So who leaves? Attrition.

buzzed

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
339
dressedcheeseside said:
We all saw how good Mills was on the field. Rewatch the bowl game vs Kentucky. He was better in that offense than Marcus. MM lost the position battle, got mad and took his football and went home.
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It did strike me as odd how quickly Mills got Marshall’s spot, when CPJ had always been loyal (even to a fault) to upperclassmen. While MM was good, CPJ saw Mills as a difference maker. I think CPJ wanted to retire in the next few years and wanted to get Mills ready to make one last run in 18 or 19 with LJ or JJ at QB. We know how that turned out.
 
smokey_wasp

smokey_wasp

Helluva Engineer
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If ya'll are curious about possible landing spots for our former players, their recent twitter followers may be a clue. Coaches and recruiting coordinators from the following schools have followed these guys.

Benson: KSU, West Florida, UTEP, Eastern New Mexico and Citadel
Dameon Williams: Old Dominion and Charleston Southern
Jaylen Jackson: Mars Hill University, Tennessee Tech, Valdosta State, Southeastern Louisiana University, Nicholls State, ASA Brooklyn, Stephen F. Austin, McNeese State, University of Findlay, West Georgia, Gardner-Webb, Princeton
Zakk McKeehan: Central Arkansas, Coastal Carolina, KSU, Mars Hill University, University of Richmond, Northern Iowa, ASA Brooklyn, Georgetown, Hampton, Arizona State, Central Oklahoma, Tennessee Tech, Nicholls State, Rhode Island, McNeese State, University of Maine, Alabama, Tusculum, Southeastern Louisiana, Eastern Illinois, Lousiana Monroe, Tulane.

Seems like they are all drawing interest and will find someplace to play.
 
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smokey_wasp

smokey_wasp

Helluva Engineer
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5,486
smokey_wasp said:
If ya'll are curious about possible landing spots for our former players, their recent twitter followers may be a clue. Coaches and recruiting coordinators from the following schools have followed these guys.

Benson: KSU, West Florida, UTEP, Eastern New Mexico and Citadel
Dameon Williams: Old Dominion and Charleston Southern
Jaylen Jackson: Mars Hill University, Tennessee Tech, Valdosta State, Southeastern Louisiana University, Nicholls State, ASA Brooklyn, Stephen F. Austin, McNeese State, University of Findlay, West Georgia, Gardner-Webb, Princeton
Zakk McKeehan: Central Arkansas, Coastal Carolina, KSU, Mars Hill University, University of Richmond, Northern Iowa, ASA Brooklyn, Georgetown, Hampton, Arizona State, Central Oklahoma, Tennessee Tech, Nicholls State, Rhode Island, McNeese State, University of Maine, Alabama, Tusculum, Southeastern Louisiana, Eastern Illinois, Lousiana Monroe, Tulane.

Seems like they are all drawing interest and will find someplace to play.
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Edit to above: Under McKeehan, that should be Alabama STATE. Missed the edit window.
 

1979jacket

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
628
dressedcheeseside said:
We all saw how good Mills was on the field. Rewatch the bowl game vs Kentucky. He was better in that offense than Marcus. MM lost the position battle, got mad and took his football and went home.
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I liked Marshall and I think CPJ did as well. He just felt Mills was better and from what I saw, Mills was better. Marshall was very fast and when determined, like in the UGA game, was strong as well. He did not pass block well. Mills was strong as an ox all the time. Never took a play off. Generally blocked well and while not fast, he was fast enough. I was surprised how well Benson fit in his shoes. Benson was no Mills but he was tough and hit the hole hard and fast like Mills. Not knocking Marshall and I could see the similarities with Dwyer but I still think Mills was better. I will not speculate as to why Marshall left. Playing time, personality conflict with the coach, homesick - just don't know and all of the above is speculation.
 
smokey_wasp

smokey_wasp

Helluva Engineer
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Milwaukee said:
Benson will be fortunate to even play D1 ball imo.
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Yeah, people are making a lot of optimistic assumptions. First, he is unlikely to be 100 percent of the player he was after two knee injuries in 4 years. Now, even if he is at 80 percent, he can still be a good player. But coaches are also going to look at his 1,000 rushing yards in 2017 and write it off as a product of the "system" whether fair or unfair. I think Kennesaw State is a strong possibility and I hope he runs for 1500 yards and leads them to a natty.
 

Lee

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
841
dressedcheeseside said:
We all saw how good Mills was on the field. Rewatch the bowl game vs Kentucky. He was better in that offense than Marcus. MM lost the position battle, got mad and took his football and went home.
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Let me pose some data:

Player A: 152 carries, 771 yards, 5.1 ypc, & 12 td
Player B: 181 carries, 1273 yards, 7 ypc, & 8 td

Which player was clearly better on the field?

I’ll go watch the bowl game and you go watch the UGA game. The check out the UVA and VT games the preceded that game. Both were when Marshall didn’t have to split carries with Mills (who was suspended again btw). I may be off, but I’m fairly confident Mills started the UGA game after being suspended fir 2 games and Marshall balling out 2 games in a row. Talk about a slap in the face. Go figure shortly after the UGA game we find out that he’s leaving.

Marshall was the explosive back we hadn’t had since Dwyer and by all accounts took care of business off the field. Mills was a very good player, but he was selfish and prioritized recreational activities over his teammates.

As for Marshall and him “taking his fottball and going home, it wasn’t just about Mills getting more snaps and the job seemingly handed to him. The year before, Marshall had 9 less carries than Skov and 270 more yards. He was clearly better yet PJ continued to give Skov way more touches. Why would anyone stay to play for that coach?

Would you stay at a job if your CEO named a clearly inferior colleague Director over you and the following year (after that person left the company), gave the role to a rising star that showed a lot of promise but was an HR headache and had been reprimanded twice for inappropriate conduct in the past year? Or would you find some place that respects the work you put in, your talent and production?
 

Lee

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
841
TampaGT said:
I think DM was the better back, but if MM would have run as hard as he did against the pups the entire year he would have been the starter. He was a beast late in that game
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DM was a better short yardage back and honestly they could’ve been an amazing duo. I just think Marshall had better feet, vision, burst, and versatility. Mills was a hammer and I loved that about him. He won us the BC game too. Great player, I just think Marshall was more of a feature back where Mils was more of a goaline/short yardage guy.

Marshall was amazing against UGA, but he also had great games against UVA and VT the two games leading up to UGA where he went over 125 in both I believe. Both games Mills was out due to suspension.

If both had stayed, PJ might still be here. I honestly think how that situation and a few others were handled caused him to lose the locker room. It seemed like players didn’t respect him as much as they did early in his time here and the teams towards the end were much less disciplined. Maybe revisionist history, but the last 3-4 years were painful regardless. Especially following how awesome 2014 was.
 
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