August 28, 2004
Croom to install just 10% of his playbook
Arriving on the Mississippi State campus this spring, Head Coach Sylvester Croom came packing the same playbook that had served him well as the running backs coach at Green Bay the last three years.
Unfortunately, his first real lesson on the trials and tribulations of College Football came in the rules, requirements and forced schedules college coaches of today are forced to implement.
Croom decided to at first scale back his hopes of installing the entire playbook to just 25%. He then realized that even that small percentage would be too daunting for his new squad.
Instead, Croom will spend his first season at Miss. State running just 10% of the same plays his former NFL team will be running this fall.
More on the bumps, bruises, ups and downs of the first few months in charge for the new man in Starkville.
''We are not going to be able to put in the whole offensive package like we planned to,'' Croom said. ''I was so accustomed in pro ball to having all day and all night to dream up these things, that's the way it is in the NFL. I found out it's not that way in college because you're so limited in the amount of time you can spend with your team. We just don't have time to teach it.''Croom arrived in Starkville, Miss., with his playbook from Green Bay, where he spent the last three years as running backs coach, and after realizing the parameters he would have to abide by initially decided only to attempt to install 25% of the catalog this season.
After settling in over the summer he reassessed the matter and concluded even that was too ambitious.
''Now we've narrowed it down to 10% of what we think we can run this fall,'' Croom said. ''And, we've added some things to take advantage of (quarterback) Omarr Conner's athletic ability.''
It is Conner's versatility that has the new staff excited about the prospects of radically changing the lowly scheme that finished last season ranked last in the SEC and 99th nationally in total offense (320.7 yards per game).
The 6-foot, 203-pound sophomore is such an outstanding athlete that the former staff felt he couldn't be kept on the sideline last year. So Conner, a true freshman, moved to receiver and played special teams. He started three games and saw action in all but one.
''Omarr has a long way to go, but he is a tremendous athlete,'' Croom said. ''People remember Don Smith (Mississippi State QB from 1984-86) and that he led the conference in total yardage his senior year. This is no slight to Don Smith, but Omarr Conner is a better athlete than Don Smith. He has a strong arm, and is a better runner.''
Croom was delighted to find such an outstanding player ready to take the reins of his offense. Other than that, however, he was surprised by the bleak condition in which he found the program.
Jackie Sherrill had announced during the season he would step down at the end of last year and the Bulldogs seemed to spiral out of control, on and off the field, on the way to their third consecutive last-place finish in the SEC West.
''From a talent standpoint it was about what I expected,'' Croom said. ''From a discipline standpoint I was disappointed. Class attendance and those types of things, it just surprises me for a kid to take a scholarship to play college football and then not go to class. That's the whole purpose you're there.''
Trackback
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.fanblogs.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1394
You can use this specified URL in a weblogging program that supports pinging, such as Movable Type. If your blog software does not support Trackback, click here to send a manual ping.
Comments & Trackbacks
Chris Lawrence says:
posted on August 31, 2004 11:07 PM — linkThere's a joke there about the relative IQs of Mississippi State and Green Bay players, but I'm not going to touch that; no sir-ee!
