Draft shows that State's talent is diminished

By By Stan Torgerson / sports columnist
April 28, 2003
There's a lesson for Mississippi football fans in the 2003 NFL draft. It's a painful lesson, but a lesson nevertheless.
It's time we start being realistic. Ole Miss and Mississippi State struggle to keep their heads above water because our two SEC teams have not been able to attract talent that matches the level of the league in which they compete. It's that simple.
The NFL evaluates players based strictly on their ability to move to the next level. Nothing else matters. The draft is their annual report on the quality of the players from each and every Division 1-A or 1-AA school in the country. Using the draft as a yardstick, the lack of major success by the Rebels and the Bulldogs is plain to see.
In the draft concluded last weekend the SEC had 43 players selected. Only one came from Ole Miss. Only three came from State.
Which were the best teams in the SEC last year? Georgia won it all. They had seven drafted. Florida and Tennessee are perennial powers. Both had eight picked in the draft. Alabama was probably the best team in the Western Division. The pros took five players from the Tide. LSU also had a good year. Four of theirs moved up to Sundays next year.
South Carolina had three drafted, Kentucky two, Arkansas one, Vanderbilt one.
The exception to the rule was Auburn, basically because their stars were underclassmen who chose to stay in school. They had no draftees. Wait until next year.
Teams with the most talent win the most games. Simple as that.
Ole Miss went into the draft with three possibilities, Ben Claxton, Eddie Strong and Doug Zeigler. All were well thought of by Rebel fansbut not by the NFL. Claxton was the only one drafted and he went in the fifth round.
Mississippi State listed five well regarded players, Justin Griffith, Donald Lee, Mario Haggan, Korey Banks and Dontae Walker. Griffith went in the fourth round, Lee in the fifth, Haggan in the seventh. No one else was tapped.
In other words neither school had even one player drafted on Day one.
Southern Mississippi had hopes for four players, Jeremy Bridges, Jason Jimenez, Rayshun Jones and Torrin Tucker. Only Bridges was drafted but not until round six.
Jackson State believed in Elgin Andrews. The pros didn't. Andrews failed to have his name called
Alcorn and Mississippi Valley had no one even on the prospect list.
True blue fans will maintain this was just an off year. Was it? Last year 41 SEC players were drafted. Ole Miss and Mississippi State had one each. Florida and Georgia each had eight and Tennessee had four. In other words in the last two years the Rebels have had only two players drafted, Mississippi State has had four. Meantime Florida has had 16, Georgia has had 15 and Tennessee has had 12.
Does that or does that not tell you something?
Total draft choices by all six Mississippi schools, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Jackson State, Southern Mississippi, Alcorn and Mississippi Valley totaled five. That's less than Florida, Tennessee or Georgia had by themselves.
Ole Miss has not been better than 4-4 in final conference standings since they went 5-3 in 1992. Mississippi State had two good years, 1998 and 1999, when they won six conference games and lost only two, but the last three years 4-4 has been their best.
This is not an attempt to bad-mouth our Mississippi schools. We respect them all. But it is an attempt to be realistic. Three schools cutting up the talent pool in a state with fewer than 3 million residents plus the recruiting skills of nearby Alabama, LSU and Arkansas in luring talented players from here to there, has taken a heavy toll.
Our problem isn't the coaching. Those coaching football in this state have a very difficult job and they have performed admirably in view of the small talent pool from which they have to draw.
That's not just my opinion. It is the NFL's as well and they proved it with the 2003 draft.