Knock on wood but we really haven't lost anyone from the current roster...

dawgstudent

Heisman
Apr 15, 2003
39,493
19,034
113
that's a huge concern. Only one still outstanding is Anthony Evans. Issac Smith announced today he is coming back.

I would have liked to have kept Tony Mitchell and Jimothy Lewis but it's not earth shattering.
 
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Baddog11

All-Conference
Aug 28, 2013
3,311
2,643
113
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aTotal360

Heisman
Nov 12, 2009
21,845
14,616
113
Only the pack could take being one of the worst in the league at player retention and make it seem like everything is good



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If a team sucks, keeping the players isn't a good thing. Nor is keeping the coaches, but that's a different discussion.

I'm disappointed the number is only 30. I want that number to be in the 50s.
 

Baddog11

All-Conference
Aug 28, 2013
3,311
2,643
113
Yeah, spend all year or years developing, and teaching them your system so they can go end up be all-league somewhere else.

But let’s keep the ones that started and played when they got boat raced by wake forest’s walk-ons.
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TheBannerM

All-Conference
Nov 30, 2024
1,126
1,608
113
Only the pack could take being one of the worst in the league at player retention and make it seem like everything is good



View attachment 1121834

Yeah, spend all year or years developing, and teaching them your system so they can go end up be all-league somewhere else.

But let’s keep the ones that started and played when they got boat raced by wake forest’s walk-ons.
So we should get rid of the returning starters from a 5-8 team, but KEEP the guys who couldn’t beat them out? The majority of the guys in the portal are transfers in, not HS guys.
 

TheBannerM

All-Conference
Nov 30, 2024
1,126
1,608
113
How about (in year 3) evaluating and getting players that you think will develop and you’d actually like to keep around
Yeah, it's a double edged sword. You're not losing potential starters/key contributers to bigger programs, but why are you bringing in so many players that can't play at this level? It seems like all the guys coming in this portal season *so far* are higher level players than in the past for Lebby. It shouldn't take 3 years to get to that point. I suspect we'll start to see the camp bodies coming in just because you need to SO MANY players, but so far we're seeing P4/G5 players who can play.
 

aTotal360

Heisman
Nov 12, 2009
21,845
14,616
113
How about (in year 3) evaluating and getting players that you think will develop and you’d actually like to keep around
Look at where these kids end up landing. Jimothy will end up at a good school, but the rest of them will be at USM, Memphis or Delta State.

Sure. Some of our attrition will go on to play good ball somewhere at some level. But for the most part, the vast majority of kids leaving isn't a bad thing.
 

Shmuley

Heisman
Mar 6, 2008
23,873
10,797
113
Is it okay to be conflicted here? I mean, it’s obvious that this coaching staff assembled, for the most part, a collection of 2-3 star misfits and rolls of the dice. So, on one hand, cutting some or most of them loose is probably addition by subtraction. On the other hand, Lebby has kept around, for the most part, his brain trust collection of misfit coaches/assistants who first assembled that same roster. May I be conflicted as to whether I think it is a good thing or a bad thing that we had 30 bolt for the portal but managed to “keep the ones that this brain trust of a coaching staff wants to keep?”
 

TXDawg.sixpack

All-Conference
Apr 10, 2009
2,409
2,341
113
Yeah, it's a double edged sword. You're not losing potential starters/key contributers to bigger programs, but why are you bringing in so many players that can't play at this level? It seems like all the guys coming in this portal season *so far* are higher level players than in the past for Lebby. It shouldn't take 3 years to get to that point. I suspect we'll start to see the camp bodies coming in just because you need to SO MANY players, but so far we're seeing P4/G5 players who can play.
But we're not seeing players come in at the positions we need. We've brought in one OL and one DL so far. That's not going to cut it.
 

The Cooterpoot

Heisman
Sep 29, 2022
6,916
12,047
113
We shoved out the bad and are bringing in better and retaining our best. Next season will be the first real roster we've had in a long time
 

msstatelp1

All-Conference
Aug 21, 2012
2,028
1,166
113
But we're not seeing players come in at the positions we need. We've brought in one OL and one DL so far. That's not going to cut it.
Sounds like there’s not a lot of good OL and DL in the portal this year. Someone correct me if I heard wrong (not that I have to worry about that around here 😆)
 

dawgstudent

Heisman
Apr 15, 2003
39,493
19,034
113
that's a huge concern. Only one still outstanding is Anthony Evans. Issac Smith announced today he is coming back.

I would have liked to have kept Tony Mitchell and Jimothy Lewis but it's not earth shattering.
Forgot about Stonka too if we could have convinced him to stay with defense.
 

The Peeper

Heisman
Feb 26, 2008
15,561
10,792
113
"Knock on wood but we really haven't lost anyone from the current roster..."

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josebrown

All-Conference
Aug 4, 2008
3,020
1,259
113
Sounds like there’s not a lot of good OL and DL in the portal this year. Someone correct me if I heard wrong (not that I have to worry about that around here 😆)
There never really is, or so I’ve been told. The good ones are made happy where they are, and everyone wants them. We should’ve been stacking high schoolers and developing them. You can do that with oline. They understand that. Lebby’s idea of continuously portalling oline is not a got philosophy. Or hasn’t been to this point. He also needs to portal in a new coach for them big uglies.
 

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
57,082
26,683
113
Yeah, spend all year or years developing, and teaching them your system so they can go end up be all-league somewhere else.

But let’s keep the ones that started and played when they got boat raced by wake forest’s walk-ons.
Lets Go Yes GIF by Bubble Punk
I think it's pretty safe to say no one we're losing this year is going to go on to be all-conference in a P4 league. Now last year, we did have a couple we lost that hurt at WR, but we did a really good job of replacing them. If you look at the list of most transfers, the one thing the 6 schools with the most transfers have in common is they all had disappointing seasons (and 3 of them fired their coaches). We're keeping the players we want and need to keep this year. And losing a lot of good attrition. Of course that good attrition is due to a lot of bad recruiting by Lebby in the last couple of years, if he can't do better we'll have another bad season next fall. But so far, the incoming portal class looks OK. Not great, but better than what we're losing.
 
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thatsbaseball

All-American
May 29, 2007
17,885
6,598
113
Is it okay to be conflicted here? I mean, it’s obvious that this coaching staff assembled, for the most part, a collection of 2-3 star misfits and rolls of the dice. So, on one hand, cutting some or most of them loose is probably addition by subtraction. On the other hand, Lebby has kept around, for the most part, his brain trust collection of misfit coaches/assistants who first assembled that same roster. May I be conflicted as to whether I think it is a good thing or a bad thing that we had 30 bolt for the portal but managed to “keep the ones that this brain trust of a coaching staff wants to keep?”
LOL Never say we can't be "politically correct" on SPS ............
 

TheBannerM

All-Conference
Nov 30, 2024
1,126
1,608
113
But we're not seeing players come in at the positions we need. We've brought in one OL and one DL so far. That's not going to cut it.
True. I'm just going off what's come in so far. We've traded FCS/Juco players for players coming from the P4.
 
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Baddog11

All-Conference
Aug 28, 2013
3,311
2,643
113
Lemme guess….. now Lebby needs another year because there weren’t any quality linemen this go around? Trust the process, it just takes time?

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tenureplan

All-Conference
Dec 3, 2008
8,564
1,201
113
that's a huge concern. Only one still outstanding is Anthony Evans. Issac Smith announced today he is coming back.

I would have liked to have kept Tony Mitchell and Jimothy Lewis but it's not earth shattering.
I saw where we ranked 3 in the SEC with 30 portal guys

Eta - I should have read whole thread b4 replying
 

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
57,082
26,683
113
that's a huge concern. Only one still outstanding is Anthony Evans. Issac Smith announced today he is coming back.

I would have liked to have kept Tony Mitchell and Jimothy Lewis but it's not earth shattering.
For the most part, we’ve kept the ones we wanted to keep. Agree about Mitchell & Lewis but you’re never going to keep all the ones you want to. If we’re going to lose a couple those are a lot better than some we are keeping.
 
Jun 4, 2025
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Is it okay to be conflicted here? I mean, it’s obvious that this coaching staff assembled, for the most part, a collection of 2-3 star misfits and rolls of the dice. So, on one hand, cutting some or most of them loose is probably addition by subtraction. On the other hand, Lebby has kept around, for the most part, his brain trust collection of misfit coaches/assistants who first assembled that same roster. May I be conflicted as to whether I think it is a good thing or a bad thing that we had 30 bolt for the portal but managed to “keep the ones that this brain trust of a coaching staff wants to keep?”
To me it shows that we’ve haven’t recruited well in state for several years and that with our portal hauls we don’t have the scouting department necessary to evaluate and contact the amount of players we need to improve our roster.