If you could just magically improve one position group..

[57stratdawg]

What would it be and why?

RB?
OT?
S?

 

[msstate7]

Oline and it isn't close to me.

 

[missouridawg]

Or defense has put us in position to win every game. Our lack of a running game has cost us both of our losses. OLine is the right answer here.

 

[PBRME]

Oline and a distant second is secondary.

 

[NCDawg.sixpack]

Oline and a distant second is secondary.

Which are our same 2 weaknesses year after year.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

Staff

 

[patdog]

Oline and it isn't close to me.

This. If this team had a Jackie Sherrill late-90s offensive line, we'd be making reservations for a playoff bowl game.

 

[57stratdawg]

Haha ouch.

 

[MaroonNation]

This. If this team had a Jackie Sherrill late-90s offensive line, we'd be making reservations for a playoff bowl game.

Arkansas's is the largest in the nation in NCAA AND NFL. Has not faired well for them.

 

[rugbdawg]

Offensive line coach.

Remember, it's his fault we have CUSA caliber tackles on the field.

 

[notoriousD_O_G]

Remember, it's his fault we have CUSA caliber tackles on the field.

While Rankin redshirts

 

[TheStateUofMS]

Oline and it isn't close to me.

It's really LT. Our LT, Warren, has gotten whipped against every above avg DE he's faced. Factor in he was going up against the best DE in the country, he was looking like a turn table.

He's hurt now, but I'd rather take my chances with the talent of Jenkins and deal with the growing pains. I think he's going to be good. At the very minimum he's going to be a pretty decent LT.

Overall, it's the OL tho. Especially the LT position and that may be making this position as a whole look awful. Senior is pretty good, but is good for 1 or 2 bad plays a game.

I don't know if it's necessarily recruiting tho! Baylor recruits behind us almost every year and by a fairly wide margin. How do they have such a good OL?

 

[patdog]

While Rankin redshirts

I have a strong suspicion that the reason Rankin is redshirting is because he's just not as good as the tackles we are playing. I know that's hard for some of you to believe.

 

[notoriousD_O_G]

I mean Rufus Warren is 4th on the team in sacks**. But seriously somebody on our team has to be better than him and I am not just basing that off of Miles Garret on Saturday.

 

[aTotal360]

I think you are correct. None of the premium sites want to admit that he was overrated. I have to think it wouldn't take much to beat our Warren. A turnstile could beat him out.

 

[TheStateUofMS]

I think it's more of Jenkins is just as good as Rankin right now, which might not be a bad thing. I think the thinking is that he's as good as Jenkins who has already redshirted and maybe as good as Senior and after a RS year he'll be better and might make a difference in the win column. I'm not sure he makes a difference in the win column this year. Next year with Jenkins at LT and Rankin at RT could be a pretty good tandem and we'll need some better tackle play with the younger QBs next year.

I don't think we're playing for next year, I just don't think it shows up in the win column with Rankin playing.

I look for next year's OL to look like this: LT-Jenkins, LG-Malone , C-Clayborne, RG-Desper, RT-Rankin.
I think that OL will be a lot better than this year's.

 

[patdog]

I hope you are right. I actually think you may be. I do think Jenkins will turn out to be a pretty good OT for us when he gets some experience. But even if Rankin is about even with Jenkins right now, he was still very overrated coming out of JUCO. We needed him to take over the LT job and he simply hasn't been able to do it. And that is killing our offense right now.

 

[MaroonNation]

Coaching

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

Bagmen

 

[aTotal360]

agreed.

 

[57stratdawg]

Malone is a Senior, right?

I don't know what the long term plan is with Rankin. I know they're very high on Jenkins and Calhoun. Do they look to move him inside to compete with Calhoun at OG? Can he beat out Senior at RT? He's going to have to beat someone out next year to get on the field.

 

[STATE_of_emergency]

Kicking game....need I say any more. If my math is right I'm pretty sure that we averaged a rock solid 40 yard punt (after double checking his average was 42.0 with a long of 49) against A&M this weekend. A&M automatically started out in great field position which didn't help out our defense one bit.

 

[TheStateUofMS]

I'm not convinced he was overrated until I see him play and see him getting whipped. Talent is differ than understanding the play book. Rankings are mostly projections. Not a guarantee he's ready to play right now. Rankin may have a ton of talent, but he may need to be taught some better technique and understand the playbook better. It takes most JUCOs about 5 games to get used to next level speed, so he'd be fully adjusted right now had he been playing the whole time and like I said, does that give us a win over LSU or A&M? I dunno, but prolly not LSU since it was the second game.

He's gotten HS coaching and 2 years of JUCO. It's not like he's had elite level coaching but for only a few months now. Don't close to book on him yet. It's probably better to have Rankin blocking for Fitz/Staley for 2 years rather than Dak for 1.

 

[HD6]

I talked about this on today's show. The discrepancy between high school and JUCO rankings is just weird. The last four top ranked high school linemen all played or started from day 1 as true freshmen. Same for wide receivers. But MSU signs the #1 JUCO and WR and they can't get on the field.