Former Coach

If they can get to 17 plus wins I feel like they will go to Hoover with the intention of getting a couple of wins, just to secure hosting. In '21 there was no reason to use your best pitchers because the national seed was locked in before Hoover.

Agree, only problem is there are only 2 or 3 arms in the pen that can be trusted. Also, what is the deal with Pico, is he not on the SEC weekend roster? He has looked sharp in his midweeks, he could give us an inning or 2 on a weekend.

Usually schools have a cut off for admissions after around 2 weeks. I wouldn't think you could let students enroll and start class mid semester. JMO.?

That wouldn't work because the cut off for enrollment at new school would be passed.

The "kid need to be in a bigger school for exposure" is the number 1 recruiting non truth out there. If a kid can play, college coaches are going to know about him. They talk to coaches, see them on Hudl and other video systems, and most importantly they get them on campus in their camps. As the previous posters mentioned, it boils down to the personal trainers, 7v7 coaches, and handlers, trying to get their hands on them. Personal trainers and 7v7 has turned into AAU basketball. And that's not a good thing. Does the kid from Quitman need to be at a 7A school? The Hatch kid from Biggersville is going to Louisville over several other offers. Bassfield/JDC has put several players in Power 5 schools over the years. It's a trickle down from college, parents and kids see college players transferring yearly so they want that publicity.

Here in lies part of the problem. Lets take pitching as an example. Now days most players go to these showcase games or camps. A pitcher hops on the mound and pounds the zone at 98 for 1 maybe 2 innings, then he is done. Next pitcher. Same at the next show case and so on. He is now a top rated pitching prospect. School signs him. Comes in and can't throw strikes over an inning or two. How many have State and OM had/have on their rosters that fit this mold. State has several now. Then there are injuries. Just at State Simmons is out again. I am also assuming since they haven't thrown in three weeks Pico and Loftin are reinjured or still hurt. And IMO that goes back to playing year round from 8 years old and never resting your arm. I don't know if State need to make a move or not. Yes we should probably be 10-5 in SEC but still half the SEC schedule left with several winnable series. Lets let it play out.

The way we have pitched the last two series, if Dhom gets back you might put him in that closer role. That's where he started last year.

Will have to throw some big $$$ to Hubbard or he will be plucked away by one of the blue blood of college basketball.

I agree, and I'm sorry but if I'm the AD, none of our sports are live streaming, at least not home games.

Who do you hire if you get rid of Lemo? He basically got the job because the big names we went after, Corbin, Schlossnagle, McDonnell, and others all said no. I agree something has to change, hopefully that will be wins the rest of the year.

Come on guys. Outside of Holcombe's 2 walk top of the 9th, and the base running mistakes, State played well. Pitched it a WHOLE lot better than opening weekend last year. Every pitcher outside of Holcombe was very effective and threw strikes. I like the new approach. Stop nibbling on the corners and hit bats and let the defense play.

Yes, as long as the guy behind the plate is consistent both ways no one should care if he's giving a ball off the plate. Makes for a much more enjoyable game than one with 10 walks. Had an umpire tell me once the plates 17 inches wide and the bat is 33 inches long. That pitch can be hit.

Hopefully pitching will be better. Trackman has made it difficult. Umpires have not given that pitch off the plate much, in fact they usually don't give the pitch on the black because they get dinged on their grade. That should change this year a little. I went to an umpire clinic a few weeks back that had 4 SEC guys working it, among them Scott Kline and Jeff Wright. They said the NCAA was giving them a buffer of a ball off the plate both inside and outside. So look for some of those pitches that stay in the river between the black and the inside white of the Batters box to be called strikes this year. The also said they were told to get that strike at the numbers and the bottom of the knee, (the hollow). A story that Wright told was that he was working a game that by the 8th was a blowout,(before mercy rule). Both coaches were ready to get it over with and he expanded the zone a good bit and neither coach had a complaint. Through 7 innings he had not missed but 3 or 4 pitches, but by the end he got dinged real hard by SEC for a bad zone the last 2 innings. Both coaches were happy because they didn't have to use another pitcher.

It's ok. Some very good fields left out and some head scratchers included. Fields are broken down by geographical regions, which some are incorrect. I think he has Kosciusko in the Northeast. Not as good as some of the other books on MS football.

For State your ALL SEC guy has to show up and he didn't. He has had some good games but to me plays entirely too soft. At 6'10 he doesn't go to the goal with authority. If he played with the same physicality that Matthews does he would be almost unstoppable. I don't understand all this NET, Quad win stuff. With eyeball test OM is defiantly at tourney team and I'm not sure about State. They have the two wins vs top 10 teams but that's about it. They are too Jekyll and Hyde.

I'm not sure how worried teams actually are with Tolu. He plays incredibly soft inside to be 6"11. Instead going up and tearing the goal with a dunk he trys to lay it off the glass and misses to much. Also if I'm opposing team I just foul him, he's gonna miss way more than he makes. In fact outside of Hubbard they all miss more than they make. I read 61% as a team, last in the SEC

I honestly don't think Kiffin goes anywhere. He can do anything he wants at OM, and not just with the football program. Also, as successful as he has been at OM, I just don't think any of the big time programs are ready to turn their program over to him. And that is good for OM because he has built a good program there. If he can sustain success with the year to year turnover with portal guys, why would he ever leave?

I agree with you here. My two thoughts are that they let to many people get in there head instead of just submitting paperwork to the NFL and getting a rating, or they feel at worst they can make a practice squad, and that pays $216,000 a year, better than most jobs start at. Too many enter realistically having no chance of getting drafted and hoping for a free agent contract to give them a chance for practice squad.

I think it's time to split the game and play 1-3A and 4-7A. Every year they're are players left off the team because they play for a "small" school.

If you remember he and Cheyenne Trussell used to be the TV guys for the PBS broadcast. That's one of the reasons games aren't on PBS anymore. Different TV guys were wanted but PBS said Robinson and Trussell. People got tired of "he calls his own number" 25 times a game.

That has gotten to be the case every year. The 2 to 4 schools that, at the beginning of the year think they have a shot at the playoff, PSU, Ohio ST, Oklahoma typically care less about playing in a NY6 consolation bowls and they're top NFL type guys usually say thanks but no thanks I'm done.

Scuttle but is they are hoping to keep it at OM the next 2 years, then either MSU or USM, after that, then the other. But, they are hoping to stay 3 consecutive year at each school. Like I said that is scuttle but. And i don't know that Veterans will be in the rotation unless the other 3 can't host. And then again it could be there next year.

Not calling you out. All I was saying was that the field wasn't destroyed like a HS field would have been. I didn't see the last game, but I didn't see that many more kids slipping than do on a Friday night when the heavy dew sets in the 2nd half of a game. Field turf gets wet when it rains and players slip on it. Just glad the OM turf crew had the means to keep it in, not great, but good condition. Hats off to them.

If it's wet kids are going to slip on field turf. Obviously the field conditions weren't perfect but I thought it held up pretty well. Even with the rain it was in much better condition for the last game than the last time they played it in Jackson, and they had no rain.

Agreed. How many kids if asked "would you rather play the state championship at _____ high school or at OM or MSU" would say at a high school? Yes it may be tough for some fans, but like all things if it's important enough you will find a way. And, most do.