Kevin Fant rewind...

[maroonmania]

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Interesting comments from Kevin. Also, for all you Dylan Favre naysayers, its interesting that Kevin Fant places Dylan among the top 5 HS QBs to ever come out of MS high school and says he is better than he was (since he says he doesn't belong on that list).

 

[maroonmania]

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Interesting comments from Kevin. Also, for all you Dylan Favre naysayers, its interesting that Kevin Fant places Dylan among the top 5 HS QBs to ever come out of MS high school and says he is better than he was (since he says he doesn't belong on that list).

 

[ibontherun]

Im sure he would say that, since Kevin pretty much didn't do anything while at MSU....it's not like Kevin led MSU to an SEC championship or won any type of awards or honors. Why does his word on Dylan have any weight at all???

 

[futaba.79]

that's why. moron. </p>

 

[Purebred Dawg]

Makes you ridiculous enough, much less questioning the success ofour formerqb who literally ran for his life on every snap. Fant was solid.</p>

 

[perch0]

In 1938 would Bear Bryant's word have had any weight?

 

[maroonmania]

that a guy like Kevin Fant who is a coach and should know a little more about football than your average Sixpack poster would place Dylan Favre in a listing like that. There were a lot of other QBs, even including Tyler Russell, that he could have brought up but didn't. I know he is likely partial to QB products in South MS but still.

 

[RougeDawg]

In egg bowl. His other two seasons he was running for his life. I believe he and Eli were in the same graduating class and he outperformed Eli that year. Only difference is Eli had an offensive line every season. Fant was just another QB swallowed up by mediocre talent around him. Look at what masoli has done since he left that talent and offense at oregon. Its all about being in the right place at right time.

 

[FarmDawg.sixpack]

I felt Fant was a quarterback with the tools to be really good in the SEC except his offensive line at state could not have played at a lot of D III schools......he literally had opposing players in his face as the ball was snapped.

 

[drunkernhelldawg]

interceptions I have ever seen. Many of these had nothing to do with pressure and were not the fault of the o line.

 

[Todd4State]

would have done really well with Dan. And I always felt bad for him because he was a very talented player and he was busting his ***, and he had no o-line, WR's who couldn't catch a pass, and 300 pound Dontae Walker running for him. Our defense was horrible as well, and we were always giving up 50 points a game is seemed like.

I will say that his one night against Eli was one that I will never forget. That was one of the best performances by a MSU QB that I have ever seen. He certainly was better than Eli that night.

 

[MSUCE99]

nm

 

[patdog]

And he literally quit on his team in the spring before his senior season when he should have been learning the new offense from a proven good offensive coordinator. I will never understand the love he gets from so many on this message board.

 

[thunderclap]

I sat in Jordan Hare in 2003, and by the second half, I was seriously concerned that Fant was going to get some kind of life threatening injury.

 

[Todd4State]

And he literally quit on his team in the spring before his senior season when he should have been learning the new offense from a proven good offensive coordinator. I will never understand the love he gets from so many on this message board.

I think the team quit on Fant first to be honest with you. 2003 was a complete low for MSU football- our team was a total trainwreck from a discipline standpoint.

And I don't know if this is true or not- but I heard the only reason he came back was to keep his scholarship. I don't think he family was all that well off, and I think his Dad had gotten laid off. If that's true, he basically got his *** beat so that he could stay in college.

Do you think he would have quit if we had an even average team that gave even half of a damn?

Fant, TJ Mawhinney- who didn't belong in the SEC, and Norwood were the only guys trying that even gave a **** in 2003.

 

[patdog]

People need to quit making excuses for him. He 17ing quit the team. It's that simple. I knew in the summer when it became pretty clear that Jackie was going to let him just waltz back and step right into the starting job with no suspension or anything that we were screwed. It's true that we had a lot of major attitude problems on that team. And Kevin Fant was right there at the top of the list.

As for your earlier post, Kevin Fant wouldn't have lasted a yearif he played for Dan Mullen.

 

[drunkernhelldawg]

I think your post is overly insulting to them. You don't know who was playing with passion and who wasn't. It certainly wasn't only those three. Fant quit the team before the season and that along with the tire incident did a lot toward putting us in disarray. If any other blame is to be placed, it has to go to JWS and his staff. However, to glorify the guy that did a lot to put us to this low point, which we are just now recovering from, seems ridiculous to me. It's not that I don't think Fant is a good guy; I have no idea about that one way or the other. My problem is that I think he damaged the program in a serious way. I am uncomfortable putting the blame on a player when the coaches are the truly responsible parties, but if you are the quarterback, you have to be the leader. Having the talent to throw a pretty ball is just an audition. Helping lead teams to higher levels of performance is what good quarterbacks do. So make all the excuses about the line and the other dipshits on the team you want, but the bottom line is that this quarterback led his team in a negative way. He was a young man. He had problems. His team wasn't the greatest to start with. Whatever. He was not my idea of a good quarterback.

 

[Todd4State]

but it wasn't like it was a couple of bad apples either. I had a player on the team tell me about a coach telling Tommy Kelly to do a drill, Kelly didn't want to do it, and left practice, didn't show up for the rest of the week until game day, and still started the game and Jackie did nothing about it.

I can tell by watching the game and watching those fat slobs halfassing their way through the season- including a loss to Tulane mind you, who does that sound like?- that the team in general had no discipline, was poorly coached, and didn't give a **** in general. They won two games- and I'm honestly not sure how. And I'm being overly critical of them? They were an embarassment to MSU.

You seriously think that Kevin Fant "damaged the program?" What?

And yes, the QB is supposed to be the leader, but when you have no support from the coaches, and you have absolutely nothing to work with, it doesn't matter if Brett Favre is under center for you. What's Fant supposed to do? Hey Antonio Hargro, can you put the reifer down and catch a pass? Hey, Tommy Kelly, can you play every play? Hey, Dontae, uh....ya know, maybe going back for seconds isn't such a great idea? Hey, Jackie, uh....I know the kids like the balloon animals and all, but maybe you should actually try to take control of the team. And you blame Fant for not "leading them to greatness"?

Yeah. I'd like to see you try to do that. You would probably have better luck telling Motley Crue to stay away from drugs, and alcohol and to stay away from nudey bars.

I glorify Kevin Fant for the one great game that he had. And that's it. And honestly, after what he had to put up with the rest of the time he was at MSU, and what he has to put up with from some of our alumni, he deserves it.

 

[patdog]

I had a player on the team tell me about a coach telling Tommy Kelly to do a drill, Kelly didn't want to do it, and left practice, didn't show up for the rest of the week until game day, and still started the game and Jackie did nothing about it.

You do realize that you're bitching about Tommy Kelly doing the exact same thing Kevin Fant did and Jackie didn't to anything about that either, don't you? Ultimately, Jackie's to blame for the 2001-2003 seasons. He lost that team because he refused to discipline them. But don't for a second act like Kevin Fant was any better than the Tommy Kelly's or the Dontae Walker's on that team becase he wasn't. He was just another one of them. You sure as hell didn't see Dicenzo Miller walk out on the team because of what was going on around him.

 

[vhdawg]

....by the second half, I was seriously concerned that I was going to get some kind of life-threatening dehydration because the architects of Jordan-Hare figured out how to make every square inch of that stadium be in direct sunlight at all times.

 

[Todd4State]

had graduated two years earlier, right? Heck, why would Dicenzo leave? The spring of his senior year was one of the wooliest time in MSU football history. Everybody was happy. I think what happened with the team was something that was unnoticed at first and it spread like wildfire during the season and it was too late to stop it.

Kevin Fant quit because of what was going on around him, not because he didn't want to do the work. That's a BIG difference. Kevin Fant "quit" because he was tired of getting the **** knocked out of him by 6'4" 250 pound d-linemen. If everyone else on the team isn't giving a ****, why should he? Especially when he's the one getting blown up and criticized because people aren't doing their jobs. I doubt he would have come back if he didn't have to get his college paid for. He was putting his health on the line every Sat.

His two great performances as a sophomore were better than the rest of his teammates (with the exception of Jerious Norwood, of course) zero. And yes, he should get credit for that. Those two games proved that he had some ability. Should he be put up there with say Wayne Madkin and John Bond? No. But he should get credit for what he did.


If he had played for Auburn at that time, do you think he would have quit their team? If he had played at LSU do you think he would have still sucked with their o-line, their WR's, and Saban's defense, which won the NC that year? I highly doubt it. Tommy Kelly would have been a douche no matter where he went and regardless of the situation.

 

[drunkernhelldawg]

I never said he should "lead them to greatness". I said "helping lead teams to higher levels of performance is what good quarterbacks do". You've got to be careful with those quotation marks.

It's not personal for me. I'd prefer to let the whole Fant issue die, but I've got to speak up when people continue to rewrite the dismal history of those years. Mississippi State has had some good quarterbacks. I think that people ought to brag on them instead. Madkin in particular had some great accomplishments as a quarterback for Mississippi State; yet many want to credit others for Madkin's accomplishments while blaming others for the failures of Fant. If they've got a right to say it, I've got a right to disagree.

And why would you say that you'd "like to see (me) try" to lead the team as a quarterback? I am not a quarterback, and that has nothing to do with what we're talking about here. I am sure that it is not easy to play quarterback. I appreciate whatever effort Fant gave to that great duty.

I agree with you on the one great game, and I'm sure that there are other great moments that I have forgotten.

 

[patdog]

What is your basis for saying Fant quit because of all the **** that was going on around him? Because what I've always heard happened was that he got pissed at his position coach and cussed him out and stormed off the field with 2 weeks to go in spring practice. And that is nothing like the propaganda that you and a few others keep repeating about him being tired of all the **** that was going on. It's exactly like that same ****. Like I've been saying, Fant was a part of the problem.

As for getting tired of getting hit by defensive linemen, two comments:

1) It's not like Fant's the only QB to ever play behind ****** OL. QB's play behind ****** OLs every year and somehow manage to not quit the team.
2) Maybe if he'd ever learned to throw the damn ball away instead of take the sack he wouldn't have gotten hit so often. In fact, there's no maybe to that. He took a lot of unnecessary hits and threw a lot of unnecessary picks because he refused to throw the ball away when the situation called for it.</p>

 

[Todd4State]

The guy led us to the SEC Championship game as a RS freshman and holds the MSU record for TD's by a freshman with 11. He directed the comeback vs Arkansas in 1998, which was incredible- especially considering that he was a freshman, and then he lead us for the most part during the 1999 season and led the comeback drive to tie the game during the 1999 Egg Bowl. He was great in 2000 and scored the winning TD in the Snow Bowl. He had a bad year in 2001, which was really surprising to me, and probably to everyone else, and his injury led to Fant playing in the 2001 Egg Bowl.

And I'll never forget playing with a broken finger that they molded around a football so that he could play.

I don't understand anyone criticizing him either- 2001 wasn't his fault anymore than 2002-2003 was Fant's.

My point about you leading the team at QB was this: When you have people that don't give a ****, it doesn't matter what you do. They're still not going to give a ****. Take whatever you do in the real world, and apply it. If you have a bunch of people at whatever company you work for, and they don't give a ****, and your boss asks you to lead them and make them productive, you can do whatever you want, and they're probably still not going to give a ****.

And don't say, "Well, I'm the boss, and I could fire them all"- because OK, that's great that your the boss, but if you didn't have that power and someone was over you and asked you and wanted you to make a bunch of losers work, it's just probably not going to happen.

Of course, Fant's boss, Jackie SHOULD have been the one doing something. But that's not totally Fant's fault. You can only do so much.

 

[Todd4State]

What is your basis for saying Fant quit because of all the **** that was going on around him? Because what I've always heard happened was that he got pissed at his position coach and cussed him out and stormed off the field with 2 weeks to go in spring practice. And that is nothing like the propaganda that you and a few others keep repeating about him being tired of all the **** that was going on. It's exactly like that same ****. Like I've been saying, Fant was a part of the problem.

As for getting tired of getting hit by defensive linemen, two comments:

1) It's not like Fant's the only QB to ever play behind ****** OL. QB's play behind ****** OLs every year and somehow manage to not quit the team.
2) Maybe if he'd ever learned to throw the damn ball away instead of take the sack he wouldn't have gotten hit so often. In fact, there's no maybe to that. He took a lot of unnecessary hits and threw a lot of unnecessary picks because he refused to throw the ball away when the situation called for it.</p>

is rumors that I have heard as well. You obviously have heard different ones than I have. Your rumor is the first that I have ever heard that.

Believe whatever you will, but odds are if me and a few others are saying the same rumor, we're probably more accurate. What reason do I have to propagandize the guy? I don't know him personally. I do appreciate what he did for us- even if that was only win a couple of games. I don't know what reason you have to tear him down.

1. There's a difference between a ****** o-line that's actually playing hard and trying and one that doesn't give a ****.

2. Consider who his coach was- Jackie Sherrill, the man who almost got Dan Marino drafted in the second round. You're surprised that a Jackie Sherrill QB didn't have all-world QB skills? I'm still giving Fant credit for what he did do well. It's the exact same as Archie Manning with the Saints. Manning was a good QB, but he had nothing to work with. If you put Archie on the Steelers or Cowboys of that time, he is probably in the NFL Hall of Fame. A lot of QB's will force balls when they're trying to make a play to win the game- especially when the team is down. They shouldn't- but it happens. Was Fant a perfect QB the entire time he was at State? No. But who is? Do you go around saying- well, Wayne Madkin led us to that comeback win in 1999, but he had that horrible Cotton Bowl and 2001 season, so he sucked. And maybe you do say that, but it's petty.

And you never answered my question- would he have quit at LSU or Auburn with those teams and that kind of atmosphere?

You choose to remember him for quitting in a really bad situation. I choose to remember him for winning the Egg Bowl.

 

[drunkernhelldawg]

It's great to see that KF is enjoying his career

 

[patdog]

No, I don't say that Madkin sucked. He was a very underrated QB for us.

I've never once said that Fant didn't have talent or have some good games for us. As for him cussing outMorris Watts,I can't believe this is the first you've heard of that. I did find this in a quick Google search (link):

Mississippi State coach Jackie Sherrill says QB Kevin Fant missed most of spring drills because of injury and academic issues but will be back in the fall. However, there are rumblings Fant had a falling out with the coach after the first scrimmage.

And I pretty much did answer your question about whether Fant would have quit at LSU or Auburn whenI said that he wouldn't have lasted a year playing for Dan Mullen. Most coaches won't put up with that **** like Jackie Sherrill did those last few years. I remember Fant quitting the team because it's a pretty extreme move to walk out on your team. And it's one that's pretty unforgivable in my book. I will agree that with a coach who would discipline him and the rest of the team, he might have gotten his **** together and been a very good QB. But we'll never know.