The Jeff Scott topic and responses got me to thinking...

[RebelBruiser]

I know you're going to be homers to some extent, just as I would to an extent, but if I give you the two depth charts of our teams, and you had the opportunity to swap players at any position, which ones would you take from us in return for yours? I'm not saying you can take one of our starters and swap him for your No. 2 guy. I'm saying you take first stringers for first stringers and second stringers for second stringers. True freshmen obviously aren't included on this list.

I've used the post-spring depth chart to get a start, but I had to adjust a few spots for injuries (Shackelford) or player defections (Thames, Clarence Jackson) and/or changes I know have been made. I'm sure most people aren't familiar with a lot of the back ups, but anything you see that sticks out where you'd want to swap a player, I'm interested to see where you'd either bolster your depth or steal a starter. Presumed starters have the asterisk by their name.

QB
Chris Relf* - Barry Brunetti*
Tyler Russell - Randall Mackey

RB
Vick Ballard* - Brandon Bolden*
LaDarius Perkins - Jeff Scott
Robert Elliott - Enrique Davis

WR
Arceto Clark* - Ja-Mes Logan*
Chad Bumphis* - Korvic Neat*
Chris Smith* - Melvin Harris*
Michael Carr - Vincent Sanders
Brandon Heavens - Terrell Grant
Rico Sanders - Philander Moore

TE
Marcus Green* - Ferbia Allen*
Kendrick Cook - Jamal Mosley

LT
James Carmon* - Bradley Sowell*
Blaine Clausell - Emmanuel McCray

LG
Gabe Jackson* - Alex Washington*
Templeton Hardy - Logan Clair

C
Quentin Saulsberry* - AJ Hawkins*
Dillon Day - Evan Swindall

RG
Tobias Smith* - Matt Hall*
Damien Robinson - Jared Duke

RT
Addison Lawrence* - Bobby Massie*
Archie Muniz - Terrell Brown

FB
Adrian Marcus* - HR Greer*
Sylvester Hemphill - EJ Epperson

DE
Sean Ferguson* - Wayne Dorsey*
Trevor Stigers* - Kentrell Lockett*
Shane McCardell - Gerald Rivers
Corvell Harrison-Gay - Jason Jones

DT
Josh Boyd* - Byron Bennett*
Fletcher Cox* - Carlton Martin*
Curtis Virges - Gilbert Pena
Devin Jones - Justin Smith

LB
Cameron Lawrence* - Ralph Williams*
Brandon Wilson* - Mike Marry*
Chris Hughes* - Joel Kight*
Matthew Wells - Rudy Wilson
Jamie Jones - Will Martin
Deonte Skinner - Sam Noblin

CB
Jonathan Banks* - Marcus Temple*
Corey Broomfield* - Charles Sawyer*
Marvin Bure - Wesley Pendleton
Damien Anderson - Cliff Coleman

SS
Charles Mitchell* - Damien Jackson*
Jay Hughes - Frank Crawford

FS
Wade Bonner* - Brishen Matthews*
Nickoe Whitley - Ivan Nicholas

PK
Derek Depasquale - Bryson Rose*

P
Baker Swedenberg - Tyler Campbell*

Thought this could be a fun exercise hopefully without turning into juvenile argument at least for a little while.

 

[RebelBruiser]

I know you're going to be homers to some extent, just as I would to an extent, but if I give you the two depth charts of our teams, and you had the opportunity to swap players at any position, which ones would you take from us in return for yours? I'm not saying you can take one of our starters and swap him for your No. 2 guy. I'm saying you take first stringers for first stringers and second stringers for second stringers. True freshmen obviously aren't included on this list.

I've used the post-spring depth chart to get a start, but I had to adjust a few spots for injuries (Shackelford) or player defections (Thames, Clarence Jackson) and/or changes I know have been made. I'm sure most people aren't familiar with a lot of the back ups, but anything you see that sticks out where you'd want to swap a player, I'm interested to see where you'd either bolster your depth or steal a starter. Presumed starters have the asterisk by their name.

QB
Chris Relf* - Barry Brunetti*
Tyler Russell - Randall Mackey

RB
Vick Ballard* - Brandon Bolden*
LaDarius Perkins - Jeff Scott
Robert Elliott - Enrique Davis

WR
Arceto Clark* - Ja-Mes Logan*
Chad Bumphis* - Korvic Neat*
Chris Smith* - Melvin Harris*
Michael Carr - Vincent Sanders
Brandon Heavens - Terrell Grant
Rico Sanders - Philander Moore

TE
Marcus Green* - Ferbia Allen*
Kendrick Cook - Jamal Mosley

LT
James Carmon* - Bradley Sowell*
Blaine Clausell - Emmanuel McCray

LG
Gabe Jackson* - Alex Washington*
Templeton Hardy - Logan Clair

C
Quentin Saulsberry* - AJ Hawkins*
Dillon Day - Evan Swindall

RG
Tobias Smith* - Matt Hall*
Damien Robinson - Jared Duke

RT
Addison Lawrence* - Bobby Massie*
Archie Muniz - Terrell Brown

FB
Adrian Marcus* - HR Greer*
Sylvester Hemphill - EJ Epperson

DE
Sean Ferguson* - Wayne Dorsey*
Trevor Stigers* - Kentrell Lockett*
Shane McCardell - Gerald Rivers
Corvell Harrison-Gay - Jason Jones

DT
Josh Boyd* - Byron Bennett*
Fletcher Cox* - Carlton Martin*
Curtis Virges - Gilbert Pena
Devin Jones - Justin Smith

LB
Cameron Lawrence* - Ralph Williams*
Brandon Wilson* - Mike Marry*
Chris Hughes* - Joel Kight*
Matthew Wells - Rudy Wilson
Jamie Jones - Will Martin
Deonte Skinner - Sam Noblin

CB
Jonathan Banks* - Marcus Temple*
Corey Broomfield* - Charles Sawyer*
Marvin Bure - Wesley Pendleton
Damien Anderson - Cliff Coleman

SS
Charles Mitchell* - Damien Jackson*
Jay Hughes - Frank Crawford

FS
Wade Bonner* - Brishen Matthews*
Nickoe Whitley - Ivan Nicholas

PK
Derek Depasquale - Bryson Rose*

P
Baker Swedenberg - Tyler Campbell*

Thought this could be a fun exercise hopefully without turning into juvenile argument at least for a little while.

 

[dawgstudent]

that's about it for me. Maybe Massie but I think Lawrence does a pretty good job. Good topic Bruiser.

 

[patdog]

Obviously, Carmen for Sowell. Probably Lawrence for Massie and Stigers for Lockett. Otherwise, there's not any that I'd even consider swapping.

If I were a UM fan, I'd swap at least a dozen starters, and maybe more.

 

[bonedaddy401]

Enrique Davis for Robert Elliot<div>Sowell over Carmon</div><div>Lockett over Stigers</div><div>
</div><div>Might be more but I have never heard of anyone outside of Lockett on your defense.</div>

 

[Boomerdog15]

I don't know enough about your O-line to make any changes and I don't care if Sowell is All SEC I would never want him on my team because of the stupid things he says and I just don't think he has "it."

 

[coach66]

things about Ole Miss that this season is going to answer for me. Is there offensive line as good as we think it is and is their defense as bad as we think it is?

The offensive line benefited somewhat last year from the escapability and leadership of Mazoli. There were many times when Mazoli was running for his life and made positive plays because he was a great talent. I am not sure Brunetti and Mackey can do that but they might be able to and the line may be better but I have questions.

The defense just totally fell apart last year and caught me by surprise. I look at them on paper and they look like they shouldget beat up prettty good this year but can they really be as bad as last year? I don't think so.

 

[Uncle Ruckus]

Sowell
massie
lockett
any of your lb's over fabio lawrence

 

[BiscuitEater]

Enrique Davis for Robert Elliot
<div>Sowell over Carmon</div><div>Lockett over Stigers</div><div>
</div><div>Might be more but I have never heard of anyone outside of Lockett on your defense.</div>

Baker Sedenburg is an 'unknown' ... wouldthink about punter.

 

[Bigtoxic]

I'd take Enricky, Melvin Harris, Jamal Mosely, all the o line save Clausell, Jackson, and Saulsberry, ill bothof our fullbacks only because I have no clue about yours. As it stands, im only looking at keeping few our our O
starters which isn't a good sign as a Rebel fan.

On D id take Lockett, Rivers,Pena,Kight, Marry but would take the kid from Clemson if he plays in the middle,and Pendleton. Oh and id take our punter.

Several back up on both sides I didn't even consider because of lack of knowledge on the player. This is going to be a looooooong year.

 

[Coach34]

Sowell right now is the more experienced, complete player. But I think Carmon is going to bea better run-blocker than Sowell-and sooner rather than later. Playing DT and staying low, throwing your hands is the same move as an OL. Carmon is more athletic and should get a better push on initial contact

Carmon's learning curve is on pass protections. How quickly he closes on that is the key

 

[patdog]

The offensive line benefited somewhat last year from the escapability and leadership of Mazoli.

I think UM's OL is going to struggle more than most people expect this fall. Mazoli was a pretty special player and you're right that he made everyone else on offense look better, including the line. They'll also struggle because they're mostly going to be asked to run-block against 8 defensive players in the box.</p>

 

[RonnyAtmosphere]

..this is absolutely nobody I would trade for any OM players.


And it's not that I think MSU has a roster full of world-beaters.


It's just that in comparison to the OM roster, the MSU roster does look like a bunch of world-beaters.

 

[Hanmudog]

Lockett and.........well...uh.......Lockett.

How about you Bruiser? Who would you swap for?

 

[EAVdog]

AndpossiblyMike Marry.

 

[Tds &amp; Beer]

QB - Relf, Mackey

RB - Bolden, Perkins

WR - Clark, Bumphis, Smith

TE - Green, ?

LT - Sowell, Clausell

LG - ?

C - Saulsberry, Day

RT - Addison Lawrence, ?

RG - Tobias Smith, ?

FB - Marcus, Hemphill

DE -Ferguson/Dorsey?
Lockett, ?

DT - Boyd, ?
Cox, ?

LB - Maye at MLB, Skinner @ #2 somewhere, and the rest bears

CB - Banks, ?
Broomfield, ?

SS - Mitchell, ?

S - ?, Whitley

K/P - No clue

 

[patdog]

moving him from reserve DT to starting OT when he hasn't played offense since high school looks like desperation. Hell, he hasn't even wrapped up the starting job for us this fall. I think we're going to be hurting real bad at LT this fall and Dan's going to spend most of his efforts on offense to minimize the damage. I still think we'll have a good offense, but we're going to be starting most plays from the right hash mark (because the last play was run to the right side).

 

[Coach34]

Whereas we went pass-heavy OOC to work on Ralph's passing,the Bears just forced Bolden down the throats of OOC opponents- he had over 1/2 of his rushing yards for the season in those 4 OOC games- meaning he got less in 8 SEC games.

Mazola got chased around alot as well and was forced into alot of turnovers- they also gave up sacks at a higher rate than us

The Bear OL is a little over-rated

 

[RebelBruiser]

I really don't look at our OL's performance from last year all that much when I look at what I think they can do going forward. We started roughly 10 different people on the OL last year due to injuries and youth. We only had 2 juniors on scholarship and no seniors on scholarship on the OL.

To me, experience has always been the most important thing for OL, and we didn't have it at all last year. I think between Sowell and Massie, we started the year with fewer than 20 combined starts (either 18 or 19 I think) on the entire 2 deep. Our OL should be much improved this year based on experience alone. I compare it a lot to your 2008 OL. That group sucked, but the same players were pretty good in 2009 and 2010. Experience makes a big difference up front. We were your 2008 OL last year. We should be a lot better there this year.

On the original topic, I figured I'd wait on some replies before I got involved. If you're asking me to swap players, much like you, if I feel it's pretty close, more than likely I'd keep the guy we have. For example, I think Bolden and Ballard are both very good tailbacks, and if I had either one, I wouldn't feel the need to swap either for the other. In other words, I'm factoring in the cost of switching.

Outside of that, mainly looking at starters, I'll go position by position:

QB - I'd take Relf based largely on the experience factor, though I don't think he'd do nearly as well in our offense as he does in Mullen's, just not as good of a fit. Even still, he would be the starter if we could take him now.

RB - I'd keep Bolden, but if I could I would consider swapping Perkins for Davis, to get Scott and Perkins as my back ups to Bolden.

FB - I don't know anything about your FBs. I know ours but none of them are Peyton Hillis. For that position, it's a grab bag for me.

WR - I'd keep Melvin Harris as a starter, and I'd add Clark and Bumphis. The back ups I'm unfamiliar with.

TE - I'd take Green from you, unsure about the back ups.

OL - Saulsberry is changing positions to a very important position, so based on that I would keep Hawkins. I would keep our other starters too outside of the LG spot, where I would take Jackson for Washington. I think you could make arguments for Lawrence and Smith against Hall and Massie, but to me those are close enough to toss ups either way that I'd keep what we have.

DE - Obviously I'd keep Lockett and steal one of your starters. For back ups, I'd have to see more of them.

DT - I'm taking your starters because they've played. Martin and Bennett are redshirt freshmen. I think both have potential, but they're unknowns.

LB - I like Marry and Kight enough to keep them given you don't have any stand outs here. I forgot to add Maye to your list, but I would probably take him either as a starter or back up depending on where he fits. I don't know enough about your starters, but I would probably steal one at least, and I would definitely take all of your back ups. With Shackelford out and Jackson kicked off the team, our LB depth is nothing right now.

CB - I like Sawyer, so I would keep him and take whichever of your starters is the better one. Back ups, again I'd like to see more.

SS - I like Jackson, but I would take Mitchell over him.

FS - I don't know a lot about Bonner, but I know he has experience, so I would probably take him here.

Specialists - I'd keep both of ours. They're both above average.

If I'm taking it from an MSU perspective, I'd take Sowell, maybe Hawkins at center due to the experience at the position, Lockett of course, and maybe steal a LB. I would definitely steal Melvin Harris and swap him for either Clark or Smith, because he gives you something you don't have right now at all. I'm a little surprised no one else has suggested they'd take Harris. I might also steal some of our depth on the OL, because we have guys on our 2nd team that have at least started games and played significant minutes. I'd also try to swap Jeff Scott for Elliott, just to get Perkins and Scott as the back up to Ballard. I would steal both of our specialists too. That's probably it though. Like I said originally, it depends on the side you start from. I wouldn't swap parts I feel are close to equal going either direction.

 

[Coach34]

if Carmon cant handle it, we could have moved another player with experience to LT. Carmon is being moved there because he is a talented player. It's been said his run-blocking is close to being as good as Sherrod's- he just has to work hard on pass protections, and that will be an on-going thing.

 

[VirgilCain]

and I thought that I really like message boards...

 

[bulldogbaja]

I mean I didn't really follow OM after they stopped being relevant last year, but didn't Sowell allow like 5 sacks in one game?

 

[patdog]

I think he's overrated, but I really think LT is going to be a big problem for us this fall. I'd take almost any halfway decent player from them at that position.

 

[VirgilCain]

Nafoom has deceived me

 

[drt7891]

Sowell right now is the more experienced, complete player. But I think Carmon is going to bea better run-blocker than Sowell-and sooner rather than later. Playing DT and staying low, throwing your hands is the same move as an OL. Carmon is more athletic and should get a better push on initial contact

Carmon's learning curve is on pass protections. How quickly he closes on that is the key

Completely agree. Although I haven't seen him play at o-line yet, I think his run-blocking ability will be his definite strong suit. Playing at DT demands a lot of playing ability, but particularly demands leverage, and I think he is going to be a beast at run-blocking. With that said, I hope his footwork allows him to be just as good at pass blocking (that is going to take the most work).

 

[drt7891]

he was going to be changing positions. Spring practice is usually dedicated to drills and not plays (I'm sure they have worked on some basic plays). They will probably be doing drills for the first few weeks of fall camp, then start diving into the playbook and game planning a few weeks before the first game. Starting jobs won't be handed out until game-week and the depth chart is practically useless right now.

 

[KurtRambis4]

you are right that Carmon hasn't won the job yet, Hevesy has come out and said he is the clear leader at this point.

 

[patdog]

Even if you're right about his run-blocking, the fact he's a senior and can't pass block at this point isa freaking huge problem. He doesn't have time to learn as he goes.</p>

 

[Original48]

nmDS

 

[Coach34]

but it takes time to get in sync with the Guard and RB's on identifying numbers on different protections with the blitz pick-ups...he is a talented work-in-progress

 

[patdog]

After reading your posts, I'm just wondering why we bothered playing him on defense last year. It's VERY rare to see an OL come into the SEC and be a good player in his first year. And even though Carmon is a senior, this is his first year playing OL.</p>

 

[Coach34]

that takes time and tons of reps.

I'll put it this way- I'm way more worried about OL and DL depth than I am about Carmon

 

[rebelrouseri]

and he pretty much got schooled by Carolina's defensive end/lb who was great that year and then he made the statement that he was glad the pressure was off, which really rubbed people the wrong way. Then his dad showed up on Nafoom and threatened to sue certain posters. He has matured since then and greatly improved his pass blocking and he is a great run blocker. I think part of the problem was our entire oline was young his first year and he and his dad rubbed some people the wrong way. I would guess most OM folks don't view him as high as the national media but that doesn't mean that your coaches wouldn't trade for him in a heartbeat. He doesn't have a bad attitude and should be one of the best olinemen in the sec this year.

 

[RebelBruiser]

That was Eric Norwood who schooled him, and yes he's improved a lot since then. I just hope whoever we have behind him (McCray right now) will be ready to step up next fall. If so, we could have a pretty good team in 2012.

 

[idog]

Harris, Lockett, punter.

i still like Ballard and his 19/20 TDs over Bolden. if Ballard had the same role in our offense as Bolden does for UM he'd have a huge boost in yardage and TDs last year. and, he practically never gets tackled for a loss.</p>

 

[NOPD1024]

msu allowed 23 sacks in 2010. OM allowed only 14. In defense of Bolden we got behind in the SEC games and had to throw it. We would have ran Bolden more if we weren't down by 14 or more points.

 

[whatever.sixpack]

On defense Ole Miss has so many unproven new starters that it's hard to know how good they'll be. Nafoom seems to be pretty certain that guys like Marry, Kight, Martin, and Bennett will be upgrades over Cornell, Walker, Powe, and Laurent but I think that's a little premature.<div>
</div><div>Bruiser is right in that MSU could use a tall WR like Harris or Logan to compliment our small/quick WR's, because most of our proven guys are all in the same smaller mold. I love Ballard but think that Bolden could be a better NFL talent. Other than that and Lockett, it's hard to say right now.</div><div>
</div><div>OM is depending on alot of new guys on defense and at QB as well. It's easy to say they'll be an upgrade when you sucked last year and haven't seen the new guys play yet, but it's still possible that things are worse for them this year also</div>

 

[Rezpup]

holding penalties and false starts. I don't know why everyone is so high on him either.

 

[AlCoDog]

I did not believe you and I went and looked for myself. Masoli was better than I thought because I remember him running for his lifea good bitlast year. I was equally surprised that we were sacked 23 times as much as we ran the ball form the QB position. Huh, learn new **** everyday.

 

[Mr Meoff]

***