MSU Red Cedar Message Board

Hoover should get medical.

And besides qb which is a huge position and especially captain Kirk, if a team is gonna lose an entire position to graduation, wr is least damage. Plus, have I mentioned what a stud Lippett is going to be...

I too have also been peaking at the 2013 potential roster and we will be absolutely loaded on offense and have another solid defense. The schedule is extremely favorable in 2013 with OSU and Wisky off the schedule and an easy non conference schedule.

I get the whole experience aspect but, Maxwell learned from him for three years. Maxwell will be an upgrade at QB.

Bold statement. I hope you're right.

If Maxwell shows he is better than Cousins next year, I might as well buy my plane ticket to Miami right now.

I would love it, but I doubt that happens. We are talking about probably the best QB MSU has ever had. Maxwell will almost definitely be worse than Cousins next year, and I honestly think he wont be quite as good his senior year. Thats not a bad thing for sure though. Maxwell should be between Hoyer and Cousins which means he will be a pretty good quarterback.

I understand the QB inexperience thing. However, keep in mind that Mumphery, Lippett, Fowler, etc. have built chemistry with Maxwell practicing with the 2nd team.

Secondly, WRs are known to be able to step in as a true/RS freshmen and succeed, much moreso than other positions (maybe not RB).

Maxwell has better physical tools. To say he won't be great before he starts a single game is senile. Everybody said the samething about Kirk his first year. Maxwell is further along though. I will take Kirk's word for it. He seems to have inside info.

What pressure does Maxwell have? He has Bell, improved offensive line and that great defense. Life can't get much better. He won't have to win us games early in the season.

Not all that worried about WRs, generally teams can reload with inexperienced WRs and if the QB can get the ball to them the offense can not skip a beat. It's when you are totally rebuilding one of the lines that you will have real trouble. WRs are important, but historically they are the easiest group to replace on the whole team. There is actually more talent at WR this year than last, we just have to let it show.

If we were rebuilding one of our lines I would be very concerned about a disappointing year. Year after year you see teams that "over perform" their expectations, the one thing they almost always have in common is returning experienced and deep lines. And it's also true that the teams you see having disappointing years often are rebuilding their lines. You'll see team A and go, man, they returned All American candidates at QB, WR, and RB, they were preseason top 10, why in the heck did they go 6-6? Well, that team almost always was rebuilding the O line or the D line, or both.

Not to bring Michigan into this, but I thought they'd have a surprisingly good season last year even though they were bringing in a new system, why? Because they had a very solid O line and a very solid and experienced D line. It took some luck, but Michigan's defense was very good because of the experience of the D line. Their offense relied on superior blocking up front. Molk, and the losses on the D line will be much tougher for Michigan to replace than their receiving corps this year.

Frankly, if Maxwell is as good as we have been told, depth at TE is this teams only personel concern.

What pressure? He's a first year starting quarterback on a top 25 team and is replacing a 3 year captain that ranks very highly on many of MSU's all-time lists. There's pressure that goes along with that.

From a physical standpoint, Maxwell has better tools than Cousins, but you can't discount the experience of seeing and adjusting to defenses.

Well. let's see:
A.) He's replacing the most successful QB this program has seen in the last half-century. A guy that has helped bring national acclaim to the program with his play on the field and his actions off it.
B.) The team is a virtual lock for a preseason Top Ten ranking, and anything less than double-digit wins will be looked at as a disappointment by many.
C.) His most experienced WR (by far) is a year removed from any meaningful game experience, and his only TE with any game experience hasn't made it through an entire season without a debilitating injury.
D.) In their first five games, they play Boise (on national TV), ND (with a team looking for redemption from last year's debacle) and O$U (in tUrbanator's first B1G game), not exactly a Wisconson-esque bunch of cream-puffs.
E.) The expectations for this team and program have skyrocketed - the bar has been raised to the rafters. People expect to beat Michigan. People expect to beat ND. People expect to beat O$U. People want a freakin' Rose Bowl.

Nope, no pressure at all.

The pieces are there for an improved running game, but for that to truly take the pressure off him, they will need to improve from the bottom of the league to top 3 or 4. is that doable? Sure, but would be a HUGE improvement and is by no means guaranteed.

It's crazy that Hoover may be a SR the same year as Bullough/Gholston/Lewis/ETC, guy will be a monster of a DT with another season.