M-Borg vs. THE Flavortown U Thread, Orig. by Buckeye Paul, absconded w/by talent.

[Hannibal]

I still feel like Sparty's shitty recruiting in 11 through 13 is going to haunt them, but yes, Dantonio will get more out of his players than most coaches. With that said, I think that there's some luck involved with guys like Jerel Worthy and Darquez Dennard becoming superstars, and your 2 and 3-star luck is bound to run out eventually.

[iam416]

Eh. I'd *may* argue it's actually predictable. MSU recruits a ton of 3-star kids so they are far more likely to find a good one than OSU or M. They have good corners and good LBs. I think they're DL is average and their DTs aren't particularly good (Stanford is going to bludgeon the A gaps like OSU should have).

The OL is serviceable, but 3-star talent and some competent coaching should produce that (yes, that's a direct dig at Funk's utter incompetence). The biggest thing they got this season was that Cook finally emerged as a credible QB. At the beginning of the season, their offense was horrific and even in the middle they only scored 14 against a god-awful Purdue team. Cook's improvement is what made the difference for them. And, TBH, I don't rate that as lucky.

[iam416]

On recruiting front, McMillan is huge. Josh Perry and Curtis Grant are back at LB (assuming Shazier goes pro), but neither is entrenched, IMO. Next year should be an all out open competition with kids from 2013 (Mike Mitchell and Trey Johnson) and 2014 (McMillan, Berger, Booker and Hubbard) all getting a legit chance. They have to. They can't put Kam Williams out there.

Also 2nd year in a row UFM has nabbed the #1 kid from Georgia. Eat it, SEC!

To close, Lattimore and Erick Smith are in. As is Marcelyus Jones, though I personally think he's a project that may turn into Marcus Hall if they get lucky.

Really not sure who else is. They lost out on a JC OL (Mavesty) to FSU, and that really sucked. He was a huge need recruit. So now they're into Plan B mode with the OL. Meh.

Solomon Thomas from Texas is definitely in play -- Stanford or OSU w/ Stanford probably being his choice.

Beyond that, I dunno. I don't even know how much room they'll have. Hopefully Miller comes back and that's one less open spot.

[whodean]

The OHIO BULL$HIT THREAD - Exactly What It Says -

Looking at a green offense next season

[iam416]

Less concerned about the offense than I am about getting someone to run the defense that is good.

Now, if Braxton goes pro -- and I've sort of felt he's going since September -- then the offense will be a concern. But, I'm really optimistic about JT Barrett. The skill positions will be really good. The OL will take a step back, but should still be solid.

Address the macro defensive issue and I'm fine with dealing with micro offensive issues.

[Mike]

What position does Miller think he'll play in the NFL?

[WM Wolverine]

Backup QB

[iam416]

Matt McGloin is seeing time in the NFL. The Redskins are auditioning Kirk Cousins for a trade. Pryor got $2.8M in guaranteed money. I understand Miller is far from a complete QB. However, he will get drafted and get paid. Now, IMO, he's better served with another year in college *if* Herman is back.

[Hannibal]

I pray that Miller leaves, but it would be a stupid decision.

[iam416]

Yeah, QBs in the NFL have an experience value. Miller can improve his ability to succeed in the NFL with another year under Herman and Meyer. The key for both his long-term and short-term goals is getting drafted in Round 2 or higher, IMO. That way, he gets his payday which he needs and the team that drafted him is committed to developing him.

He has the talent. He needs to refine his passing game more to ensure that he is a high pick, though.

I still tend to think he leaves. If Herman leaves, he's definitely gone, IMO.

[iam416]

I guess I'll put this here, but I was looking at some of the top undecided recruits and holy shit is Lester poised to finish strong. LSU is pretty good shape to land 6 top 30 kids (247 composite) including Fournette, who should be ridiculous in the offense.

The entire B10 has 3 top 50 recruits with Lattimore and McDowell likely to make it 5.

[iam416]

WR Johnnie Dixon from Ft. Lauderdale confirms what everyone knew -- Buckeye. Huge pull against hometown Canes and Alabama.

Good week for UFM. With Smith and Lattimore set to announce on the 4th, that's 21. They would find room for maybe 2 more -- a DL player (Solomon Thomas?) and an OL (?????). Last recruiting season with scholarship reductions, thank god.

Also of note, Thomas Holley committed to Penn State. Good get for BOB. Glad to see him staying north instead of going to Florida trainwreck.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Everett Withers leaving OSU to take over as HC at James Madison. That job move sounds like he was pushed out the door

[Dr. Strangelove]

OSU reportedly has only sold 7,000 of a 17,500 allotment of tickets so far.

Don't know that this means the support will not be as strong this year...I think people are beginning to wake up and realize that buying bowl tickets through your school means overpaying for shitty seats.

[Jeff Buchanan]

And M only sold under 1/2 of theirs. I'll bet the bowl ticket sales for Non-SEC teams is uniformly low.

The well is running dry. Folks involved in organizing bowls better wake up. People aren't willing to shell out the kind of bucks for a cross country trip and then get gouged for tickets to the bowl game anymore.

The SEC does have some well oiled, big spending fans. With a bowl committee deciding who plays in next bowl season, is their a chance for some undue influence here? Suspect there is. If the pecking order is close beyond auto bids you can bet some money is going to change hands to ensure the requisite number of at large SEC teams are in the play-offs