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<font size="6">Inside Mississippi State Sports</font>
<div id="push_insidemississippistatesports_blog_container" align="left"> <div style="" class=""> <div class="even"> <div id="blog_2196181"> <div class="marginBottom"> <div class="blogHeader"> <div> <div class="heading inline marginRight"> Inside Mississippi State Sports <span class="label">by
bradlocke</span> </div> <div class="quote newline"> Where we heart Twitter (follow me at bradlocke). </div> <div class="story_item_info"></div> </div> </div>
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<span id="blog_toggle_link_text_list_2196181">view as list</span><span id="blog_toggle_link_text_brief_2196181" style="display: none;">view all</span> <div style="display: none;" id="blog_entry_details_brief_2196181"> <div> <table width="100%"> <thead> <tr> <td colspan="99" class="label"></td> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 10, 2009</td> <td>
On the Good Friday Links</td> <td>1 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 09, 2009</td> <td>
Mullen: 'We're Going to Have Some Attrition'</td> <td>3 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 09, 2009</td> <td>
Cohen: 'It's Not Always About the Hit'</td> <td>no comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 09, 2009</td> <td>
RSS is Here; On the Links</td> <td>3 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 08, 2009</td> <td>
Anthony Johnson: Where's He Going?</td> <td>2 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 08, 2009</td> <td>
Bowen's Back; Future Bulldogs Battle</td> <td>no comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 07, 2009</td> <td>
Football Practice, Law & Order Style</td> <td>2 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 07, 2009</td> <td>
Spring Football Observations at Halfway Point</td> <td>8 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 07, 2009</td> <td>
Back to Normal</td> <td>2 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 06, 2009</td> <td>
Blog Bag, & a Sneak Peek</td> <td>3 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 06, 2009</td> <td>
Baseball: Bulldogs Need 'Shootability'</td> <td>7 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 05, 2009</td> <td>
Baseball: Auburn 12, MSU 10</td> <td>1 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 05, 2009</td> <td>
Mullen Audio, & Links</td> <td>no comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 04, 2009</td> <td>
Baseball: MSU 8, Auburn 3</td> <td>no comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 04, 2009</td> <td>
Football Scrimmage: Defense Wins Big</td> <td>no comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 03, 2009</td> <td>
Baseball: Auburn 9, MSU 8</td> <td>no comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 03, 2009</td> <td>
Blog Bag Bonus</td> <td>no comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 03, 2009</td> <td>
Hogue: 'I Wish I Was a Freshman'</td> <td>no comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 02, 2009</td> <td>
Anthony Johnson to Transfer</td> <td>4 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 02, 2009</td> <td>
Varnado Seeking NBA Feeback</td> <td>no comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 02, 2009</td> <td>
Baseball: Bulldogs Try to Bounce Back</td> <td>2 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 01, 2009</td> <td>
Football Season Tickets Going Fast</td> <td>1 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 01, 2009</td> <td>
Raw Audio: Tyson Lee</td> <td>1 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">April 01, 2009</td> <td>
What's Up on Wednesday</td> <td>no comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">March 31, 2009</td> <td>
Quarterbacks and Golf Swings</td> <td>2 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">March 31, 2009</td> <td>
Pony Up, Be a Coach … Seriously</td> <td>22 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">March 31, 2009</td> <td>
Calipari Joins the SEC: What It Means</td> <td>3 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">March 31, 2009</td> <td>
Big Impressions</td> <td>5 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">March 30, 2009</td> <td>
It's a State Sweep</td> <td>no comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">March 30, 2009</td> <td>
Blog Bag, & a Little Extra</td> <td>3 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">March 30, 2009</td> <td>
Stansbury on Kentucky: No Comment</td> <td>1 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">March 30, 2009</td> <td>
What MSU's Got That Others Haven't</td> <td>6 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">March 29, 2009</td> <td>
On the (Lazy) Sunday Links (Kind of)</td> <td>4 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">March 28, 2009</td> <td>
Merry Christmas, Dan Mullen</td> <td>6 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">March 28, 2009</td> <td>
Full Contact</td> <td>3 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">March 27, 2009</td> <td>
Blog Bag Answers: Christening the Blog</td> <td>1 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="label" style="width: 150px;">March 27, 2009</td> <td>
Test Entry: New Blog is Here</td> <td>5 comments</td> <td></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div> </div> <div id="blog_entry_details_verbose_2196181"> <div class="" style=""> <div class="story_item"> <div class="story_item_headline"> On the Good Friday Links </div> <div class="story_item_info"> <div class="story_item_author"> by
bradlocke </div> </div> <div class="story_item_content"> <div class="story_item_images"></div>
It's Good Friday, which means two things: 1) We're reminded of Jesus' sacrifice; 2) classes are out. The latter is a by-product of the former, and a by-product of the latter is Mississippi State's football team practicing at 1:30 p.m. today instead of the usual 3:30 start time. It's practice No. 10 of the spring, and the Bulldogs will also go Saturday at 10 a.m.</p>
</p>
They're down another player, as you know.
Montario "Tojo" Patterson - yes, his nickname comes from the old wrestler - has left the team for undisclosed reasons (
link). I spoke yesterday with his high school, Biggersville's
Ronnie Lawson, and he had not heard the news and thus knew not why Patterson left or would want to leave. He last spoke with Patterson last Thursday, and everything seemed OK, except for Patterson's ankle. He broke it his senior year (
link), and it has been bothering him this spring.</p>
To the baseball diamond. <span class="caps">MSU</span> is at Tennessee this weekend to take on the SEC's last-place team (
link). The Volunteers (13-11, 1-11 <span class="caps">SEC</span>) are also last in the league in batting (.285) and <span class="caps">ERA</span> (5.96). They're on pace to record their worst season since 1989, and what's to blame for that? Maybe that <span class="caps">APR</span> thing (
link). <span class="caps">MSU</span> (18-15, 4-8) could sure use a sweep.</p> </div> <div class="spacer"></div> <div id="comments_container"> <a name="comments_2292316"></a> <div style="padding: 5px;"> <div class="labelTiny"> comments (1) </div>
view/post comments <div class="spacer"></div> <div id="comment_2292812" class="comment"> <div class="labelSmall green"> « imabulldog wrote on Friday, Apr 10 at 10:59 AM » </div> <div class="pad"> Gotta take advantage of UT this weekend, Sweep would give some confidence and it'd be 5 in a row </div> </div> <div class="spacer"></div> </div> </div> </div> </div>
<div class="" style=""> <div class="story_item"> <div class="story_item_headline"> Mullen: 'We're Going to Have Some Attrition' </div> <div class="story_item_info"> <div class="story_item_author"> by
bradlocke </div> </div> <div class="story_item_content"> <div class="story_item_images"></div>
I was interviewing new football coach
Dan Mullen early this afternoon for a profile that will appear next week, and one thing we talked about was the players getting used to his methods and his expectations for the program. He said he expects some players to leave during this breakin-in period.</p>
</p>
"We're going to have some attrition; there's going to be some guys leaving the program," Mullen said. "And a lot of that is, they signed on with Coach
(Sylvester) Croom and what his program is going to be all about, and it's a different program from what they had here before."</p>
Then just moments ago, we learned that running back/defensive back
Montario "Tojo" Patterson, who would've been a redshirt freshman, has left the team. All Mullen would say about this specific situation came in a release: "In conversations with Montario this week, he has decided to pursue opportunities away from the Mississippi State football team. We wish him the best in the future and will help him in any way we can."</p>
We don't really know why Patterson left, but Mullen told me that the attrition he mentioned will be mainly due to how tight and tough a ship he's running.</p>
"From top to bottom, everything's different, and so when you look at those things, some of those guys, they're not willing to put in the time or the sacrifices or all the things and demands that we're asking of them for us to build a championship program.</p>
"I understand that with some of these guys. (They say) 'I'm with coach Croom, I didn't think it was going to be this tough of a program,' but it is now for a lot of these guys. That's just our program."</p>
Patterson, from Biggersville, is the second player to leave the team this spring, with cornerback
Anthony Johnson recently deciding to transfer. Add those two to the absences of
Arceto Clark and
Maurice Langston (suspended after arrests), and <span class="caps">MSU</span> is becoming extremely short-handed. I guess the pruning metaphor is appropriate here: Cutting away the bad so the good can blossom.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>
