The effect of one player

[Wizard.sixpack]

I have heard it said that Mississippi State will never reach the level of a Alabama or LSU. We will never get the caliber athletes to compete with them. But do we really need that caliber of players across the board at every position to have our moment in the sun? I do agree that we need above average athletic ability in key positions but lets dont underestimate the impact 1 player can have on a season. I have not researched this too much of course but right off the top of my head, I think of RG3 at Baylor, Johnny at A&M, Cam at Auburn, and Jameius Winston at Florida St. All quarterbacks and all have or had a major impact on their teams success. Granted all have not won the NC but they have all generated top 10 status for their teams. I have said all year long that Ole Miss was a QB away from being very good and when Bo showed up, finally, the other night it confirmed that. Dak shows tremendous athletic ability and I feel good that he could develop in to the caliber of the above QB's. It could be next year, or it could be the next, but I think MSU will reap the benefits of Dak potential before he leaves.
HAIL STATE!

 

[msstate7]

I love dak, but that's a stretch. Dak won't develop into rg3, cam, Manziel, or Winston. I do think he can be a very good qb as he gets better throwing the ball though. Dak could very well be the best qb in the sec west next season

 

[Wizard.sixpack]

Perhaps that is a stretch but I guess my point was the impact a great QB can make, even when other areas are average or just above average. Biggest example being Auburn when Cam was there. Without him they were at best a 8-4 team that year. I feel like Sandberg could have been that guy, perhaps Staley will be.

 

[OzarkaNSW]

I follow Staley on twitter, he freaks me out

 

[Sutterkane]

I love Dak but he's a poor man's Tebow at best. Relf 2.0 if you will. He's a better thrower than Relf but doesn't execute the read option as well, at least not at this point. Relf's sophomore year he stepped in and whipped a cotton bowl winning Ole Miss team.

 

[Digging dog]

I love Dak but he's a poor man's Tebow at best. Relf 2.0 if you will. He's a better thrower than Relf but doesn't execute the read option as well, at least not at this point. Relf's sophomore year he stepped in and whipped a cotton bowl winning Ole Miss team.

Relf = Gator Bowl. I'm ok with that.

 

[msstate7]

Dak will be better than Relf. Dak is having a nice year after missing most of the offseason recovering from surgery. Every game it seems dak is getting more explosive running the ball. He has an absolute rocket for an arm. With more reps as starter, his ability to run zone read will get better and better along with his passing accuracy IMO

 

[Son of 34]

I follow Staley on twitter, he freaks me out

Do you notice that too? There are 7 year olds that can piece together more complex thoughts than this guy.

Thank God there's no correlation between intelligence and being a good college athlete (watch 10 seconds of an Anthony Dixon interview).

 

[NCDawg.sixpack]

I love Dak but he's a poor man's Tebow at best. Relf 2.0 if you will. He's a better thrower than Relf but doesn't execute the read option as well, at least not at this point. Relf's sophomore year he stepped in and whipped a cotton bowl winning Ole Miss team.

I agree, but if can get better at the read option and get a little more accuracy with his throws, he will be very good.

 

[FISHDAWG]

well he's graduating early so he must have something up there ... sounds like you put to much stock into tweeting

 

[hatfieldms]

This

Bashing some high school kid's intelligence due to what he puts on twitter on a public message board is pretty pathetic

 

[Son of 34]

Bashing some high school kid's intelligence due to what he ours on terrier on a public message board is pretty pathetic

Yeah, I'm pathetic.

"He ours on terrier".

Go learn how to 17ing spell.

The kid is immature and needs to quit tweeting stupid ****. He represents this university.

 

[AFDawg]

Do you notice that too? There are 7 year olds that can piece together more complex thoughts than this guy.

Thank God there's no correlation between intelligence and being a good college athlete (watch 10 seconds of an Anthony Dixon interview).

I grant that Dixon comes across poorly in interviews. However, he had a better Wonderlic (25) than Tebow (22), RG3 (24), Newton (21), Jake Locker (20), Favre (22), and many others. That's by no means a be all end all, but Dixon is smarter than he sounds.

 

[AFDawg]

That's pretty clearly an autocorrect error. I'm sure that's never happened to you, Arvind Mahankali.

 

[hatfieldms]

Yeah shame on me for not double checking...

...what spellcheck "fixed" while typing on a phone. I swear I really thought you spelled twitter "terrier"

 

[Shamoan]

you can flip on any game at any time-slot in america see playmakers to the level we have rarely, if ever, had. its pretty frustrating we keep whiffing at the playmaker positions...and to be honest, we have had some great impact rb's over the years. dixon, ballard, norwood, etc....im more talking about the qb and wr positions. we are freaking awful over the years in that regard. bumphis is the closest thing i can think of a playmaker at wr, but many amongst the fanbase call him soft or afraid of contact. all that said, by pure, dumb luck, we should have accidentally come across some playmakers outside of rb guys.

 

[msstate7]

Lewis is a playmaker. Wilson is gonna be a great player as he develops.

 

[Shamoan]

lewis is certainly one that we knocked out of the park, but hes not exactly a difference maker, not just yet anyway. maybe we should just get short receivers that can run you out of the stadium instead of those that are tall, slow, and incapable of getting any significant separation. im not being really fair to our players, but meh...we seem to be masters of nothing. lewis has been a pleasant surprise and he is a playmaker, so i should have explained a little further. its just frustrating to watch central so-and-so or southern sisters of the poor and see production and talent we seem incapable of landing at those positions. that said, we have been more than fortunate at the rb position.

 

[RocketDawg]

Dak has something that Relf did not have ... speed. He's pretty fast for a person his size. And I don't understand why everybody says passing is a weak point. He's looked pretty good passing to me this year. Sure, he's made a few mistakes, but so did Peyton last night. Everybody does. I think he'll be the best MSU has ever had before he graduates.

 

[msstate7]

Dak has something that Relf did not have ... speed. He's pretty fast for a person his size. And I don't understand why everybody says passing is a weak point. He's looked pretty good passing to me this year. Sure, he's made a few mistakes, but so did Peyton last night. Everybody does. I think he'll be the best MSU has ever had before he graduates.

Out of the msu qb's I've seen in my life, I agree.

 

[MSUDawg25]

its just frustrating to watch central so-and-so or southern sisters of the poor and see production and talent we seem incapable of landing at those positions.

That's just a matter of numbers. There are way more small conference, small-time schools than major ones. Some of those teams are bound to luck into some really special players every year. How many players off our team do you think every MAC or WAC or WTF conference team would like to have every year? The answer is a bunch. How many would we really like to have off of USM, FIU, ECU, Houston, or UAB? A couple maybe.

 

[dannyripms]

Man I'm all down for short speedy recievers. Ala Steve smith.

 

[Shamoan]

i dont disagree with that, but the disparity between a team like usm and a fiu and a team like cincy or ttu is pretty sizable. there is an apparent untapped potential out there of guys that we would never even look at, that are actually very sound athletes. its just a type of guy from middle america that we never even consider for geographic and logistical reasons. im not talking about super athletes, just solid guys that do their job at a consistent enough rate to carry their team at times at the qb position or wr position. you cant sit there and tell me you dont say at least a few times on any given saturday "damn, how did that guy end up there?" or "i wish our guys could catch like that" (even if subconsciously) and you look up and realize you are watching a central michigan game vs tulsa....or something equally nondescript. im not saying wild catches should drive what we look for in athletes, but how many times do you watch sportscenter saturday night and see amazing one-handed catches from games all over the country? when was the last time you saw one by one of our players? again, we shouldnt be making decisions based on fantastic catches or random throws, but there is enough of it out there for me to realize there is some consistency in some of those players enough for me to marvel at their athleticism and its not based on any single play. there is a lot of good football being played now and the gap between the traditional "have nots" is closing by the type of players i am talking about.