Interesting thought about the effects of getting Brandon Maye.

[mstatefan88]

Once Brandon Maye announced his decision, my thoughts immediately went to CJ Johnson, and what MSU just did to rectify that situation. I know CJ is going to be a solid player. But I think a lot of us were excited to get someone in here with the talent level of CJ to lead our young LB coreTHIS year. Instead, we just brought in a 3 year starter at a BCS conference school who has over 200 tackles in his career, from all accounts a veryintelligent guy on and off the field, and is a proven leader.

All that is said to show why Mullen is so excited. We just bridged the gap we expected CJ to fill for us this season with a talented, proven senior. After this year, I don't have worries about our LB core. Next year we will have Hughes, Skinner, Lawrence, Bohanna, and Holmes with an extra years experience, along with whoever Dan gets in this upcoming class. I worried about this year, and thought CJ would be the hole filler and leader on the field. Instead we got a senior in Brandon Maye who is going to teach all of these guys how to lead.This is a huge pickup for us in more ways than one, and I think he is going to fit right in to what we are doing at MSU. This is just an interesting angle I thought about once Brandon decided to take his talents to Starkville.

 

[mstatefan88]

Once Brandon Maye announced his decision, my thoughts immediately went to CJ Johnson, and what MSU just did to rectify that situation. I know CJ is going to be a solid player. But I think a lot of us were excited to get someone in here with the talent level of CJ to lead our young LB coreTHIS year. Instead, we just brought in a 3 year starter at a BCS conference school who has over 200 tackles in his career, from all accounts a veryintelligent guy on and off the field, and is a proven leader.

All that is said to show why Mullen is so excited. We just bridged the gap we expected CJ to fill for us this season with a talented, proven senior. After this year, I don't have worries about our LB core. Next year we will have Hughes, Skinner, Lawrence, Bohanna, and Holmes with an extra years experience, along with whoever Dan gets in this upcoming class. I worried about this year, and thought CJ would be the hole filler and leader on the field. Instead we got a senior in Brandon Maye who is going to teach all of these guys how to lead.This is a huge pickup for us in more ways than one, and I think he is going to fit right in to what we are doing at MSU. This is just an interesting angle I thought about once Brandon decided to take his talents to Starkville.

 

[chew1095]

I made this exact same point to a buddy earlier today. Big immediate help and will be a nice bridge to the youngsters.<div>
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[fishwater99]

[No message]

 

[MSUCostanza]

is exactly why I laughed at all of the idiots on here saying the sky was falling when we had the decommitments. We have a coaching staff that knows what the hell is going on (unlike in years past), and I figured Mullen and company would figure out a way to rectify what happened with Johnson. And they did.

The other great point is that Maye looks to be a character guy, a leader, and an excellent student. Things that indicate that he will work hard and "pay the price" as the phrase goes. Very important that we continue to bring those kinds of players into the program. From the way the recruitment of Johnson went, I have my doubts as to whether those intangible things apply to him.

 

[dawgstudent]

but if you gave me the choice between Maye or CJ Johnson - I would take the guy who has 4 years of eligibility. Maye is definitely a great solution for next year.

And I know that we have no idea how CJ Johnson is going to turn out but I still would take him.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

[No message]

 

[dawgstudent]

[No message]

 

[Hair of the Dawg]

Maye will be far more important this season than Johnson would have been.

While I think Johnson's upside potential is huge, I really don't think he would have made any bigger impact than the guys that would have been playing beside him. He will probably show some big play potential this year on a play here and there. But...I really don't think that a freshman MLB would have much of an impact if any.

 

[Foronce]

the problem with this is, we didn't get CJ... not like we cut CJ to make room for Maye

 

[dawgstudent]

if you gave me the option of Johnson or Maye - I choose Johnson.

And that doesn't change the fact I am elated we got Maye.

 

[mstatefan88]

I know CJ was rated higher, but Bohanna looks like a gamer, and he was already moving his way up the depth chart to possibly start this year before Maye transferred. Bohanna and CJ will graduate at the same time since Bohanna redshirted and I expect CJ will play immediately. So Bohanna will have an extra year on CJ. I don't think Bohanna is that far behind talent-wise of CJ, so I think we will be ok.

This is my thinking. Bohanna got to learn under White and Wright last year, and gets to learn under Maye this year. CJ is definitely talented enough to start right away, but he gets thrown right into the fire and will not have the benefit of learning from 3 guys the caliber of White, Wright, and Maye. I've always thought taking a few years to learn the ropes is good for these guys, so I'm hoping that benefits Bohanna in the future.

 

[patdog]

or that it's an either/or situation to begin with. The point is that getting Maye will more than make up for losing Johnson this fall and in the future we should be in pretty good shape at LB. Not that any of us wouldn't have wanted to have Johnson too.

 

[KurtRambis4]

they already think that Maye's transfer and Masoli's are exactly alike and think we're being hypocrites over it.

 

[coach66]

information I got last week from what I consider to be an unquestionable source. While there is no doubt there was some hanky panky going on that ramped up big time at the All Star game in Texas the main thing that led to losing CJ was the job situation with his mother. As the booster put it to me,it was our fault for not taking care of the mother's job needs. We had the chance and it is easy and basically legal to do it if done right;but wewere not allowed to do it.

Mullen is absoulutely conviced he can win with good (not great) talent if the kid is coachable. The man has unbelievable confidence in this creed and he basically called out several recruits the last two years that he thought were on the take. I have my doubts about whether he can be successful long term with this philosophy but I will support him 100% until it becomes obvious he can't.

 

[Paperdawg]

Big immediate help

 

[VirgilCain]

If we were to somehow have both on campus... I would have been flabbergasted if CJ had somehow beat out Maye for the starting MLB position. And honestly, I then would have thought that Maye must have not been worth a **** and would have still been very worried about the MLB position.

To restate my point for the 3rd time, there is no way a true Freshman starting at MLB would have ever been a good thing.

 

[Johnson85]

Normally, I'd agree you take the blue chip with 4 years of eligibility, but linebacker was such a weak spot for us, and we have the potential to have a really good year this year if we can fill our holes, so I would take the quick fix. As long as Maye is a pretty good SEC linebacker and CJ doesn't turn out to be an SEC great, I think that's the right decision.

 

[ehnowboodogs]

For me, it all comes down to what this does for the rest for guys like Bohana, Skinner, Hughes, Lawerence. This is clearly an immediate and crucial boost in our depth at LB. More importantly though, seems like this would take ALOT of pressure off the rest of that corp. Bringing in a stable and reliable guy like Maye allows the rest of them to take a deep breath and understand that the success of the defense isn't going to live and die by how they play, and so now they can just play worry free and more wide open knowing that they can trust the guy playing in the middle. I could've been given wrong info but from what I was told, Skinner and Hughes are best LB's right now and thats not to say thatWilson and Collinsaren't happy with where Bohana and Lawerence are. Skinnner and Hughes got on the field alot last year. I'm not a huge Lawerence fan, but he's still going to have to play big for us.FWIW, has anyone re-watched the opening kickoff from the egg bowl and the hit Skinner puts on their return guy? If you have it dvr'd go back and watch it, Skinner gets held for SEVEN yards and absolutely lights up the guy. That clips fires me up about this group...and I love the addition of Maye. Bring Wells down as a hybrid LB, dog safety, whatever at timesand this isa scarylooking D.
Bahhhhh

 

[DiligenceDawg]

Are there any updates on where we are on the dline? I assume we are all still set and happy at tackle but what about end? Any news on development there?

 

[jbulldog]

can he come in and mesh with our current players? That is the first and foremost thing. Then, is he really that good on the field? Only time answers both questions. I will get excited about it when he is on the field doing what many think he can. Of course, he has not been officially approved by NCAA to play next season so maybe that is the first thing to be answered!

 

[gravedigger]

notworthitku</p>

 

[patdog]

1. He won't have any problem meshing with our players.
2. With well over 200 career tackles, I think it's safe to say he's pretty good. Maybe not all-SEC good, but he'll be in the top half of SEC LBs.
3. There's no way he won't get the waiver. In fact, the NCAA is supposed to vote next month to make the waiver automatic.

 

[RonnyAtmosphere]

..understatement.


I don't keep up with recruiting rankings, but I guess this winter Ole Miss had a higher ranked recruiting class than MSU.

And that fact was driving this board to mass hysteria.


All I know is if you are going to turn down playing for Dan Mullen & instead choose to play for a program that is 2-4 vs. Vanderbilt since 2005, then you are a certified nut job.


As far as Maye, he's Dan Mullen's way of getting the last laugh on all you people who believe all the contirved ******** you read on premium subscription recruiting sites.

 

[gravedigger]

(sorry, I'm not up to date on whether that has been decided or not) THEN, we seemed to have shored up 1/3 of our linebacker issues. We still need one more kid to step up and be to us what Wright and White were and in addition, our Defensive backfield needs to step up.

Hate to be the rain on everyones parade, but we have some work to do to match what we had defensively last year.

 

[RonnyAtmosphere]

..I knew there was a reason I should be depressed about landing Maye.


I also knew if I hung around this thread for more than 10 minutes, somebody would supply me with one.


Maye is going to get approved.


The only downside is he will not enroll @ MSU until June 1st. Which means he can't go through spring training. (If I am wrong about this, then please correct me).

 

[TheStateUofMS]

anyone know?