are trying to talk yourself into to the fallacy that Nutt's recruiting is the way to go and MSU's is not. It's not true. There are different ways to skin a cat. You were all about O's recruiting as well. I mean, damn, does it ever get old trying to fake objectivity??

Nutt's way works for him, and gets him winning seasons. Good for him, more power to him.

You win with players, and if MS doesn't produce enough, you go get them elsewhere. But sometimes MSU produces deep classes. Some times it doesn't. Then you go elsewhere, and it could be in the form of JUCO recruiting every couple of years, or flying to Florida and Texas. Or even the solid players that the big boys around here can't take.

But don't sit here and try to sell MSU fans on the fact that Houston Nutt's recruiting strategy is the only way to win in Mississippi. You are full of **** and you know it.

 

[DowntownDawg]

...but what you don't understand is that Nutt is not going to recruit like Orgeron, period. In state or out of state. You won't get a Snead every year, and you won't have years like you had during Croom's early years, where you get whoever you want. Those days are over.

Ole Miss fans making fun of Byrne should really think twice. He has just taken out the trash in the two sports that ya'll have had the upper hand on us in the past few years. The old M-State way is officially dead.

 

[RebelBruiser]

...but what you don't understand is that Nutt is not going to recruit like Orgeron, period. In state or out of state. You won't get a Snead every year, and you won't have years like you had during Croom's early years, where you get whoever you want. Those days are over.

Ole Miss fans making fun of Byrne should really think twice. He has just taken out the trash in the two sports that ya'll have had the upper hand on us in the past few years. The old M-State way is officially dead.

Well, on one hand I'm hoping he doesn't recruit like Orgeron, because at some point I'd like to be close to the 85 scholarship limit. We haven't been there in a long time due to defections, grade casualties, players kicked off, etc. A little bit of sustainability would be nice in our recruiting. I've said it before and I'll say it again, we have roughly 45 scholarship players on our team from Orgeron's 2005, 2006, and 2007 recruiting classes. That's a potential for 75 slots, and we have 45 of them filled today. We were very fortunate with injuries this year, otherwise that lack of depth would've reared its ugly head at us big time.

As far as Snead is concerned, I don't know whether we'll land someone exactly like him, but our coaching staff thinks highly enough of Nathan Stanley (redshirted this year) that they think he'll be able to challenge Snead for playing time in the next two years. Even if he can't beat Snead out, which he probably won't, it's encouraging that they already have someone on campus that they think can give him a run for his money. Stanley may not be good, but we have this year and next year, along with Stanley to try to find his replacement.

As far as Orgeron taking advantage of Croom sucking at recruiting, we have a grand total of 12 players on our roster from the state of Mississippi that Orgeron signed in his 2005, 2006, and 2007 recruiting classes. So, he basically averaged getting 4 in state players per year from Mississippi that actually made it to school and stayed in school long enough to contribute. I'd hardly say that the bulk of his recruiting was accomplished due to Croom's lack of recruiting. And that again is a good example of why I say in-state recruiting is overrated in Mississippi. We supposedly dominated in state recruiting for a year or two there, and we ended up with 12 in state players on our roster from those classes.

 

[Anti Dawg.nafoom]

yuku

 

[Stormrider81]

Rebelbruiser has to respond to every single thread, constantly defending all things Ole Miss, and always writing a novel in the process.

 

[OEMDawg]

Look, idiot, it's not that hard to understand. It doesn't mean that you literally recruit 25 players every year and build your 85 man roster exclusively out of MS kids. It means that you do your damn best to recruit the TALENT that is in the state and do your damndest to keep them from going elsewhere. It's pretty easy. If you have a 5 star recruit in MS, you go after him hard. You don't build your team by picking away gems from the grasps of Alabama State and Alabama A&M which the previous coach was happy to do for his first 3 years.

 

[DerHntr]

epic? you could throw a good fark in there too.