For all the things we are as a football program....

[DawgatAuburn]

....one thing we are not is an offensive lineman factory.

I was curious enough to look up some numbers. Can't really put my finger on what the REASON might be for this......

NFL Offensive Linemen by SEC School (the +1's are long snappers)
Alabama 9+1
Florida 8
LSU 7
TAMU 6+1
Missouri 5+1
Georgia 5
Ole Miss 5
Tennessee 5
Arkansas 4+1
South Carolina 4
Auburn 3+1
Vanderbilt 2
Kentucky 1
MSU 1

Looked at four or five random NFL rosters. It looks like, in general, NFL teams roster 8 or 9 OL plus maybe a long snapper, or two if you are the Colts. (?) So 32 teams, ~8 OL per team....that's about 260 available OL jobs. About a quarter of those jobs (65 pure OL, 5 snappers) belong to SEC players. Of those 65, we have Gabe Jackson.

 

[patdog]

That's the one thing I miss most from the Jackie Sherrill days. We always had some big bruisers on the offensive line. Even under Croom, we had some decent linemen. That position group under Mullen has mostly been a big black hole.

 

[bulldognation]

And if you'll notice, there's a direct correlation between program success and number of OL in the league.

The best teams understand that success starts with an effective O line. I miss those Jackie days when it seemed like we averaged 320 lbs across the line and had a couple of punishing backs to punch through the hole they opened up.

Now we are getting whipped by programs that haven't been in existence for more than ten years and hope our undersized backs can scamper around the edge.

 

[coach66]

I'm repeating myself but how in the hell did Rankin get ranked #1

JUCO prospect in the nation?

 

[coach66]

And what would be the one constant during this period*

nm

 

[stateu1]

Wrong reply

 

[aTotal360]

Let me say this...FIRE HEVESY. And for those wondering, Day got waived on Sept 3.

 

[msstate7]

And if you'll notice, there's a direct correlation between program success and number of OL in the league.

The best teams understand that success starts with an effective O line. I miss those Jackie days when it seemed like we averaged 320 lbs across the line and had a couple of punishing backs to punch through the hole they opened up.

Now we are getting whipped by programs that haven't been in existence for more than ten years and hope our undersized backs can scamper around the edge.

Yep. We've been the worst team in the sec during this period**

 

[ShrubDog]

Good OL are hard to find and MS doesn't produce many of them. You have to recruit them in multiple states.

And guys who would traditionally place OL are switching to DL.

 

[kired]

We'd probably have 2 if Sherrod hadn't been injured, but still depressing. And truth is, Croom recruited jackson and sherrod. Jackson committed summer of 2008. So Mullen has never signed an OL that's played a single snap in a regular season NFL game (if you consider jackson more of a croom recruit).

 

[philduckworth]

JUCO prospect in the nation?

Paul Jones played a pretty big part. Juco is so under-evaluated by the recruiting websites if I guy gets a couple of verbal offers his ranking can be manipulated. Most people, like Steve R, thought Jamal Danley was the best O-linemen then all of the sudden Rankin took off.

 

[BossDawg78]

I'd like to see Dan's excuse for this and why he has kept Hevesy around.

 

[codeDawg]

I actually blame Scott Stricklin for this failure. He has given Mullen WAY too much independence. Part of the job of being an executive is helping to compensate for the natural weaknesses and blind spots of your subordinates. This is the glaring deficiency of the biggest sports program in the portfolio. Scott should be making sure it is addressed one way or another. Hopefully the next guy will.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

Now that he's gone, damn near everything will be his fault, right?

 

[campshelbydog842003]

The weird thing is that Mississippi is the fattest state in the country and we don't produce very many offensive linemen. Seems like we would have no problem finding big human beings to play offensive line around here. I guess all of our big people are just fat and not athletic.

 

[Bobby Ricigliano]

Got 6 months to blame him for whatever we want.

 

[MaroonNation]

It's time we grow the 17 up as a fanbase and realize you can be critical of someone without wanting them fired. Mullen's glaring weakness has been offensive line. The AD has every reason to hold Mullen accountable for his recruiting. Maybe our next one will have balls AND a passion for marketing.

 

[dawgstudent]

He's still on the practice squad