Keeping up with Jones
Signee Courtney Jones, a running back from Pensacola, Florda, isn't going to be playing at State this fall. Why? Well he failed his exit exam.
This is a big blow to State. Croom didn't sign a running back in 2005 because he thought the next year would prove better. Well, he got committments from Jones and Kenny Ashley from California in late spring and it was looking like he was correct. He then reeled in Anthony Dixon, a pretty highly recruited prospect from Terry, MS. But then the week of signing day arrived and on Monday, two days before signing day, Pete Carroll offered Ashley a scholarship. Ashley signed with USC, which anyone with any sense would have done. I don't really blame Croom for losing him, but it turns out he wouldn't have qualified regardless. Now Jones has failed to qualify. That makes two players we left the state to recruit that didn't qualify. We scrambled and signed a recruit named Arnil Stallworth from Alabama, who was completely ignored until we signed him. We also have landed a running back from Tulane, Christian Ducre.
Problem with all this is we lost the leading rusher in school history, and our entire offense last year, Jerious Norwood. We have to replace him with a bunch of players and hope that somehow they can be productive. So we have Brandon Thornton, a player who was quiet until the Egg Bowl where he gained 80 yards on a bad Ole Miss defense. Not sold on him. Then we have Dixon who is apparently second string right now. He has talent and I like his progress so far, but he is a true freshmen. Can he carry the load? I'm not sold on that. Next we have Ducre, who has yet to have been cleared to play this year. I haven't seen him play, but he was on Tulane's team. That doesn't give me massive hope. Derek Ambrose is a former walk-on who looked good before getting injured last year, but is now coming off of knee surgery. Not sold on him. Brandon Hart should be a fullback.
This is the complete running back situation at MState. Pretty scary ain't it. Combine this with a few facts: the OL isn't looking good with Calvin Wilson being injured again and other recent recuits not stepping up, the Receivers aren't doing great with injury problems and failing to catch the football, and the Quarterback play has been less than stellar. The offense isn't looking too hot. I said something to the effect of "it can't get much worse than last year". I may end up being wrong about that. I certainly hope so.
This is a big blow to State. Croom didn't sign a running back in 2005 because he thought the next year would prove better. Well, he got committments from Jones and Kenny Ashley from California in late spring and it was looking like he was correct. He then reeled in Anthony Dixon, a pretty highly recruited prospect from Terry, MS. But then the week of signing day arrived and on Monday, two days before signing day, Pete Carroll offered Ashley a scholarship. Ashley signed with USC, which anyone with any sense would have done. I don't really blame Croom for losing him, but it turns out he wouldn't have qualified regardless. Now Jones has failed to qualify. That makes two players we left the state to recruit that didn't qualify. We scrambled and signed a recruit named Arnil Stallworth from Alabama, who was completely ignored until we signed him. We also have landed a running back from Tulane, Christian Ducre.
Problem with all this is we lost the leading rusher in school history, and our entire offense last year, Jerious Norwood. We have to replace him with a bunch of players and hope that somehow they can be productive. So we have Brandon Thornton, a player who was quiet until the Egg Bowl where he gained 80 yards on a bad Ole Miss defense. Not sold on him. Then we have Dixon who is apparently second string right now. He has talent and I like his progress so far, but he is a true freshmen. Can he carry the load? I'm not sold on that. Next we have Ducre, who has yet to have been cleared to play this year. I haven't seen him play, but he was on Tulane's team. That doesn't give me massive hope. Derek Ambrose is a former walk-on who looked good before getting injured last year, but is now coming off of knee surgery. Not sold on him. Brandon Hart should be a fullback.
This is the complete running back situation at MState. Pretty scary ain't it. Combine this with a few facts: the OL isn't looking good with Calvin Wilson being injured again and other recent recuits not stepping up, the Receivers aren't doing great with injury problems and failing to catch the football, and the Quarterback play has been less than stellar. The offense isn't looking too hot. I said something to the effect of "it can't get much worse than last year". I may end up being wrong about that. I certainly hope so.
posted by Stormrider81 at 2:55 PM
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