where's the upgrade in talent ............

[patdog]

Our team will pay the price for their mistake this fall. I hate it like everyone else does. But we simply will not be as good of a team as we would have been if they'd kept themselves on the team. I'm certainly not blaming Croom for what they did. It's not his fault. But the fact it's not his fault isn't going to do one thing to make us miss them less.

As I stated, everyone gets worse when they lose an All SEC performer at a position.

Of course you're right. And just like anyone else, WE WILL BE WORSE for losing those 2 players. There's just no way around it.

 

[8dog]

I think the question futaba is trying to phrase is "we will be better on the field at most positions this year than last".

I initially read it to be an analysis of the type of talent Croom is infusing into the program. Its clear we have and are upgrading. That's what I meant. We can't really do anything about it though when guys get hurt or shoot guns at people.

but its also really dumb to act like we are the only program this happens to

 

[patdog]

in upgrading our talent level, especially if he can hold on to this year's commitments (and I'm optimistic that he will be able to keep most of them). However, I think what happened this spring will mean the difference between an 8-4 season this fall and a 6-6 season. Not Croom's fault at all, but he'll still have to pay the price for it just like we all will.

 

[futaba.79]

is ridiculous at all. Are we putting better players on the field than we're losing is all I want to know. In the future, I think we will be. When the incoming freshmen and next years class mature I think we upgrade our team significantly. However, I don't think that's the case this year.

And if your returning starter is an Avery House, this statement becomes a bit absurd</p>

And, as others have pointed out, any time you get a starter back, you are bettering your football team

. </p>

 

[TR.sixpack]

You refuse to allow for the possibility that other positions will be BETTER than last season because of returning starters.

 

[patdog]

because of returning starters. RB being one of them. It's been beat to death already, but we didn't get good production from that spot last year. I do think we have some talent there and we will get better production from them this year. If Co-Eric Riley gets his head out of his ***, we may be better at WR with a returning player. Jameyal Smith is another player I think will probably improve. However, all of those improvements from our returning players will not offset the losses of 3 NFL-caliber players at LT, DE, and CB. And yeah, I do think the Sherrod will do a decent job at LT, but that just leaves RT to be filled by a guy whose probably a year away from being ready to start.

 

[futaba.79]

in my statement didn't you? If your starter sucks because he lacks talent, then he can stay for ten years and he'll still suck. </p>

</p>

 

[DowntownDawg]

"upgrading our talent" and then proceeded to say we weren't because we lost players like Titus and Hannibal.

If we're not upgrading our talent, then nobody else is either. It's extremely rare for a team to lose a player and then immediately replace that player with somebody that is better. So, will our production at Left Defensive End be down? You betcha, but that doesn't mean we aren't upgrading our talent.

You're apparently asking two different questions: 1) Are we upgrading our talent, i.e. is our overall talent level increasing? And the answer to that is yes. Go look at Titus's class, and then pull up the most recent class. We are getting players that are considered better as high school seniors than the players that we signed with Titus and Money Mike. We can't know that for sure until they are done playing, but we have no other way of evaluating them at this point.

Your other question is apparently 2) Will we better at the positions at which we lost players? No way. Will LSU? No way. Will Florida? No way. Welcome to college football. The only way that ever happens is if you have a transfer situation (see Snead).

 

[patdog]

the immediate issue is that the overall talent/experience level of our 2008 starters will probably be lower than it was in 2007. The future looks better than it has in a long time. But I'm not too optimistic about the results this fall. Thank goodness for the easy schedule.

 

[TBonewannabe]

get our track star wr to catch the damn ball and our offense will be completely different. I, however, will believe we have a receiver that can catch when I see it. We have an occasional Will Prosser that can catch but of course he has to push off to catch it. Why is it so hard to get even a mediocre SEC receiver to MSU?

 

[state20006]

yeah that pittsburgh steelers.