1. I would say that Dak is about even with Tyler when Tyler was playing his RS freshman spring game. Tyler was a better passer, Dak is a better runner, but both looked lost in the spring game. Dak will be an asset, but he will take time and reps to develop, just as Tyler has. Dak will not be taking over towards the end of the year as some have predicted.<div>2. Aseveryonehas stated, Tyler looked great. Tyler is a bit of a head case though, so let's see what he looks like once he gets behind on the road as "the guy". He had better keep it together because we don't have anything behind him that can win 9 games.</div><div>3. I can't imagine our O-line being any better than 8th in the SEC. You want to think it's the more mature D-line dominating, but the D was just easing up after the 1st quarter. It really wasn't a competition. Autry is going to be a player, but he's not THAT good. There were some mismatches, but still...</div><div>4. Lewis made himself available and ran the wildcat twice as well as Bumphis ever did. Let's hope he has found the handle. His fumbling last year was a real problem.</div><div>5. I expected Josh Robinson to be Lewis' size based on what I read about him in HS. He's huge, and he is scary fast. Dude is a cannon ball.</div><div>6. Morrow. Bad ***. Needs to mature, but bad ***.</div><div>7. Dear Coach Mullen, While I appreciate everything you have done for MSU football, you are a horrible special teams coach. Our kickers get worse under yourtutelage. Know when to say when.</div><div>8. WR had better be a priority inrecruitingthis year. We will be in better shape than we were three years ago, but we will have a Sr. QB and an up and coming Soph., we need to pick up a game changing freshman and some long term supporting cast.</div><div>9. The game is obviously setup for the fans, so don't expect this level of pass / run in the fall. I do think we will pass more than we have expected to this point though. May even cross the 50/50 line in favor of passing.</div>
Spring game observations...
- Thread starter codeDawg
- Start date
Very good and thanks. While I do agree that the O-Line is the biggest question, I just don't believe you can take anything away from the spring game in regards to it. The O-Line more than any other position group in football requires continuity and teamwork. Due to it just being spring ball there was little continuity to begin with, but when you split these starters in half on different teams, you are just going to get a mess. Again, O-Line is our biggest question mark, but I wouldn't look to the spring game as to any indication of how we may do on it. That being said, due to the teams being split, I would be much more concerned about our D-Line if our O-line had done well under those circumstances.
S
Sauron
Guest
but there isn't much you can tell from a spring game. It's geared more for the fans than anything.
However, I do think we will pass more than run. Koening himself even said that they had tailored the offense to be more pass happy this season. It is going to look more like the O that we envisioned when Mullen got here instead of the average to bad O we had last year.
However, I do think we will pass more than run. Koening himself even said that they had tailored the offense to be more pass happy this season. It is going to look more like the O that we envisioned when Mullen got here instead of the average to bad O we had last year.
this video interesting (about the 1:23 mark). Sounds like he plans to lean on a guy coming in the fall. I hope whoever he is, that he is ready for the big time, because the guys we have now are not.
It is crazy frustrating to have a bad place kicker. But I call ******** on our kickers getting worse under his tutelage. Kickers are a special case, it is way more mental with them than physical, and every situation they are put in is different throughout a season. You can't look at Brauchle and Despaquale's last years and say wow they are worse than before because their percentage went down. One bad kick can get into their heads mentally and cause several more because they over-adjust slightly. I guess Georgia must have the worst Special Teams coach in the country because they had the best kicker in the country, Blair Walsh, and he went from 90.9% to 87.0% to 60% FG percentage over the last 3 seasons.
I do think something needs to change about our Special Teams, and if that means hiring a guy for that job, then I am okay with that. However, who do you fire to open a spot for another coach? Easy choice for fans would be Sallach, but I don't see that happening considering they are college friends and TEs have been fine. I have no idea about his recruiting ability. I would like to see our players take more pride in special teams though. The younger and other career backup guys seem to at times, like Bure and Hughes last year. I just wish all of them had that intensity and looked at their position on special teams as a mark of pride. I wouldn't mind actually offering a scholarship to a kicker that everyone knows will be good either. Forcing them to walk-on and earn a scholarship is easy at more prestigious schools, but we won't get those quality kickers to do that here.
It is crazy frustrating to have a bad place kicker. But I call ******** on our kickers getting worse under his tutelage. Kickers are a special case, it is way more mental with them than physical, and every situation they are put in is different throughout a season. You can't look at Brauchle and Despaquale's last years and say wow they are worse than before because their percentage went down. One bad kick can get into their heads mentally and cause several more because they over-adjust slightly. I guess Georgia must have the worst Special Teams coach in the country because they had the best kicker in the country, Blair Walsh, and he went from 90.9% to 87.0% to 60% FG percentage over the last 3 seasons.
I do think something needs to change about our Special Teams, and if that means hiring a guy for that job, then I am okay with that. However, who do you fire to open a spot for another coach? Easy choice for fans would be Sallach, but I don't see that happening considering they are college friends and TEs have been fine. I have no idea about his recruiting ability. I would like to see our players take more pride in special teams though. The younger and other career backup guys seem to at times, like Bure and Hughes last year. I just wish all of them had that intensity and looked at their position on special teams as a mark of pride. I wouldn't mind actually offering a scholarship to a kicker that everyone knows will be good either. Forcing them to walk-on and earn a scholarship is easy at more prestigious schools, but we won't get those quality kickers to do that here.
The last time we went after one of the top kickers in the nation we had to offer him a scholarship to keep him from walking on at Michigan and he now holds every bad statistic in the kicking catagory at MSU (Adam Carlson). A lot of times your high school QB is the punter or kicker, just offer him a walkon spot at both QB and SP/T. Mitch Mustain finished his college career as the 2nd string punter for USC. Probably better than whatever we have. Hell, Lil Favre wasn't half bad at punting either. Cowart will never see a down this fall, I'm sure a guy like Cowart who was also a good kicker but not QB would kill to walkon and start AND play QB [at practice]. Option #2 is go to Europe, find a soccer player, and offer him an American college education. Worked well for NFL Europe and also with the Gramaticas.
My high school QB was the punter too, and he got a preferred walkon spot at Ole Miss. He showed up for summer and quit by December, but I'm sure he would have stuck with it had he been the 3rd string QB too.
If it isn't there he needs to throw the ball away or tuck it and get what he can (and SLIDE when he choose to run). Our depth at QB is razor thin and this worries the hell out of me for next year. We don't need to throw Dak to the wolves too soon if we don't have to.
Also, there is a lot of development left for our players before the season opener. Guys like Autry and Siddoway are going to undergo a physical transformation under Balis this summer. By the time JSU rolls around we are going to be a bit different than what you saw this spring with regard to development. I imagine we will continue to experiment with offensive line combinations right up to game week, but the difference this year is we actually have several big bodies to pick from instead hoping we can find five guys who are remotely SEC caliber. The depth we have is better than it has been in years at most positions. Just have to keep Tyler healthy and I think we'll win 8 games.
Also, there is a lot of development left for our players before the season opener. Guys like Autry and Siddoway are going to undergo a physical transformation under Balis this summer. By the time JSU rolls around we are going to be a bit different than what you saw this spring with regard to development. I imagine we will continue to experiment with offensive line combinations right up to game week, but the difference this year is we actually have several big bodies to pick from instead hoping we can find five guys who are remotely SEC caliber. The depth we have is better than it has been in years at most positions. Just have to keep Tyler healthy and I think we'll win 8 games.
S
Sauron
Guest
I think a lot of that comes from the fact that he felt like he HAD to make plays last year to get attention because he was the back up. They say he did really well in the game yesterday about throwing it away when the play wasn't there, which is what we need him to do, manage the game.
My observations were very similar.
1) Prescott has some accuracy issues and looked a bit lost.
2) Perkins and Robinson(?) looked great running.
3) Quay Evans is raw, but looks like he has potential.
4) Place kicking was god-awful **
5) Secondary looked fine, they were close to all the receivers.
6) Pass plays seemed to take too long to develop. I dont think Russell will have that long in a real game.
And finally, it was tough to evaluate the offensive and defensive lines. I thought the D-line looked better and
seemed to be playing harder, but it can take time for an O-line to get used to working together.
I'm just hoping we have more depth on the offensive line this year in case we have either injuries or poor play.
1) Prescott has some accuracy issues and looked a bit lost.
2) Perkins and Robinson(?) looked great running.
3) Quay Evans is raw, but looks like he has potential.
4) Place kicking was god-awful **
5) Secondary looked fine, they were close to all the receivers.
6) Pass plays seemed to take too long to develop. I dont think Russell will have that long in a real game.
And finally, it was tough to evaluate the offensive and defensive lines. I thought the D-line looked better and
seemed to be playing harder, but it can take time for an O-line to get used to working together.
I'm just hoping we have more depth on the offensive line this year in case we have either injuries or poor play.
and Devon Bell was ranked as one of the best kickers in the country and will be on scholarship. This doesn't include the walkons, who were also good in high school. Of course, with kickers, you never know what will happen.
Than any other unit... like the O-Line. Reason being, the Spring game is a chance for the kickers to showcase what they have and what they can do... without any rush. If a place kicker can't hit a chip shot with no rush, what the hell is he going to do when he's got another team bearing down on him? Maybe some kickers are better under pressure, but I expected a lot more from them at this point in the game. Also tie that with the fact that so many games last year were close and really depended on our kicker's performance.