What actually happened in the AJ Brown / Mullen recruiting saga?
Was AJ in the boat and not continually courted?
Was AJ in the boat and not continually courted?
For those in the “know”
- Thread starter skipper.sixpack
- Start date
MSU never had a chance. AJ & his family did not want him to play in Mullen's offense. The $ from Ole Miss was just a bonus.
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We did get outbid, but I think there's more to it than that. I think he and Dan Mullen just did not like each other. No idea who's fault that was, but I suspect it's both of them.
After he signed or committed to OM, he made some big Twitter post about how one school showed him all the love and one school quit talking to him. Our athletic department then made a generic post saying that the last so many days have been the NCAA mandated recruiting dead period and our coaches were not allowed to talk to recruits during that time.
I’m sure it was typical Mullen not being willing to worship a high school kid and OM did what they love to do
I’m sure it was typical Mullen not being willing to worship a high school kid and OM did what they love to do
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Yep, the only recruiting war I ever had something of a source for: we were never in it at all.
I’m not usually “in the know”, but I am on this one.
MSU was never in it, really. AJ initially really wanted to go Bama, but was pretty dead set on getting the hell out of Starkville regardless unless we just came way above asking. There was never going to be a hometown discount….he might as well have been from Pasadena or Alaska, because our chances would have been just as good.
Anyway, the only signing day was the one in February back then. By the time mid-October of 2015 rolled around, Bama had already offered him nearly $200k and probably already paid him some of it. Ole Miss was right there with them. We had some skin in the game but quickly got out before it even got up into the 6 figures. Once it became clear to our money guys where it was headed, we didn’t even bother any further, and started refocusing efforts elsewhere. Word got back to our coaches, and they did the same. So, we were at basically 0% chance a whole 4 months before signing day. He was almost a done deal for Bama about a week before signing day, but OM pulled together a godfather offer….and the rest is history.
Some say AJ’s dad got put off that Mullen and the staff essentially stopped recruiting him….stopped coming by the school and just checking in even though they were so close by. Allegedly, things came to a head right before signing day when AJ’s dad confronted him and wanted to know what the deal was, and Mullen told him none of his staff was wasting time recruiting anyone that simply just for sale….that it was a waste of his time because nothing he said or did was going to matter. Allegedly.
There was of course a “Big 7” in MS that year, but the biggest and most sought after prizes were Simmons, AJ, Metcalf, and Raekwon Davis. OM did well that year because they didn’t have to do hardly anything to lock down Metcalf….legacy player who was the son of a multimillionaire already. No one was pulling him away from OM. So they had a little extra to throw at guys like AJ and Benito Jones. They got those 3. After the AJ fall-out, we went hard and made sure to lock down Simmons. Bama got Davis and also added Scott Lashley and Nigel Knott, both players who were both adored by recruiting services much more than by the actual schools recruiting them.
Turned out OK for us. AJ would have spent 3 years trying to catch balls from a 53% passer, we get Simmons and he’s an All-American who didn’t rely on anyone else on the field to make him better.
MSU was never in it, really. AJ initially really wanted to go Bama, but was pretty dead set on getting the hell out of Starkville regardless unless we just came way above asking. There was never going to be a hometown discount….he might as well have been from Pasadena or Alaska, because our chances would have been just as good.
Anyway, the only signing day was the one in February back then. By the time mid-October of 2015 rolled around, Bama had already offered him nearly $200k and probably already paid him some of it. Ole Miss was right there with them. We had some skin in the game but quickly got out before it even got up into the 6 figures. Once it became clear to our money guys where it was headed, we didn’t even bother any further, and started refocusing efforts elsewhere. Word got back to our coaches, and they did the same. So, we were at basically 0% chance a whole 4 months before signing day. He was almost a done deal for Bama about a week before signing day, but OM pulled together a godfather offer….and the rest is history.
Some say AJ’s dad got put off that Mullen and the staff essentially stopped recruiting him….stopped coming by the school and just checking in even though they were so close by. Allegedly, things came to a head right before signing day when AJ’s dad confronted him and wanted to know what the deal was, and Mullen told him none of his staff was wasting time recruiting anyone that simply just for sale….that it was a waste of his time because nothing he said or did was going to matter. Allegedly.
There was of course a “Big 7” in MS that year, but the biggest and most sought after prizes were Simmons, AJ, Metcalf, and Raekwon Davis. OM did well that year because they didn’t have to do hardly anything to lock down Metcalf….legacy player who was the son of a multimillionaire already. No one was pulling him away from OM. So they had a little extra to throw at guys like AJ and Benito Jones. They got those 3. After the AJ fall-out, we went hard and made sure to lock down Simmons. Bama got Davis and also added Scott Lashley and Nigel Knott, both players who were both adored by recruiting services much more than by the actual schools recruiting them.
Turned out OK for us. AJ would have spent 3 years trying to catch balls from a 53% passer, we get Simmons and he’s an All-American who didn’t rely on anyone else on the field to make him better.
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Good read Perd. The Bama shadow looms large over the GTR. But OM money comes in, in the dead of night for those with loose morals.
Speaking of the dead period, OM coaches have always found ways around and flat ignored that. My co-worker, after his son went through the recruiting, he will tell you, the OM assistant coaches were the shadiest he came across. His kid was only a 3star too.
Speaking of the dead period, OM coaches have always found ways around and flat ignored that. My co-worker, after his son went through the recruiting, he will tell you, the OM assistant coaches were the shadiest he came across. His kid was only a 3star too.
It had absolutely nothing to do with Mullen’s offense. No WR on the planet would have looked at what we were doing offensively in 2014-2015 and said “I want no part of that”.
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