Until OM can recruit the big boys on both sides of the ball at a elite level, not gonna beat the Alabamas of the world. Mainly on the OL.

Zero impact OL in the 2023 class. The Sanders kid maybe
Zero in 2022
Maybe 1 in 2021 in Williams

That’s it.

Bama has 5 star high 4 star DL/DEs up and down the line and in the 2-3 deep.
Just can’t complete with that. Sorry, no amount of scheme etc can overcome that. Yes, can win every once in a while, a upset, but not consistently
How to fix it, don’t know.  Either pony up a ton more NIL money or sell opportunity for the transfer portal.  But the thing we have learned in the portal is there are not many difference makers on the OL in the portal.  Schools don’t let those guys leave. 

But until OM can start stacking 2-3 stud OL in each class, it’s going to be rough trying to complete with Alabama.  Even in a year like this when they stink on offense.

The 2 times A&M has beated Alabama in 10 years was when they had veteran OLs with several of them drafted on both of those teams.

Last edited by Rock1Aggie (10/01/2023 8:31 am)

MeridianOMRebel wrote:

After what I've seen this year, I'd be surprised if A&M isn't playing in Atlanta.

Hold on now.  Stop that Rat poison

But Johnson coming in for a injured Weigman today played lights out. 

Honestly Auburn is not very good offensively, Freeze doesn’t have a qb yet.
A&M really could have won 50-3.  Auburn scored on a returned fumble of 70 yds. That was it.

A&M had 2 drives deep in Auburn territory that had major 15 yd penalties stop them. Etc etc.

Rock, besides not having top caliber players, what else is wrong? The OL cannot block, there is little fast pace offense, the WRs cannot fet open, and Weis seems to be inept. Do you think Jake and Nix are to blame for not being effective coaches at their positions?  Something is wrong and Ole Miss will be fortunate to get two more wins.

Looking at our OL recruiting (using On3):
2024 - 2 OL that are both 3 stars.
2023 - 4 OL, 1x4 star, 1x3 star, 2 not ranked (both transfers).
2022 - 6 OL, 1x4 star, 5x3 star
2021 - 1 OL not ranked (transfer)

I know Lane is in love with the transfer portal, but I don't think that's the way to actually build a program for sustained success. Look at the SEC recruiting rankings for the years mentioned above:
2024 - 12th
2023 - 11th
2022 - 9th
2021 - 6th

From my understanding, we have a top 10 NIL program. However, our recruiting seems to be getting worse each year. The transfer portal is good for plugging kids in for position of immediate need, but the majority of time, these aren't going to be blue-chip players. 

I would love to see Lane get rid of Wies Jr (such a weird hire to begin with) and get an OC that knows their ass from a hole in the ground, that can actually recruit. And also get rid of our OL coach (Garrison) that made the change from a zone blocking scheme (which worked great last year) to a man blocking scheme (which we've seen has been a disaster). 

Lane is going to have to make at least two staff changes after this season. 

Here's the real danger for this program right now. After the mess last season with him having a foot out the door, and that getting dragged out for so long, he lost a lot of good faith with the fanbase - especially with how the team crapped the bed the 2nd half of the season. If he gets blown out by LSU this Saturday, then he will lose even more support from the fanbase. For an offensive minded coach, seeing a bad offense (both in execution and horrible coaching/play calling), is unacceptable at this point. 

I hope he's able to get things sorted out and we see what the potential of this team is. But, another bad showing, then there's gonna be some angry fans ready to move on. He needs to restrain himself on social media and not run his mouth as much.

Looking at how this team has played and looking at the rest of our schedule, who will we beat? Auburn, Vandy, and ULM?