Will Any Mississippi State rookies Make an Impact this Season

In 2016 a couple of rookies from Mississippi State made big impacts on the NFL. Chris Jones was drafted in the second round by the Kansas City Chiefs and he had 17 tackles and two sacks in eleven starts. Quarterback Dak Prescott was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round and all he did was win rookie of the year and was in discussion for the MVP award most of the year. Jones and Prescott joined a handful of other former Bulldog who are dominating the NFL like, Fletcher Cox, Darius Slay, KJ Wright, Preston Smith and Gabe Jackson.

The 2017 NFL draft came and went last month and only one Bulldog heard his name called. Justin Senior was picked in the sixth round by the Seattle Seahawks. As we have seen in the past, the 24 hours after the draft are crucial to prospective draftees who did not get the call as this is when NFL teams sign several of these players as free agents and invite them to camp. Over time tons of undrafted players have made an impact on the league and some like Tony Romo, Priest Holmes, and Antonio Gates have turned in All-Pro careers despite not being drafted. Five Bulldogs signed rookie free agent deals:

• Richie Brown
• Johnathan Calvin
• Nick James
• Fred Ross
• Nelson Adams

So with offseason programs right around the corner what are the chances any of these players have an impact on their teams in 2017?

Richie Brown- There is no doubting the fact that Richie was a leader at Mississippi State. Unfortunately though I think we’ve seen this movie before. Like Cam Lawrence before him, Brown has all the heart and guts in the world he just doesn’t have the size. He’ll enter camp with the Bucs and I’d bet Richie hangs around a few years, maybe on a practice squad or special teams unit, then hangs up the cleats.

Johnathan Calvin- It’s all about one word for me when it comes to Calvin and that’s scheme. If the Green Bay Packers can find a way to use him he can be productive in the league. He had a great senior year leading MSU in tackles for loss mostly from the hybrid viper position. At 6’3 260 Calvin will probably get a decent look at least.

Nick James- I think Nick has as good a chance as almost any undrafted free agent to get noticed. Of course how could you not notice him at 6’4 330 pounds. I could see James becoming a solid run stopper for the Detroit Lions and as a situational gap feeler questions wouldn’t arise about his lack of motor.

Fred Ross- The Carolina Panthers could be a perfect scenario of Ross. The team needs a play making receiver. Fred Ross is a big target that is certainly capable of making plays. It could be a perfect match but Ross will have to get over his case of the drops he struggled with in his senior year at MSU.

Nelson Adams- Pittsburgh historically has a solid defense that gets after the quarterback. Adams will try to earn his way on to this years version of the steel curtain but I don’t see it. Nelson was decent in his senior year at State and could find a role in the NFL. If he doesn’t make it at least Mississippi State fans will always have the  2016 St. Petersburg Bowl to remember him by.

It is possible that a Mississippi State rookie has a noteworthy rookie season in 2017 but it’s doubtful that we see a repeat of Dak Prescott’s 2016.

Top 5 MSU football wins while I was in college

This morning I flipped on the TV which was still on the SEC Network from last night. They were once again airing the SEC Storied show entitled, “Croomed”.  I only watched for a minute before switching to the news, but in that minute I saw then president Dr. Lee introducing Sylvester Croom from the M-Club above Scott Field.

I remember this time of MSU football, and MSU athletics as well. It’s amazing how far we’ve come.

I was in college when Sly Croom was hired and Dr. Lee was president. Dan Mullen and Dr. Keenum are a far cry from those two.

Watching Dr. Lee ramble on in his wimpy manner flooded back the memories of a time when winning a football game was reason to throw a parade. In my five years at Mississippi State, we went 14-43 on the gridiron.

On my drive to work this morning I reflected on those five years from 2002-2006. I can still remember every game, what I was doing and who I was with for most of them. I guess college memories just stick with you because of the fun times…..even though we were losing so much.

I thought about what the top 5 wins would be through those lean years. Suffice it to say this is a sad list, but it’s my list. Perhaps a fun exercise for you as well if you’ve got some thinkin’ time. Here they are in reverse order:

5. 2003 vs. Vanderbilt – this was the first SEC win during my college career. I watched 10 conference losses before finally seeing it happen but it did. And since we only won five SEC games the whole time I was at State this easily makes the list.

4. 2004 vs. Kentucky – I would say this was the most optimistic I ever felt about the Croom era. Even though it was a few weeks after Maine, we had just beaten Florida the week prior and played well against UK. It seemed like we were on the upswing so it was fun at the time but as we know now it was a mirage.

3. 2005 vs. Ole Miss – five years in school and only one Golden Egg. This was the Egg Bowl that no one saw or cared about as MSU was 2-8 (0-7) coming in and Ole Miss was 3-7 (1-6). No TV and the stadium was about 75% full.

2. 2006 vs. Alabama – by the time I was a fifth year senior most of my friends who I could rely on to attend road games despite us being terrible had graduated. I did have a fiancée but she decided to go shopping instead. So I made the trek to Tuscaloosa by myself, bought a lower deck ticket from a scalper for $5 and sat among Bama fans to watch us defeat the Tide. After the game they actually patted me on the back and said, “thanks, now we can get rid of Shula”.

1. 2004 vs. Florida – this is easily number one because it was the only win against a ranked team while I was in college and it came out of nowhere. Not many folks were even at the game, but we took down the goalposts anyway. The whole game we kept looking at the scoreboard and each other wondering if this was real or a dream. This was a team that lost to Division 1-AA Maine just five weeks ago. In the three previous SEC contests, including Vanderbilt, we lost by an average margin of 32.6 points. So it was a total surprise but a good one.

You may think this list was bad, and it is, but I’ve got a buddy of mine who was at State during the same time period and he had one sister get married the day of the ’06 Alabama game and another sister get married the day of the ’04 Florida game so he missed the best ones!

It wasn’t all bad – the basketball team had some of their best years during this time. And going through all that losing really makes you appreciate what’s happened during Dan Mullen’s tenure. Watching “Croomed” this morning really made me appreciate how much our athletic department has grown and how the university presents itself as opposed to back then.

MSU’s hodgepodge roster broken down

Way back on February 17th, MSU opened up the season against Texas Tech (a team that is now in the top 5). The starting lineup for that game:

1. Jake Mangum, CF
2. Luke Alexander, 3B
3. Ryan Gridley, SS
4. Brent Rooker, RF
5. Elih Merrero, DH
6. Cole Gordon, 1B
7. Brant Blaylock, LF
8. Josh Lovelady, C
9. Hunter Stovall, 2B

The pitching rotation for that four game (round robin) opening series was:

1. Konner Pilkington
2. Peyton Plumlee
3. Graham Ashcraft
4. Ryan Cyr

If you’re the type of college baseball fan (and there are many) who doesn’t start paying attention until May, then you probably don’t recognize half those names. Here was the starting lineup last weekend when MSU beat Texas A&M two out of three:

1. Jake Mangum, CF
2. Brent Rooker, 1B
3. Ryan Gridley, SS
4. Cody Brown, 2B
5. Elijah McNamee, LF
6. Hunter Vansau, DH
7. Luke Alexander, 3B
8. Josh Lovelady, C
9. Tanner Poole, RF

Pitching rotation:

1. Konner Pilkington
2. Denver McQuary
3. Jacob Billingsley

Just looking at the above changes is not unheard of over the course of 12 weeks in baseball, especially from the start of a season. The unusual part is all the changing of positions and how they came to be.

Brent Rooker is at first base instead of right field, where he played the opener as well as all of 2016. Cody Brown started the second game of the season at first base, but then he moved to left field, then second base, a little third base, back to left, some right field and now back to second base. He’s on the right side of the infield because Hunter Stovall can’t stay healthy.

Staying healthy has been a big issue for these Dawgs. They were already short-handed because Jared Padgett, Ethan Small, Keegan James and Noah Hughes had to have Tommy John surgery in the off-season. Plus Parker Ford is coming off Tommy John and he’s only been able to muster 1.2 innings this year.

So the position changes have continued. Cole Gordon was supposed to be the next big stick at first base but he’s pretty much been benched since February with a .143 average. He picked up some steam in March, however, on the mound. By April he was a weekend starter and has now logged the fifth most innings of any pitcher on the team.

Brant Blaylock was also in that opening day starting lineup playing left field. He started just about every game until April (26 of them), but his .193 average just wasn’t good enough. Since then he’s taken to the mound with four appearances including a win vs. Alabama.

These new pitchers have been needed because they keep going down like flies. Blake Smith and Kale Breaux were also added to the list needing Tommy John surgery – two guys expected to be major contributors in the bullpen. Add in Ryan Rigby who was an ace set-up man last year but has missed all but a few early games. Then Graham Ashcraft who doesn’t look like he’ll be back this year.

Jake Mangum tried his hand on the mound, and even started four SEC games….but he punched a wall in excitement after hitting a triple then scoring on a trowing error, and hasn’t pitched since.

Fortunately the offense hasn’t been subjected to many injuries outside of Hunter Stovall. That’s allowed these hitters to switch over to pitching, I guess. If you aren’t hitting, try pitching. But that only works if you’ve got great chemistry with guys willing to do anything they can to help the team win.

With all these injures stacking up there are only 24 players healthy enough to play. That might sound like enough considering a MLB roster is 25, but consider that in MLB all their players are ready to go and healthy whereas in college baseball there are a handful of players who are not experienced enough to be ready for action plus injuries….so there are 36 guys to pull from on the roster.

Despite the low numbers, especially for the pitching staff, Andy Cannizaro booted Ryan Cyr off the team. That happened right after MSU was swept by Arkansas to start the SEC season. Since then the Bulldogs are 20-7 (16-5).

Also, Elih Merrero is still in Cannizaro’s dog house. It’s hard to say what he did to get there, but he hasn’t played since the third game of the season and compounded his off-the-field issues by getting a DUI in April.

When you need a third hand to count your injuries but you’re still a strict disciplinarian? And your team responds to these disciplinary moves in an overwhelmingly positive manner? And with two weeks to go in the regular season you’re leading the SEC West and tied in the overall standings? That’s some pretty incredible stuff.

The players that John Cohen recruited over the last few years of his tenure combined with Andy Cannizaro’s management style have molded one of the most fun teams to watch we’ve ever seen.

The 2016 SEC champs were a lot of fun because of their killer instinct. But that team was loaded. This team has a never say die attitude and will scratch and claw their way to victory which you have to love.

Who knows how far they’ll go but it’s been a fun ride so far.

 

 

The Real MVP for the 2017 Diamond Dawgs

Mississippi State is having an unbelievable baseball season in 2017. This team lost 10 players to Major League Baseball last year and almost that same amount to season long injuries this spring. Even with all that MSU is, at the time of this post, alone at the top of the SEC with two weeks left in the regular season.

If you ask almost any college baseball fan in America who MSU’s best player is, “Brent Rooker” would be the answer 99% of the time. And that is pretty much true. Rooker is having as good an individual season as almost anybody in the nation by hitting .404 with 19 homers, 65 RBI, and 17 stolen bases. He is the BEST player on MSU’s team but for my money he’s not the team MVP.

It’s tough for a star player to shine the way Rooker has this year without a good supporting cast. Jake Mangum and Ryan Gridley have lived up to that billing nicely. Mangum is an on base machine in batting in front of Rooker while Gridley provides enough power and average behind him to ensure the slugger sees some hittable pitches. These have turned into a deadly weapon for MSU as they’ve combined for nearly half of State’s RBIs this season.

But the real MVP (Kevin Durant voice) for me is the number four hitter, Cody Brown. He came into the season looking to spot start between first base and the corner outfield but has become an everyday starter. While Brown is fifth on the team in batting average, he’s second in home runs and third in RBIs. His .412 on base percentage is good for second on the team and provides a spark for the middle of the lineup. What truly sets Brown apart for me is his versatility. When coach Cannizaro made the switch to using Brent Rooker as his everyday first baseman, Brown moved to the outfield and continued to produce. When starting second baseman Hunter Stovall broke his hand, Brown moved to the position after only a few spot starts. No matter what the team needs from him, Cody Brown delivers. Every team in every sport needs a player like Brown to be successful and he has been a huge complement to the MSU offense throughout 2017.

The One Thing That Must Happen for MSU to Win a SEC Title

Mississippi State has put themselves in position to compete for a second consecutive SEC regular season title with two weeks left to play. But if the Diamond Dawgs are going to pull it off one thing has to happen. MSU MUST sweep Georgia this weekend.

Florida and Kentucky are battling for the top spot in the East and both could tie MSU for first place by tomorrow. Both teams have a good chance to pick up wins next weekend against Alabama and Tennessee respectively, so for the Bulldogs to stay pat at the top they need to get as many wins as possible next weekend.

The Dawgs will get some help in the West because LSU and Auburn play each other next weekend so somebody has to lose. Arkansas will host Vanderbilt and Texas A&M will need an impressive showing against Ole Miss to keep there hope alive.

Every team in contention for the SEC title has a similar schedule to end the year. MSU, Florida, Kentucky, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU and A&M all have a series against a ranked and one against a non-ranked opponent left. Just like in 2016, it looks like the SEC regular season championship will come down to the very wire and one game could make the difference. That’s why I say this weekend’s series against Georgia is a MUST SWEEP for Mississippi State.