re: Is Chris Jones the highest rated player to ever come out of Mississippi?

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Pernell McPhee was NFL ready out of juco, so he doesn't give us any insight. Didn't State have some kid who was supposed to be badass on the d line this year that wasn't though? Boyd or cox or something? Then again, it's probably up to the coordinators and assistants, so maybe he should be making better hires or something?

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Pern took a bit over half of his freshman year to figure it out and get up to SEC speed. His development schedule was very similar to Autry's this year. Both had good coaching at the JUCO level and pretty close to ready to go honestly -- McPhee had his first year with Turner and Autry will have his second.

Boyd was supposed to be good -- and he was at times(when Quay lined up next to him). He spent practically the entire season double-teamed because the idiot we lined up next to him(Cherrington) was an easy single-block for a guard, allowing both the center and the other guard to block Boyd. His stats took a hit from this, no doubt -- and he underperformed relative to expectations. Still not sure how much of it can be blamed on his ability and how much of it is the fault of those around him though.

Chris Wilson was our DL coach and Defensive Coordinator. He got demoted prior to the bowl game -- for a shitty defensive scheme that wasted 2 lockdown sr CBs, a DL that underperformed relative to expectations as badly as any single MSU unit I can remember, and never bothered to blitz or stunt despite the obvious shortcomings up front. He took the DL job at UGA, so he's out of the picture altogether. We brought back Turner for the DL, and we promoted Geoff Collins to DC/LB coach from co-DC. Collins has been our LB coach for 2 years -- where we've been pretty good, despite replacing all 3 starters his first year(2 to NFL) and 1 his second year. He was a finalist for the Broyles Award(Nation's top assistant coach) @ FIU as a DC the year before we hired him -- and schematically, we looked infinitely better in the bowl game -- actually blitzing, putting a 5th man on the LOS to stop the run, etc...

So basically, no part of our future DL performance or defense overall can be evaluated off of what happened last year. It's a new start. Same as going from Manny to Wilson was. Collins talks constantly with Diaz and has been quoted saying that's closer to what we will use blitz/style-wise. Which is exciting as hell to me. I HATED the read/react BS we tried to do this year. I MUCH preferred "Joe Lee" Wommack's scheme in Oxford this year if we're being honest.

We desperately need Evans, James, and PJ to get their shite together though -- and the word is that they have thusfar. Fingers crossed -- because as they go, so goes our entire defense/team...

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One thing, you say that word is that they gotten it together "this far". What are you referring to there? Since the bowl game or what?

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Since the Egg Bowl.

Quay and James were both quietly suspended for that game for skipping class. Apparently, that cut both of them pretty deeply -- especially watching us get our arse whipped on the field while they were missing their "dream" of playing in that game over something stupid.

Our only "open" practices basically all year were the bowl practices -- and by all accounts, both were absolute monsters in those, especially James. He is finally in football shape as well -- which hopefully will be improved even more throughout the summer.

The one that worries me the most is PJ. He played in the Egg Bowl, but didn't do crap -- and never really got out of the doghouse over his second failed drug test. He's one strike away from being gone permanently -- and I haven't seen/heard anything to imply that he's getting it together like the other two.

Again, I'm excited about the idea of them learning actual technique -- because all we used with Wilson was a bullrush. Quay/James are INCREDIBLY quick for their size, and that was wasted under Wilson. Hopefully, it won't be under Turner...

What did y'all think about Russell as the year progressed? Mainly once he played decent teams in his final 6 games or so? I didn't keep up too much, so just seeing what y'all thought. For us, Wallace gave us a threat every play in several different ways, but has to cut down on forced throws, but that is just a freshman for you. Glad he is getting his shoulder repaired.

Dak is really predictable though. I don't see him being as successful as Relf. Maybe he will get his shot though.

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Dak is really predictable though

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Relf was the poster child for predictable. Dak just hasn't been turned loose to actually be a passer. He has way more upside in that area.

Guess I just always saw him at the wrong times? He either ran an option or qb draw for 1 or 2 yards or slung a wr screen for a gain of 3 every play I saw him run. Then again, I didn't watch many of your early games, only the ones later in the year.

Relf was also successful. For a qb at state, he was extremely successful. Guess time will tell on dak. I think he will get his chance to take over next year. Russel gets hit WAY too much.

He was our best short-yardage runner -- so that's why he was used in those situations...

He threw TD passes in the Tennessee game and the LSU game where he completely caught the defense by surprise to wide open receivers.

He will look better as a passer in the future, because teams will have to keep 1 more in the box to account for his running ability. Relf had wide open receivers all year in 2011-- he just overthrew them by 10 yards most of the time.

Hmmm

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Our WR future hinges on holding Corey Smith and getting Carr back IMO. We haven't had a legit deep threat for years -- but we've got Brewster working a full offseason with Morrow, BJ Hammond, Shelby Christy, Carr, and Scott Austin. One of the 4 HAVE to step up for us in that regard...

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don't forget Tubby, can hopefully help in the short route game.