DuckSouth.com

Cover your eyes Bigwater and read no further.

Yes, Melvin has not even unpacked his bags yet, and Coach O has landed two more commits for the 2007 Reb signing class:

1) Leroy Diggs ---QB for South Panola / projected as CB in college; and

2) Dion Gales --- DL at Gulf Coast Community College / former Reb signee out of high school ---expected to be eligible to sign in the early December period.

I believe that this makes a total of 7 commits now for the 2007 class. Ole Miss' junior day is this Sat. There will likely be a couple of more commits after this weekend.

Coach O never rests. I am glad he does not play golf.

so here we are feb of 06 and um leads the nation in commitments for 07..



i mean first off all the committments are verbal so b/w now and sigining day anything is possible.. especially when you consider how far universitites will go to get the "good uns"...

i just don't understand why someone would commit so early to a program that.. well lets face it.. a lower tier sec program or nationwide a middle of the pack program..

yet recurits are rushing out and proclaiming that um is the only school for them..

i don't know about all that... either coach o is buggin the chit outta them and there tellin him this too get him off their back.. or um is buyin them..

Bigwater, these early commits are no longer unique ---except for maybe in Mississippi. For example, Urban Meyer at Florida already has several 2007 commits. And I think after several of the SEC schools, including MSU, holds their junior days this spring, you will see even more early commits around the SEC. Players who already pretty much know where they would like to go to college are making sure that they have a spot.

As to UM's surprising large number of early commits, I just think it is a result of applying this new approach by Orgeron. Evaluate early in the process, and get out early offers to the ones you believe are sure things. Coach O, per my understanding, has sent out 107 plus early offers to players that Coach O considers "elite" type players. If even a few choose to accept early, then such is a good thing and helps build early momentum for the class. And with respect to the ones who will not sign early, it gets your school into that recruits's mindset for consideration very early in the game.

Yes, they can change their mind before signing day, which is a long time away. But, even if 25 percent change their minds, or Ole Miss changes its mind based upon lack of fall performance on the field and in the classroom, it still results in solidifying your recruiting base early with those who most want to attend Ole Miss. Except for monitoring these guys and staying in contact, the recruiting emphasis can then shift toward players who are going to require more work and convincing. And it allows you to focus even more on unmet needs ---for UM, that would be OLs ---lots of them.

I like the new approach. It can't be any worse than what we had been doing. Because what we had been doing has not resulted in any SEC titles since the late sixties. So, where is the real risk?

Coach O may not have come into the UM job as the most polished X and O type of head coach ---he still has much to learn on the job in that area--- but he did come in to this job knowing how to recruit. And I think he has proven that, and is still proving that every month he is on the job. There is no "off-season" for Coach O.

The programs that do not engage in this type of recruiting effort will be left behind. Why do you think MSU brought back Melvin Smith, a CB coach, when the current coaching opening was for a RB coach? RECRUITING. Coach Croom needs help in this regard, and Templeton knows it. I will be willing to bet money that, due in large part to the competition from Coach O, MSU will have more early commits this year than at any other time in history. And I think this extra effort will make both schools better and make it harder for the OOS schools to steal our state's best athletes. Just my opinion.

Add one more commit to the list for UM ---Stanley Porter, a DL from Rosedale, MS. That makes a total of 8, all from MS so far. Unbelievable!

po monkey,

coach o is making me jealous...

just today i talked too some 5th graders at northwest rankin.. to a man they have already commited to um.. and they said they wern't waverin from their committment..

well.. there was this one kid who said that he wasn't going to committ until he had taken all his offical recuriting visits... humm... thats kinda of a novel idea???

Well, there are many opinions out there as to how best to recruit. And perhaps Coach O's strategy is not for everyone, nor does any recruiting success guarantee better results on the field. But, I am willing to cut him some slack and let him do his thing without my criticism --for now anyway. So far, I am liking the results. Like I said, it has to be better than what we were doing.

When MSU has about 8 -10 commits by this summer, will you change your tune then? MSU already has 2 commits for the 2007 class. And Coach Croom has a junior day on campus set up for early March, which could likely result in some additional commits at that time or soon thereafter. If you think MSU brought in M. Smith just to coach dbs, you are mistaken. He will be hitting the recruiting trail hard, often, and early, trying to get as much MS talent as he can for MSU. And I'll bet he will welcome any early commits with open arms.

Melvin Smith will take over the defensive secondary, corners and safeties both. Ellis Johnson remains the defensive coordinator and will coach middle- and weak-side linebackers. Amos Jones keeps strong-side linebackers. Shane Beamer, as expected, moves to offense to coach running backs and remains the recruiting coordinator.

chit man i cant wait any longer... i too am committing to coach o.. as of today, i'm a rebel..

cocah o promised me the um had a strong need for a tight end who was 50 lbs. over weight, a little shy to go over the middle, and runs the 40 in 5.9....

Welcome aboard Bigwater.

GH22, if you really think that Melvin was brought in for his defensive coaching prowess, you would believe anything. Texas A&M has had one of the worst defenses in college football for the last couple of seasons. Coach Fran pretty much cleaned house on the defensive side of the ball, keeping only one coach and bringing in essentially an entire new defensive staff.

Melvin was brought in for one main reason ---to recuit. And whether his old tactics in this area will still work in MS and elsewhere remains to be seen. We shall find out soon enough.

I know why he was brought in, recruiting. Our defensive scheme is fine, wouldn't necessitate any changes under him. The only thing I would do is to send Amos Jones up the road cuz he sucks, coaching wise and recruiting wise.

state's defense wasn't the problem, same with ole miss, our main problems with defense were depth, which showed the last 2 or 3 games of the season, heck our best player was playing with a broken foot, strained mcl, etc.

had either team had ANY kind of offense, we both would have won 5 games or so...

Slow down on the five win talk.

yeah, State wouldn't have won 5 games

camlock wrote:yeah, State wouldn't have won 5 games

You are correct, wouldn't have won 5........would've won 6.

hey camlock 5 or 6 games whats the difference.. its still more ducks than u kilt last year..

bwabwaa

i kill myslef