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Reminder.... John Jerry was not at practice today because of class... so take what i say with a grain of salt.

I got off of work late again so I didn't get to catch but the last 20 minutes of practice, but that's all I needed to see. I'm not going to beat around the bush, our offensive line is bad. I'm not talking about them lining up against Powe, Locket, Tillman, and Laurent. I'm talking about them lining up against the 2nd and 3rd string defensive line.

Want to hand it off to a running back? I wouldn't. In fact if I was a running back I would request not to be put in (unless my name is Devin Thomas, but more on that later). No sooner would Jevan hand off the ball would the Defensive line drop the running back for a loss.

The poor play of the offensive line is changing the way Jevan plays. If you choose not to believe me that's fine, but Snead doesn't look comfortable in the pocket (of lack there of). In fact it would be foolish for coach Nutt to call play action, it would be a call of suicide for Jevan.
I know im being negative, and its not going to sit well with a few people. That's fine. Im just calling it like I see it.

On the positive side of things, Devin Thomas continues to show out. He had a few nice runs today that demonstrated his speed and toughness. Honestly, Thomas is progressing really well. In fact coach Nutt has said that "im gonna have to find some more playing time for Devin if he keeps this up". I wouldn't be surprised if Thomas moved up to the 3rd spot come August. That's right, in front of Eason. Where does that put Eason? 4th. With Bolden, Davis, and Thomas all getting the nod before Eason. I know there is a lot of time between now and September so im not completely counting out Eason, but thus far in spring practice the other running backs have separated themselves.

I hate that this post had to be so negative because the team is good, the team is really good. If we can get the offensive line together we have a shot at doing some amazing things this year. And im not talking about just getting to Atlanta. Our defense is nasty and everyday we are out there we are developing depth, specifically at corner (our weak spot last year). The defense is a hard hitting unit that is clearly on a mission, a mission to destroy the opponent. We are hitting hard, playing good coverage, and by all means we are getting in the backfield.

Look for some freshman linemen to get playing opportunities in fall camp, and not just Massie. Michael Brown ( http://olemiss.rivals.com/viewprospect. ... _key=59799 ) a 6'6 312 freshman from Texas has good size and boasted 8 D1 offers.

I haven't talked much about line backers but the starting 3 (Trahan, Cornell, and Walker) are all solid. Brumfield and Jones look to be next on the two deep roster, but I believe a 6th spot is open for a freshman to come and step in. Expect Shackelford, Knight and Marry all to compete for that position.

Practice again Wednesday at 4, hopefully the weather will permit us to move outside.

Oh and Dexter was practicing again today

So is the O-line looking bad enough where it would make sense to move a D-lineman to offense? If so, who do you think would make the move best? Justin Smith?

I can see Massie coming in and playing as a freshman, because a player like him just doesn't come around all that often. Also he had a PG year to sharpen his skills. I'll be really suprised if Michael Brown gets playing time though. Those OL guys usually need two years in the weight room to get ready it seems like.

The good news is that our first really tough game shouldn't be till the end of September against SC. That should give us some more time to get those OL guys ready, especially Massie.

Well, the good news is that there's still a lot of time before the season kicks off, so there's time to fix the O-line. I'm sure Nutt has a plan or is at least getting a plan together.

oxfordrebel wrote:Well, the good news is that there's still a lot of time before the season kicks off, so there's time to fix the O-line. I'm sure Nutt has a plan or is at least getting a plan together.

Agreed.

Some thoughts on Nutt being able to find an answer to the offensive line problem (the offensive line always matures later than the defensive line according to Coach Nutt). Here is what he has to work with.

Here is our spring roster which picks up redshirts and all others participating in spring practice but excludes those not initially joining the team until this fall. http://www.olemisssports.com/SportSelec ... psid=12787

Now, I count 11 offensive linemen on that spring roster, plus a center (Brandon Green, a senior). The offensive linemen are: Freshman: AJ Hawkins. Sophmores: Zack Brent, Alex Washington and Rishaw Johnson. Juniors: Taylor Quick, Logan Clair and Don Mosley. Seniors: John Jerry, Daverin Geralds, Reid Neely and Mark Jean-Louis.

In addition to those names, here is our list of 2009 commitments: http://mississippi.scout.com/a.z?s=177&p=9&c=8&yr=2009

The commitments list includes 3 new offensive tackles (Bobby Massie, Michael Brown and Emmanuel McCray, plus I didn't count again Logan Clair who is a juco transfer in school now and on the spring roster already). Also, the commitment list shows two centers (Corey Gaines and Evan Swindall) who should add some depth to the offensive line once they pickup some experience.

And as mentioned by others some on the defense might be candidates to be moved to offense---Coach Nutt has done that before. And we could possibly pickup some walkons as well in the fall-----we've had offensive line additions who were walkons before if my memory is correct.

You left Sowell out.

The O-line has always been my concern since the season ended. I felt the D-Line would be fine with Laurent and Powe taking up the slack.

This worries me a little.

Corey Gaines is a DT, too.

Is Zach Brent on scholarship? 5'11" 245 O-lineman in the SEC just doesn't cut it unless there is something I don't know about the way he plays. Doesn't his dad work in the OM administration somewhere? I think he was a walk on originally.

Brent and Quick are not on scholarship. Jean-Louis and Mosely should not be on scholarship.

Marry will get that 6th spot. Glad to hear the Rbs are all great. I fell in love with Bolden and think Enrique is a stud. Devin seems to be getting rave reviews in practice. The OL must be awful bc I havent heard one good thing yet. I think that when they get it situated we will be fine. I know we wont have a better line than last yr but that was a pretty darn good OL. I hope that it can be pretty good, but it will take time. I think our LB corps could be a bigger strength than our DL and think Trahan will be a monster. We saw how good he can be late in the year.

I wanna thank you in advance for all future reports and thank you for the past reports so I dont have to say it HTR.

MtownRebel wrote:Brent and Quick are not on scholarship. Jean-Louis and Mosely should not be on scholarship.

Jean Louis has really picked up his game recently... he is going to be very serviceable and will make the 2 deep this fall... count on it.

I appreciate the practice reports. I have a little concern about the O-line but not that much because I have full confidence in the coaching staff.
The fact that the defense is "nasty" is music to my ears because I'm one of the ones who feel that defense wins championships.

Thanks again.