SB Nation - Jai Eugene

LSU 33 - Arkansas 30: Snap Judgments

Richard Pittman — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:19:36 -0000

24 days ago: LSU running back Trindon Holliday (8) runs past Arkansas cornerback Ramon Broadway (26) in the first half of an NCAA college football game in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

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A win's a win. I guess we've said that a few times this year. For a team that was predicted before the season to be 9-3 at the end, this has been a very tumultuous 9-3 team. It's a team that could well have been 6-6 (near losses to Washington, MSU, and Arkansas). It could have beaten Ole Miss, and wasn't THAT far away from beating Alabama. This is a team that, based on its play on the field, could have gone anywhere from 6-6 to 11-1. 9-3 is, I suppose, not that bad under those circumstances. There will be some thoughts on that later; probably a lot of thoughts from a lot of different writers. Anyway, a few snap judgments:

First, the final drive of regular time. After taking a terrible sack, Jefferson came back and made some nice plays, but the final drive belonged to Stevan Ridley, Josh Jasper, and Derek Helton. Derek Helton? The snap on the field goal was terrible, but Helton snagged the high-and-outside pitch and got it down for Jasper to get a clean hit on it. Tie game.
Jefferson was maddeningly inconsistent throughout the game, vacillating from stretches of brilliance (our touchdown drives) and strange decision-making/inaccuracy (most of the rest of the game). This is a kid with the potential to be an excellent quarterback. He just needs to accentuate the positive while eliminating the negative. There's a lot of positive to work with there.
The overtime was a snoozer. We went 3-and-out kind of pitifully, but got a medium-range field goal. Arkansas nearly had to try a 45-yarder until they got a nice 8 yard gain on 3rd and 12 to set up a medium-range field goal, but missed it. Drake Nevis and Lavar Edwards made great plays to set up the 3rd and long that ultimately decided the game.
Trindon Holliday was the MVP of the first half until he muffed that punt, scoring a special teams touchdown, putting us in good field position multiple times, and running effectively from scrimmage. Then, after the muff, he completely disappeared.
Russell Shepard also disappeared after a little early activity. This is one of the lesser-discussed but most maddening aspects of our suspect offense. In the second half, we tend to tighten up and not put in the homerun hitters.
I did not like the helmet-to-helmet call on Chad Jones. I'm not saying it was technically wrong, but it's been called so infrequently this year that it is surprising to me that it was called on a play where it appeared that Jones at least attempted to lead with his shoulder, and appeared to hit head-to-head only with a glancing blow. We've seen much worse head-to-head hits go uncalled this year.
The defensive line got after it in the first half, then disappeared for long stretches in the second. I don't think it's a coincidence that we did not get a single stop in the second half. When we stopped getting pressure, Ryan Mallett started hitting receivers. The decision to constantly go with a 3-man rush in the second half contributed to the problems, even though the 3-man rush had success in the first half.
The coverage teams were great tonight. I can't wait to see more of Ryan Baker next year.
It was good to see Brandon Lafell walk off. It would have been awful to see such a great Tiger blow a knee in overtime of Game 12 of his senior season.
The offensive line played pretty well this week. Losing Ciron Black will hurt, but I think this could be a good unit next year.
Except for the helmet-to-helmet, I thought the officiating was pretty good tonight.
The corner opposite Peterson continues to get picked on in every game. I sure hope that Jai Eugene makes a big leap in his play next year, or that Morris Claiborne is ready to take over.
With Ole Miss losing, I think we are going to the Cap One, but nothing is official. Who else would they take at this point? Ole Miss? South Carolina? Tennessee? Georgia? We're not exactly a thrilling choice, but those others aren't either. Actually, it will be really interesting to see how the bowls shake out. As of press time, Georgia was still playing Georgia Tech. If they win that one, there will be six, SIX!, teams with 7 wins in the SEC. Ole Miss, at 8 wins, is the clear choice for Cotton, but the Outback and every bowl on down could go in literally any direction after that.

The Film Room: Looking At LSU

outsidethesidelines — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:03:15 -0000

This week in the film room I want to do a bit of a blurb piece, looking specifically at several of the bigger plays in the Alabama v. LSU game. Unlike in past weeks in which we have focused specifically on individual players with a specific point of evaluation in mind, this week we're going to bounce around a bit and just take a bit more casual look at some of the biggest plays in the game this past Saturday, looking for anything we can find.

First off, let's look at the first snap that we took out of the Wildcat. You will recall that in the Initial Impressions piece I said that, with Earl Alexander (a former high school quarterback) going in motion, we were almost certainly looking to throw the football. Let's look at the play again:

Notice the LSU cover package here. They have clearly manned up the three receivers, with safety Chad Jones over the top. I still think that this play was intended to be a pass, but given LSU's defensive response, it's hard to see how we would have successfully thrown the football. The only way it could have been done is if Alexander had thrown the football to the left and hit either Ingram or tight end Michael Williams slipping out of the backfield in the opposite direction.To be sure, the fumble was certainly disappointing because even with the recovery we were still faced with a third and long, but it's hard to see this one being a success through the air. We may have called a pass option on this one, but I imagine that it would have likely ended up being a run had the fumble not occurred.

Next, let's actually go back a play to the snap immediately before that. It's a first and ten near midfield and we decide to take a shot downfield to Maze early in the game. You'll probably remember this play well, but nevertheless you can get the jist of what happens with the following .gif (note, you need to click the .gif to make it work):

Disappointing, eh? I don't know exactly what route Jai Eugene was looking for, but he was clearly expecting that route to be broken off at the intermediate level somehow. He certainly wasn't expecting Maze to try to beat him deep, and as a result he ended up getting turned around and Maze blew right by him. This one just makes you want to throw the remote through the TV, plain and simple. Even with a semi-decent throw this is a touchdown, and not only does McElroy overthrow him he throws it out of bounds to boot. Double negative. This one hurts.

I guess we'll go ahead and knock out all of the negative McElroy stuff now, so let's take a look at the second Wildcat snap that we ran, this one coming late in the third quarter with 'Bama trailing 15-10.

I loved this play design from the outset. When Julio Jones comes down on the jet sweet and McElroy steps back, you know that every single LSU defender is looking for something on the frontside to Julio Jones. So what we do? We slip Brad Smelley out on the backside and we get them with it. The LSU defense isn't expecting it at all, and Smelley gets behind the secondary. A good throw and this is a touchdown, and even with a decent throw we probably have a first and goal. Unfortunately, this one sails long too, incomplete pass. We eventually settle for the field goal to cut the lead to 15-13.

Do, however, pay close attention up front on this one, particularly with regard to LSU defensive tackle Drake Nevis. The junior from Marrero whips William Vlachos at the point of attack, and he hurries the throw. It's still clearly a throw that McElroy should make, mind you, but nevertheless Nevis does a great job of getting into the backfield and making it a more difficult throw. The more you watch of the film, you see that Nevis played a whale of a game. I bet he graded out really high when Miles and company reviewed the film.

At any rate, let's close up the negative McElroy stuff here by taking a closer look at the safety:

First off, notice how we come out here guns a blazing, to paraphrase Saban. Not only are we throwing the football out of our own end zone on a third and long with a narrow lead in a low scoring game, notice that we are doing so with only five men in to protect the quarterback. Both Mark Ingram and Colin Peek go out on pass routes, and we are left with only the five linemen to get the job done. This one is as gutsy as it gets.

Unfortunately, Mike Johnson whiffs on the block of... guess who? Drake Nevis. Once again Nevis gets into the backfield and forces the safety, a fine play on his part. Again, though, McElroy shoulders a lot of the blame here. Even with the whiff by Johnson, McElroy still has approximately three seconds to get rid of the football, but for some reason -- even though everyone is covered -- he keeps holding onto the football for dear life. Predictably, the pressure eventually gets to him and the safety is the end result. He should have just thrown this one away. Thankfully, we lucked out that it was only a safety.

Now in all fairness to McElroy, while he did make a lot of bad plays, he also made his fair share of good plays too, and that is what we'll look at next. The following is McElroy's touchdown pass to Darius Hanks:

For all of the criticism of the passing game the past few weeks (and rightly so), here is a textbook example of where everything is executed perfectly and the play is performed exactly like you draw it up on paper. And this is also a textbook example of the type of things that you must do when an opposing defense loads the box to stop the run. Notice that after Ingram's previous success on the ground that LSU practically commits eight defenders to stopping the run this time around. That forces man to man coverage on the outside against all three receivers.

For McElroy, this is a simple read. We roll the pocket to the right to avoid the pressure, and it's obvious that he has a man-to-man match-up of Hanks on a safety. For McElroy, he either throws it downfield to Hanks if he is open, or checks it down to Earl Alexander. Fortunately, Hanks runs a fine route and gets good separation on the defender, and McElroy delivers an absolute strike. Just how you draw it up... touchdown 'Bama.

Next, let's look at a couple of defensive plays, specifically focusing on the two big runs that LSU had after the safety in the end zone. First, let's take a look at Charles Scott final run where he rips off a big gain to put his Bayou Bengals deep in 'Bama territory:

Notice that we come out and defend this effectively in our base 3-4 set. Eryk Anders has his hand on the ground, but even so this is pretty typical base 3-4 stuff, and also notice that we've got Mark Barron creeping up into the box. We've effectively got the back-up defensive line in the game for this snap -- Marcel Dareus, Luther Davis, and Josh Chapman -- but even so we have eight men ready to stop the run.

And in all fairness both Scott and the LSU offensive line does a solid job, but what really kills us here is poor tackling. Mark Barron is really playing the outside here and isn't in position to stop an interior run, but the real disaster is in the middle with Cory Reamer and Justin Woodall. Those two may be seniors, but they looked like freshmen with this effort. Instead of crashing down hard and making the tackle, the best Reamer can muster is a weak arm tackle attempt, which of course the powerful Scott blows right through, and then after that Woodall completely whiffs in the open field on a tackle. With a good play by Reamer this is a two-yard gain, and with a good play by Woodall it's an eight-yard gain, but unfortunately those two whiff and Scott is off to the races.

With LSU driving, Stevan Ridley comes off the bench and gives the Tigers a lead with his touchdown run. Let's take a closer look, particularly keeping a very close eye on the match-up of LSU center T-Bob Hebert on Terrence Cody:

Well, now that is certainly one for those conspiracy nuts, now isn't it? This is a run right into the heart of the line on second and short, and we have it snuffed out pretty well. Cody is in position to make the tackle, and looks to do so with Ridley trying to cut it to the outside. He ultimately misses the tackle, of course, simply because Hebert flat out tackles Cody in the open field. This should have been a holding penalty setting up a 2nd and 13, but alas no such flag came about.

Of course I'm not going to complain too much about the officiating because you do also need to focus on your own effort, and that certainly falls short here. Keep your eye on Eryk Anders, he has outside contain to the offensive right, and he basically just blows it. He gets sucked too far inside, and Ridley beats him to the outside. Touchdown LSU.

Finally, let's wrap this piece up by taking a closer look at the gamechanging touchdown on the screen pass to Julio Jones:

Notice how odd it is that LSU is actually in really good position, before the snap, to stop this play. They've got a base 4-3 look, and the linebackers are playing a bit soft. A safety is manned up against Julio Jones, to be sure, but this is the short side of the field and there is also another safety over there for help, plus a linebacker. I don't care who you are covering, someone between Brandon Taylor, Danny McCray, and Kelvin Sheppard should stop this play.

At any rate, we feign something of a pass to the right, and then McElroy wheels back around to throw to Julio. The entire left side of the Alabama offensive line, plus the center, all move out to the second level to block. Now, Brandon Taylor, knowing that he is a safety in man coverage against Julio Jones, plays it very safe, and leaves a massive cushion between him and the 'Bama wideout. And that, in many ways, costs him here. He sees the screen and runs in very hard, right by James Carpenter, who was supposed to block him -- and for what it's worth, the Auburn fans complained of a block in the back on this play by Carpenter on Taylor because there is a photo showing him blocking the LSU defensive back from behind, but if you watch the film, naturally the Auburn fans are wrong as Carpenter whiffs so badly that he barely touches the back of Taylor so lightly that Taylor himself probably never even noticed.

Unfortunately for Taylor, with him racing in, he loses body control, and Julio makes a quick, nifty cut to the outside to sidestep the LSU safety. Kelvin Sheppard effectively takes himself out of the play by biting on the fake to the right, and when Danny McCray tries to come in to make the tackle, he takes a poor angle and there William Vlachos gets just enough of him to knock him out of the play. And with the LSU defense firmly in the review mirror, Julio is off to the races. Touchdown 'Bama.

The LSU Preview

outsidethesidelines — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:16:56 -0000

No smoke and mirrors needed this week. No clever turn of phrase needed to build drama and intrigue with this game. Nope. To paraphrase what they say in the sales business, this is simply a game that sells itself. It's 'Bama v. LSU. Saban Bowl III. National championship implications clearly on the line. The entire country turning its eyes towards Tuscaloosa to play close attention at this contest. Again, this one sells itself. Let's look closer at the match-ups:

Alabama Offense v. LSU Defense

After putting up points and yards by the bushel in the first month of the season, the once prolific Alabama offense has slowly ground to a virtual halt over the course of the past five weeks. The vertical element of the passing game went into the Witness Protection Program in early October, and we still haven't seen any signs of it returning as of this writing. Mark Ingram has been nothing short of phenomenal -- sans the fumble against Tennessee -- but the lack of a vertical element to the passing game, combined with untimely penalties, questionable playcalling, and struggles in the red zone have kept the Tide offensive attack at bay and off the scoreboard.

Admittedly, the level of competition has been high the past several weeks. Kentucky has a good defense, and Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Tennessee rank in the top 25 nationally of more statistical categories than not. But such is life in the SEC... it's a brutal gauntlet of quality opponent after quality opponent, and there will be no rest for the weary this weekend when the Bayou Bengals come to town. Alas, when LSU arrives in Tuscaloosa, they will bring with them a defense that is as good as those we saw in October, if not better.

And unfortunately, injuries continue to take a toll on the Tide. Colin Peek looks to either miss this game or play nowhere near 100%, and that's a very big loss for the Tide. Michael Williams will likely play better than he did two weeks ago against Tennessee because he will be more prepared, but Peek is a critical element of our offense, and unfortunately Williams is an imperfect substitute.

Defensively, the weakness for LSU starts up front at the line of scrimmage. Shocking as though that may be -- I imagine I need remind no one that LSU's defensive line ate us for dinner from 2003-2007 -- it is nevertheless true. To be sure, it's certainly not a bad group, but it isn't a dominating one and it is not up to the level that we have come to expect the past several years out of LSU. Inside, seniors Al Woods and Charles Alexander are good players that any team would love to have, but they probably aren't to the level that we saw the past several years out of LSU with Kyle Williams and Glenn Dorsey. Likewise, the rotation isn't what it has been in previous years in terms of quality depth.

The real weakness for LSU on the defensive line largely comes outside at end. Senior Rahim Alem has been a bit of a disappointment this year. He was always a liability against the run -- which is why, despite leading the SEC in sacks in 2008, he wasn't a starter -- but he hasn't rushed the passer as well this year, generating only three sacks in the first eight games (only one of which came in conference play, and that was against Vandy). Opposite Alem, Lazarius Levingston hasn't exactly played poorly, but he hasn't really made an impact either. He has yet to generate a sack, and only has ten tackles on the year. Making matters worse, they are somewhat undersized, and mixed with their lack of a consistent pass rush, that generally explains why LSU's run defense has been somewhat middling, and also explains why they are at the bottom of the SEC in sacks.

Unfortunately, the rest of the LSU defense is significantly better. The linebacker corps struggled greatly in 2008, but they have made tremendous strides in 2009 under new defensive coordinator John Chavis. There is not one standout at linebacker like Alabama has with someone like Rolando McClain -- or had with Dont'a Hightower -- but it's a good group that gets the job done. Perry Riley, Kelvin Sheppard, Harry Coleman, and Jacob Cutrera are all good football players, and they are in many ways unique players that give Chavis a lot of options. Riley is a big, physical player who excels against against the run, and Coleman's past as a former safety makes him a very versatile player, particularly in passing situations. Kelvin Sheppard is probably the best all-around player of the bunch, and while Cutrera isn't a standout, he's a senior who can really play whatever position they need off the bench. Again, it's not a group that has the one rockstar standout like you find with a guy like Rolando McClain or Brandon Spikes, but it's a good group of players that have produced at a high level for John Chavis.

The real strength of the LSU defense, however, comes in the defensive backfield, where the Bayou Bengals have an absolutely ridiculous collection of talent. Just look at the names and their recruiting hype... Chad Jones, #1 safety prospect in the country in 2007. Jai Eugene, #1 cornerback prospect in the country in 2006. Patrick Peterson, #1 cornerback prospect in the country in 2007. And guys like Chris Hawkins, Brandon Taylor, Karnell Hatcher, Ron Brooks, and Danny McCray? Yeah, they were generally "only" four-star recruits who could have had pretty much their pick of any school in the country.

Not surprising given that collection of talent, LSU's defensive backfield has led the way. Patrick Peterson is the best cornerback in the conference now that Kentucky's Trevard Lindley is slowed by an ankle injury, and Chad Jones is every bit as good of a safety as Eric Berry. And, obviously, the rest aren't too shabby. These guys have been the key for the LSU defense this year. The defensive line has struggled and frankly been very bad in terms of rushing the passer, but the back end has covered so well that LSU still fields one of the best pass defenses in the country.

Coach Saban and company have talked about stretching the field vertically this weekend, and that is almost certainly something that we will have to do in order to breathe life back into our deceased offense. LSU does not have the great run defense that they have sported in years past, but it's far from a bad unit, and you can rest assured that they will be able to limit Alabama's running game well enough to force the Tide to do something in the passing game in order to score a lot of points. Keep in mind that, as I mentioned in the Radio Hour, if you are unable to throw the football, then defensively you don't need to stop the run, you only need to somewhat limit the run. In other words, you just have to make sure that the opposing offense doesn't run it down your throats to the tune of 250+ rushing yards. Rest assured, LSU is likely more than good enough to do that up front.

Offensively, Alabama faces the same dilemma that it largely faced against Tennessee. Greg McElroy and the passing attack have struggled to move the football, and the opposing defense will look to limit Ingram and company and force McElroy and the wide receiver corps to beat them. Unless we can be more consistent and explosive in the passing game, the end result looks to be very similar to what it was against Tennessee.

Alabama Defense v. LSU Offense

For all of the strength of the LSU defense, the LSU offense hasn't been anywhere near as good, and if you look closely this is a group that ranks near the bottom of the country in most statistical categories.

At the skill positions, at least, this is an extremely dangerous offense. Without doubt the LSU wide receiver corps is easily the most talented that the Tide will face all season, and literally every single LSU wide receiver that will touch the football this Saturday will be a truly elite athlete in every sense of the phrase. Brandon LaFell will be a first-day draft pick next April, and both Terrance Toliver and Reuben Randle are physically impressive players who were the #1 wide receiver prospects in the country when they came out of high school. Richard Dickson is a good tight end in his own right, and he too will probably play on Sunday. Furthermore, Charles Scott is also a future NFL player, and while Keiland Williams never really lived up to his five-star status when he signed with the Tigers in 2006, he's still a fine player in his own right. And finally, while Russell Shepard and Trindon Holliday are somewhat of one-trick ponies, both have such ungodly speed and athleticism that they can present major challenges to a defense once they get the ball in their hands. Bottom line, struggles or not, if you look at the quality at talent at the skill positions for LSU, you would swear this is an elite offense.

The real problem with LSU offensively has been in the trenches and, perhaps not surprisingly, at the quarterback position. Struggles in those two areas have largely grounded the LSU offensive attack, and have turned an offense that should be high-powered based solely on its skill position talent into a unit that has greatly struggled to move the football and score points.

Ciron Black at left tackle for the Bayou Bengals is a four-year starter who will likely be a first round NFL draft choice next April, and at right tackle Joseph Barksdale -- a five-star recruit in 2007 -- is one of the best right tackles in the SEC. Unfortunately for the Tigers, however, the performance of the centers and guards has dipped significantly. The loss of starting left guard Herman Johnson and starting center Brett Helms have been felt all season, and the replacements just aren't in the same league right now. Josh Dworaczyk took over for Johnson, and the replacement starter for the gargantuan comes in at barely 280 pounds. Likewise, sophomore T-Bob Hebert hasn't necessarily been bad, but again he's just not in the same league as Helms right now. Right guard Lyle Hitt looked solid enough when sandwiched between Helms and Barksdale, but he too has seen his performance dip by having to take on greater responsibilities with Hebert alongside him. As a whole, the performance of the center and the guards just hasn't been anywhere what it was a year ago.

The struggles on the interior offensive line have effectively proven fatal to the LSU rushing attack. I've long said that the biggest impact on your rushing attack comes from the play of your center and your guards, and 2009 Tigers would prove to be a fine case study in that regard. The tackles are there, as are the backs, but LSU has struggled on the interior in the running game, and that has largely killed their rushing attack. The once potent Scott and Williams are averaging only about 4.8 yards per carry now, and prior to facing Tulane and their god awful run defense they were barely averaging 4.0 yards per carry.

The other problem for LSU offensively is quarterback Jordan Jefferson. While clearly an intriguing prospect with a great upside -- Jefferson has a good frame, a big arm, and is a legitimate dual-threat -- Jefferson is really playing out of necessity right now, and it shows. Truth be told, if the LSU coaching staff really had their druthers, Jefferson would probably be riding the pine this year while watching fifth-year senior Ryan Perrilloux run the Tiger offense, but alas the Football Gods would not cooperate. As a result, Jefferson has been forced to make the best of a bad situation, and he has clearly had his growing pains. He holds onto the ball entirely too long which creates a lot of sacks -- which explains why LSU is near the bottom of the conference in sacks allowed despite having the best tackle combo in the league -- often struggles to work through his progression, and does struggle at times to get the ball to his talented wide receivers. Combined, this has largely grounded what should otherwise be an explosive passing attack.

In all fairness, though, what Jefferson has done is manage the game and not get his Tigers beat. For all of the criticisms that you can make regarding his performance to date, he has protected the football, which is clearly priority number one for the LSU coaching staff. Jefferson has thrown a mere four interceptions this year on roughly 200 passing attempts, and has allowed the LSU defense to lead them to victory in close games. If nothing else, that is far more than could ever be said for the man that Jefferson replaced.

Defensively, Alabama brings the attack that you all know so well, and there will probably be little changes this week. Charles Scott and Keiland Williams had great success running the football against us a year ago, but with a healthy Terrence Cody this time around, plus Herman Johnson and Brett Helms playing on Sunday, the Tide ought to shut down the LSU rushing attack. If Charles Scott and company have a good deal of success come Saturday, it will legitimately come as a bit of a surprise.

The real key for the Alabama defense will be containing big plays in the passing game. For lack of a better way of putting it, the skill position players for LSU are unreal good, and they will stretch us to the absolute maximum this weekend. Our defensive backfield, collectively, will have to play the game of their lives this weekend, and to make matters even more worrisome we will also have to make sure that Russell Shepard or Trindon Holliday also don't beat us with a long run out of the backfield. Given the way we have struggled offensively the past several weeks, even giving up only one or two really long plays can easily be the difference between victory and defeat, and unless the offense improve, our defense has effectively zero margin of error.

Going a long way towards preventing those big plays to the skill position players will be effectively rushing the passer. Jefferson isn't a world-beater at quarterback, but his receivers sure as hell are, and he has the arm to make all of the throws. If Jefferson consistently has time to throw the football, we're in big trouble defensively. The LSU skill position players are simply too good to expect any defensive backfield to keep covered for any real length of time.

Putting It All Together

All in all, these two teams match up closely. If the Alabama offense were producing like it did earlier in the year, the Tide could be reasonably expected to win this game with relative ease, but with our offensive struggles of the past month and no definite sign of improvement, this game figures to be a close one that goes right down to the wire. Unless we can significantly improve offensively, the LSU defense is good enough to keep our offensive attack at bay, and while the LSU offense probably won't score a lot of points against our defense, they clearly have another skill position talent on the outside to make a few big plays to squeak out a close victory in a low-scoring game

And do look for this game to be a close, low-scoring game, no two ways about that. Neither team looks to score that many points, and expect the coaching staffs of the respective teams to play accordingly. LSU almost lost to the Tide in 2007 when they chose to kick to Javier Arenas late, and their loss last year was fueled by a slew of costly turnovers. Expect Les Miles and company to avoid both this weekend with a struggling Alabama offense. LSU will kick the football away from Arenas, and play safe on offense so that -- even if they don't score a lot of points in their own right -- they won't take the risks that could result in several costly turnovers. We're struggling greatly on the offensive side of the ball, and when facing a team of that nature you make sure that you do not allow cheap points. Expect LSU to force the Tide's offense to consistently move the ball 60+ yards to get points.

For Alabama, the path to victory is clearly in the trenches. We hold a fairly significant advantage in both match-ups at the line of scrimmage, and there is where we must win this football game. We must stop the run defensively and rush Jefferson, and offensively establish the running game and make like easy for McElroy and the Alabama passing attack. If we can do that, we win this football game. On the other hand, if LSU can fight us to an effective draw in the trenches, then this game will be decided by the skill position players, and that's a losing proposition for us. That's not to say we absolutely cannot win a game of that nature, but LSU does have more raw talent at the skill positions than we do, and that is a game that will clearly favor the Bayou Bengals. Again, our path to victory lies in the trenches. We have to dominate this game at the line of scrimmage. Period.

One way or the other, look for this to be an absolutely brutal game. The stakes are extremely high for both LSU and Alabama, and their respective players will perform accordingly. Les Miles, regardless of whether or not it is fair, will forever be judged relative to Nick Saban, something that is clearly not lost on Miles or his team. This is their biggest game of the year, and clearly the biggest game of the year for their fan base as well. Truth be told, they have been preparing for this game for two weeks now. Making matters more interesting, this game determines the SEC West, LSU is still technically alive in the national championship race, and they are clearly looking to make a definitive showing that they are still at their 2003-2007 form. On the other sideline, Alabama has been staring this one down for two weeks. We control our own destiny in the national championship race, and we know full well that this is now effectively a one-game season. If we want to get to where we want to go, we all realize that we must directly go through LSU. And, also, don't think for one second that it is lost on our team that they need to win this game in the trenches. Expect these two teams to line up and wage absolute war. There will be blood.

Hope for the best.

This Is Actually Really Impressive When the Two Teams Don't Have the Same Colors

Richard Pittman — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:28:15 -0000

FULL SCREEN VERSION

Joel at Rocky Top Talk did this. It is much an application that is much-beloved by all.

Everyone is making much of Washington's large yardage number. You can see here that the yards came basically on 4 drives: the opening and closing touchdown drives, and two 1st half drives that resulted in field goals.

I'm starting to become optimistic, perhaps overly optimistic, that the defensive problems in the Washington game really were a result of various factors influencing that particular game: rust, travel, disparities in practice times between the teams, the lateness of the game, etc. And let's face it, Jake Locker made a couple plays. Jai Eugene had good coverage on that big pass play towards the end of the first half, but good coverage only forces the quarterback to make a perfect throw, and Locker did it. You have to give him credit there, and credit the receiver with making the catch.

For what it's worth, the players seem to be accepting the blame for either being in the wrong position or failing to make the play when in the right position.

“It’s a new scheme for us; it was our first game,” linebacker Perry Riley said. “A couple of people, including myself, had some mental errors. We weren’t where we were supposed to be. You can kind of expect that going into the game, but we got a feel for how (Chavis) is going to call the game now, and we feel better about the scheme and we are going to do a lot better this week.”

...

"Coach Chavis put us in the right position," cornerback Patrick Peterson said. "Guys were just making a lot of common mistakes. That was basically it. We couldn’t get off the field on third down."

Peterson also expects a different result this Saturday:

"It’s definitely not last year," Peterson said. "I see a big difference. Like I said, this was our first real shot at putting the defense together. Coach Chavis, he is doing the best that he can. I believe this week, we are going to come out with a different mind-set."

Which of course begs the question, what happened to the mindset on Saturday? Alright, I m done beating up on the team. We've done that enough. The guys are saying all the right things, and we don't seem to have the dissent we had last year at around this time, when Chad Jones was openly complaining about not getting defensive signals and being confused on the field. We escaped a road game in rather difficult circumstances against a team that frankly is probably better than we ever thought. The 0-12 Huskies of last year did not have Chris Polk at running back or Jake Locker at quarterback for most of the year, and did not have Steve Sarkisian at head coach for any of the year. Polk and Locker made some great individual plays against us.

There are still plenty of questions. I have defended our pass rush, but I can't say it was outstanding. This was the same Washington offensive line that gave up 30-something sacks last year and got Locker injured. We managed one sack, an intentional grounding, and a couple hurries. That's not good enough even against a good offensive line.

Which of course bring us to Vanderbilt. Vandy is still a mystery. They beat up on a hapless Western Carolina team, who is bad even by FCS standards. They have a new starter at quarterback, and two freshman running backs. As a freshman in a reserve role last year, Larry Smith was a very ordinary quarterback. In 34 pass attempts, he averaged under 5 yards per attempt, had 1 touchdown, 1 interception, and got almost 1/3 of his yards on one pass play. He was also not a particularly effective runner. Like Jordan Jefferson, he had a very nice game in his team's bowl win, improving his numbers in all areas. Against Western Carolina last week, he was very good at both passing and running until leaving the game with cramps late in the 3rd quarter.

I don't know what kind of a team we're going to see when we face Vandy. I know they're going to a new hurry-up offense, and they're going to try to run with the running backs and the quarterback. How effective can they be? I simply have no idea. Can't wait to see.

Doc Saturday Diagnoses The Tigers

Poseur — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:13:31 -0000

Doc Saturday reviewed LSU's chances on Wednesday and I've finally gotten around to posting it here. By blogging standards, I realize my reaction time here is positively glacial, but what can you do? We're from the South. It's hot down here and we move a bit slower. Also, as pompous jerks from other schools delight in telling us, LSU students aren't very bright and our school sucks, so I was probably too stupid to find the link until now. Instead of firing back with our academic rankings or anything, just sic Mike the Tiger on ‘em (or worse, Jrlz). Besides, academic snobbery is all the Big Ten has left. It would be too cruel to shake them from those illusions.

As one would expect from the good doctor, his analysis is fair and pointed. Really, my only real quibbles are things simply from not obsessing over the Tigers on the same level we do here. He says that Jefferson struggled in losses. Well, yes and no. He did have terrible second halves. He also looked pretty damn good in the early parts of those games, as we've discussed. But, really, he's just not looking at LSU in the same detail we are. He just can't, there's too many teams out there.

The most interesting part of the article is about the defense (complete with charts!).

The impressive numbers preceded Pelini's arrival with Miles in 2005 -- the Tigers finished in the top 15 nationally in total defense three years in a row from 2002-04, including No. 1 in both categories in the '03 championship season. A top-10 defense is normal here; last year's group barely finished in the top 10 in the SEC. Mallory and Peveto are now coaching elsewhere.

Not that you can blame them entirely: Just shy of half the regulars were freshmen and sophomores. That's good for John Chavis, who comes from somehow orchestrating the conference's best defense last year while going down with the Tennessee Titanic. LSU's secondary, clearly the weak link last year, could look a lot like Florida's young cover guys in their dramatic improvement from inept noobs in 2007 to one of the best secondaries in the country during last year's title run -- like Joe Haden and Major Wright, et al in Gainesville, Patrick Peterson and Jai Eugene are former blue chips who have taken their lumps at the outset and should be over the hump en route to fulfilling the hype with a year under their belts; as a junior, safety Chad Jones should be rounding into All-SEC form by now. But the big change is Chavis' steadying influence, and he should have enough at his disposal to take a full touchdown off last year's scoring average.

I have to be honest, I have privately compared the LSU defense to Florida's, but I was scared to bring it up on this blog for fear of it being too homer-ific. Thanks for the opening, Doc! Florida's pass defense last season was terrific, and one of the reasons the Gators won last year and are big favorites this year. And their pass defense in 2007 was horrendous. Not just bad, but "Oh my God" terrible. And what I believe - what I am ardently hoping for - is that LSU's pass defense is going through the same transition from caterpillar to beautiful butterfly. LSU's secondary was simply awful this season, and now it could very well be a team strength. The question is, are we just seeing what we want to see?

Are we just, as Doc Saturday says, buying the brand? Go over and read someone a lot smarter than we are.

Fall Camp's Biggest Surprise

Richard Pittman — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:44:21 -0000

via www.tigerrag.com

In the Spring, defensive back Ron Brooks was the story. He moved from cornerback to strong safety, and despite his cornerback-sized frame, he was the talk of the Town, the next playmaker in the LSU secondary. While no one said he had won the job, most people were saying he was clearly the best option at the position, and the one that the coaching staff liked the most. He had the inside track.

Now, if you substitute the word "Fall" for "Spring", the words "Brandon Taylor" for "Ron Brooks", and change everything from past tense to present tense, you have the current story.

When Fall Camp opened, everyone was surprised to see the true sophomore backup cornerback, who recorded all of 4 tackles and 1 pass breakup in 2008, not only practicing with the safeties, but running with the first team. At first, many believed that it was an experiment, that he was "cross-training" so he could be more versatile. Perhaps he was in training to play more of a hybrid nickel or dime position?

Not so far.

In every practice report I have read that has mentioned the subject, Brandon Taylor has been listed as running with the first team at safety. Ron Brooks was behind him, but now it seems that Karnell Hatcher is behind him, with Ron Brooks running third.

You have to keep in mind that the media sees only a small fraction of the practice, and sees no live contact. And no, I would not put Les Miles above deliberately hiding who his starter would be. If he really is taking that kind of approach though, we just have to live with it.

For what it's worth, Brandon Taylor is still listed at cornerback on LSU's semi-official (but probably not up-to-date) roster at Lsusports.net.

When Brandon Taylor was recruited, he was considered one of the best players in the 2008 class. He was body-ready, a skilled athlete, and came from a football-playing family that surely put him a little ahead of other recruits mentally. The problem was that the absolute best player in the class, Patrick Peterson, played the same position Taylor played. It was an awkward situation where Taylor was good enough to be an immediate contributor, but the coaching staff had to wonder how much they wanted two true freshmen to be in the rotation at corner.

In the end, the defensive coaching staff probably made the worst move they could have made. They played Brandon Taylor, but not very much, and rarely in situations that mattered. He also played some special teams, but was not a very big factor there either.

Heading into the 2009 season, Taylor was expected to compete at cornerback, possibly as a dark horse to beat out Jai Eugene and Chris Hawkins for the spot opposite Peterson. No one guessed he might get a look at safety and then keep the job. It looks now like that very well could happen.

The competition is certainly not over. I really liked Karnell Hatcher in 2008, and of the three people competing for that spot, he is the one who saw the most significant playing time last year. He was very strong against the run, recording 13 tackles while backing up Brandon's older brother Curtis Taylor. Ron Brooks is still, of course, an outstanding athlete who was a special teams standout last year.

Soon, practices will be closed and we will no longer get any kind of reliable information on what's going on. We will know when we see the Tigers take the field on September 5.

5 Keys To A Successful Season, Part 4: The Revamped Secondary

Richard Pittman — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:30:08 -0000

I think everyone can point to the two biggest things that went wrong with the 2008 season. [Aside: I would say there were three things that went wrong; the two usually named things, and a very inconsistent pass rush.] In the coaches' quest to exorcise the demons of 2008, they have been forced to make a lot of changes to the secondary, which was, of course, one of the two things that went horribly wrong in 2008.

The opening game of the 2008 season saw a starting secondary of RCB Jai Eugene, FS Curtis Taylor, SS Harry Coleman, and LCB Chris Hawkins, with Danny McCray at the nickel and Chad Jones as sort of a utility player. Only one of those players was a senior, but there is no guarantee any of them will see significant snaps in the same role for the 2009 season.

The opening night lineup of the 2009 season will see Patrick Peterson at one corner position and Chad Jones at free safety. These are two very athletic and very promising players, but after this the spots are open for competition, and it is anyone's guess who will occupy the nickel and dime back positions, or if those positions will even exist as we currently understand them.

We have been over the secondary is great detail once before in this offseason,and I won't repeat those articles here except to the extent I already have. You can go back and read Part 1 and Part 2 of the Spring Preview: The Secondary series. Some of that information is quite outdated (Phelon Jones transferred and Harry Coleman is definitely a linebacker now). But for the most part the information we had back in March is still solid today, and we'll do a formal update on the position after Fall camp starts.

Suffice it to say that there have been wholesale changes in the coaching and in the personnel in the secondary. If one was being uncharitable, one might compare it to a game of poker in which we did not like the hand we were dealt and so we reshuffled the cards and dealt a new one. I prefer to think of it as learning from mistakes.

I don't know who will start at strong safety, but I was a HUGE fan of Karnell Hatcher's play in spot duty last year. The other prime candidate for the position is Ron Brooks, who got the most press of any up-and-coming player in the Spring. Danny McCray certainly isn't conceding the race, and he is the most experienced safety we have who isn't moving to linebacker. Plus he's actually well-suited for the role of strong safety, where he was not well-suited for his prior role as nickel back.

At corner it appears to be a battle between last year's starters, Jai Eugene and Chris Hawkins, but I would keep an eye out on true sophomore Brandon Taylor, who impressed the heck out of the coaches in practice as a true freshman and figures to be in line to improve as much or more than anyone on the team from last season to this season.

Whatever the personnel groupings, the unit absolutely has to play better than it did last year. I don't mean, "they have to play better in order for us to win." I mean there is no possible way they couldn't play better, as they played so poorly last year. Some of the worst passing teams in the conference looked competent against us. For example, Chris Todd of auburn went 17 for 32 for 250 yards against us (OK, he had 2 interceptions). Tyson Lee went 17 for 26 for 165 yards. Stephen Garcia went 14 of 26 for 215 yards.

Don't ask what the good passing teams did to us.

It's hard to do worse than that. Hopefully with more suitable personnel groupings and fresh coaching, the situation in the secondary will right itself. Taking Danny McCray off of the slot receiver almost can't help but improve the defense.

Offseason reports have Patrick Peterson and Chad Jones reportedly ready to blow up into the All-America calibre players they were recruited to be. I am always skeptical of offseason hype machines, but we will have to see. We should be finding out a lot more about this in the coming weeks. If those two are really that good at their respective positions, a huge negative could become a huge positive.

LSU Preview

John Berkowitz — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:14:39 -0000

As the 2009 season approaches, Washington once again will have one of the toughest schedules in college football, starting the season with a bang as LSU visits to open the season on Sept 5. The Tigers are coming off a disappointing 8-5 season, but there is plenty of talent on the squad to make another serious run for a SEC West title. LSU may not be of the same caliber as a USC, but they are a solid top 15 pick heading into the season.

Sophomore Jordan Jefferson looks to have earned the starting QB spot this past spring. Jefferson is 6'4" and very mobile. He played in seven games last season, starting twice. The obvious highlight of his 2008 campaign was leading the Tigers to a 38-3 upset win over Georgia Tech in the season's finale. Jordan finished the 2009 season by connecting on 36 of 73 passes for 419 yards, four touchdowns and just one interception, He also rushed for 134 yards and one TD on 49 carries. The Tiger defense will be ready for Jake Locker, as they will practice against a similar player every day.

The running back position is loaded with talent, experience, and depth. The Tigers return three seniors who each can break a game open. LSU is led by Charles Scott, who rushed for over 1000 yards in 2008. Keiland Williams and Trindon Holliday provide plenty of experienced, quality depth, keeping defenses on their toes.

The wide receivers are led by Brandon LaFell, who tallied a team-leading 63 receptions last season. LaFell is an NFL-type talent who could have gone early in the 2009 pro football draft. Chris Mitchell, R.J. Jackson, Tim Molton, Chris Tolliver and five star recruit Ruben Randle will all push for playing time when the Tigers line up in three-and-four-wide sets. Randle will come in this fall with the ability to immediately start for the Tigers. Senior TE Richard Dickson returns and is a good bet to earn some post-season honors.

The Tigers' offensive line has the look of a rebuilding unit, as they lost three starters to graduation and the NFL. Bob Hebert, who was limited in 2009 spring drills due to a knee injury suffered during the 2008 season, will be the new starter at center. Josh Dworaczyk steps into the left guard spot, with Lyle Hitt returning for his senior year at right guard, plus Ciron Black and Joseph Barksdale teaming up to be one of the better tackle tandems in the SEC.

The key to the enduring success of the LSU football program under the regimes of both Les Miles and Nick Saban has been its defense. With all the growing that must take place on the offensive side of the ball in 2009, the defense will be counted on to pick up a lot of the early slack. LSU feels they have addressed this need by retooling its defensive staff in the form of three new assistant coaches.

The defensive line is rebuilding after losing their top five players to graduation in 2008. The Tigers return senior DE Rahim Alem , who led the SEC in sacks a year ago, and also got a boost from the NCAA when they granted DT Charles Alexander a sixth year of eligibility. Junior Pep Levingston and has taken hold of the defensive end spot this spring opposite Alem and it looks like he could be a player. He will most likely line up next to DT Drake Nevis. LSU is going to be challenged early up front this year because of the losses but they have a lot of talent in line that is just waiting for their first chances of getting into the rotation.

At linebacker the Tigers return Seniors Jacob Cutrera and Perry Riley, along with Jr. Kelvin Sheppard. All three have have all played a lot of football at LSU. Since LSU is bringing in a new DC expect some early growing pains as the talent adjust to the new schemes which were implemented last spring.

The Tigers are loaded at defensive back. CB Patrick Peterson and safety Chad Jones have All-American type talent. The other starting corner will likely be senior Chris Hawkins, who led the team with three interceptions and nine pass breakups a year ago. Pushing Hawkins and Peterson is junior Jai Eugene and sophomore Brandon Taylor, and they will more than likely battle for the nickel spot. Ron Brooks and Karnell Hatcher are battling it out for the starting spot at the other safety position.

Consensus

LSU is rebuiliding but not in the same sense that Washington is. The difference is that LSU has a solid pipeline of young talent that has been tutored to expect success.

The inexperience at QB is going to hurt them early in the season. On defense rebuilding the front four with a new DC is also going to cause some early growing pains.

Expect the Tigers to finish in the top 25 but they are realistically a year away from contending for a national championship unless their QB grows up in a hurry against the always tough SEC schedule.

How does UW match up?

Realistically Washington should be playing Nevada or Utah State to open the season and not a team like LSU. UW is however going to be catching the Tigers at home at probably the best time all season to play them. UW obviously comes in with an edge at QB and our young receivers should be able to match up well with LSU. The offensive line will have its hands full with the Tigers defensive front even though they are in rebuilding mode. UW's offensive line frankly doesn't cut it at this point and only recruiting, time, and talent will change that.

Defensively the Huskies get a break facing an inexperienced QB starting the season on the road. I expect improvement in every phase of the Husky defense this season which is easy to say because they were argualby the worst unit in the BCS last season.

Early Prediction

Washington should be able to hang with the Tigers early in this one. They should be fired up and playing over their heads in their nationally televised debut under new head coach Steve Sarkisian. Whenever you insert Jake Locker into the lineup it is a great equalizer to make up for a sup par offensive line. An enthusiastic full house to open the season should create quite a bit of excitement in Husky Stadium.

That being said overall talent and depth wins football games and sometime in the third quarter LSU should begin to pull away like so many teams such as Ohio State have done to UW in recent years. This one will be closer than expected but I am thinking pulls away and wins 31 - 21.

Questions Coming Out of Spring Practice

Richard Pittman — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:42:51 -0000

With Spring Practice Officially dead and buried, it is time to look at some of the questions we still have.

1. How will the revamped offensive line perform? Last year, the offensive line was one of the strengths of the team, as we ran well and generally protected the QB as much as it could be expected against SEC defenses. This year, we have to replace 2 of the veteran linemen in Brett Helms and Herman Johnson, both of whom will be in an NFL training camp. Coming out of Spring, it looks like their spots will be taken by sophomores Josh Dworaczyk and T-Bob Hebert. What we do not know and can hardly even speculate about at this point is whether those two are really good, or if they're just "better than the alternative". Offensive line play is always the most important determining factor about how an offense will perform, as poor line play will adversely affect both the running and the passing games, and good line play will open up holes for your running backs and make your QB very comfortable in the pocket. The play of Dworaczyk and Hebert will go a long way to determining how this team will perform offensively this year. We know Ciron Black is as solid as a left tackle gets, and Lyle Hitt is a 3-year starter, so we know what he brings. We will also need Joseph Barksdale to step up his play and go from being "promising" to being "studly". Word is he is on his way to doing just that, but we will have to see.

2. Will we get consistently good quarterback play? LSU fans rightly have high hopes for Jordan Jefferson and Russell Shepard, and we actually have something of a luxury in having Jarrett Lee as an experienced player beginning the season in a backup role. The problem remains however that we have a VERY young quarterback group. We don't have any quarterback who's been around long enough to be a junior, and Jarrett Lee's 9 starts makes him by far the most experienced on the roster. Jordan Jefferson has showed great promise, but we need to remember that he is just a true sophomore, and he has started only 2 games. We enter the 2009 season with the least experience at the QB spot of any team in the conference, though South Carolina has a somewhat comparable situation.

3. Will we have productive complementary players at the skill positions? Brandon Lafell is an outstanding player and a true #1 receiver. Will we have a quality #2, #3, and #4, or will we have to rely on TE Richard Dickson even more? After a couple years of looking really great in his uniform, it is Terrance Toliver's turn to become a reliable producer. Whenever a player transitions from sophomore to junior year, you have to stop talking about his potential and start talking about his production. At 6'5" and with outstanding speed and athleticism, Toliver's potential is through the roof, but it's time to do something with it. He ended last year on a high note, catching 16 passes in his final 5 games, after catching only 6 in the previous 8. If he continues that pace and breaks a few nice gains out of it. We will also need Chris Mitchell, RJ Jackson, Tim Molton, or one of the other receivers to step up play as well. Rueben Randle or even Russell Shepard could figure into this in the Fall.

At running back, we know Charles Scott is a good power running back with the intelligence and durability to be a #1 tailback. But you need more than that. Keiland Williams was inconsistent despite solid line play, though he got more productive as the season wore on. I will speculate that I think he was not in optimum condition at the beginning of the year and he lost a step of speed. He needs to be a speed back, so he needs to get that step back. Junior Richard Murphy had a disastrous sophomore season after having high expectations heading into the season. One of these two guys will have to step up play for LSU to reach its potential. We do not know if Stevan Ridley will be sufficiently recovered from his injury to be a factor in the 2009 season. If Keiland or Murphy or Ridley can't be productive behind Scott, we may see a lot of Michael Ford when he reports for his freshman season.

4. Who will be our backup defensive linemen?

Unlike an offensive line, a defensive line cannot live by its starters alone. It needs depth. It needs a rotation. We believe we have our top 4 offensive linemen in Pep Levingston, Drake Nevis, Al Woods, and Rahim Alem. We think they are going to be very good-to-outstanding players. Levingston would be a big surprise to me. I did not really expect that of him, and I am pleased to hear the good reports. The questions are who will be backing those guys up, and how will they perform when they're needed? Charles Alexander brings experience to the defensive tackle position, as he will be on his 6th year of eligibility and was a full-time starter last year. Other than Cheese, our backups will be very green. Redshirt freshmen Lavar Edwards, Chancey Aghayere, and Chase Clement appear to have the inside track. I loved Aghayere when he was a prospect, but he has had to battle back from high school injuries.

5. Whither the defensive backfield?

We think we're pretty sure that, barring injury, Chad Jones and Patrick Peterson are going to be the starters at corner and at free safety. Other than that, it's all a mystery. Chris Hawkins was the only player to start all 13 games last year in the secondary, but he was on the Purple team for the spring game, which would suggest that he has been passed up on the depth chart. Jai Eugene took his place. Last year's starting strong safety has been moved to linebacker. Ron Brooks has won accolades at the position, but no one has said he's won a job. Karnell Hatcher was a standout last year as a true freshman, and he will have something to say about who plays that spot. At corner, we have Hawkins, Eugene, and Brandon Taylor battling for the last starting spot opposite Patrick Peterson. At strong safety we have Ron Brooks and Karnell Hatcher. Plus we have Derrick Bryant who played a bit as a freshman and who certainly isn't giving up. Even if we can make some educated guesses about who will be starting, we have absolutely no idea who will come into the game in nickel or dime situations. There's been some noise we won't have a true nickel package, but we know we'll have a dime. And let's not forget that super-prospect Craig Loston will be here soon.

Spring Preview: The Secondary, Part 2: Who Else Wants to Play?

Richard Pittman — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:30:06 -0000

Yesterday, we talked about Chad Jones and Patrick Peterson, who we at ATVS (the royal "we") expect to make up the nucleus of the Tigers' starting secondary. Now, we talk about the other players who want to be in that starting group.

First, the veterans:

From left to right we have junior cornerback Jai Eugene, senior cornerback Chris Hawkins, senior strong safety Harry Coleman, and senior safety Danny McCray. Hawkins and Coleman started all year last year and appear to be the odds-on favorites to start this year as well, though that is far from certain.

Chris Hawkins led the team in interceptions last year with three. On a defense that recorded a paltry 8 interceptions the entire year, Hawkins did his legitimate share of turning the ball over. He even scored what I think was our only defensive touchdown of the season: a fumble return for a touchdown against Tulane. Of all our corners, he was the one who was left one-on-one with opposing receivers the most often, and he occasionally got beat, most famously on the last-minute 4th down touchdown pass by Casey Dick that gave Arkansas the winning points against us. Hawkins played alright, but on a defense that seemed hopelessly lost quite a lot, he did not stand out as a bright spot. While he got his interceptions, he also gave up his share of plays. At the end of last season, he was starting opposite Patrick Peterson, but he will face a challenge from other corners to keep that spot.

I thought that Jai Eugene played pretty solidly, if unspectacularly. He did not get an interception, but he was a willing tackler in run support, and he broke up 3 passes (as many as Patrick Peterson, but with more playing time to get them). Eugene was a bit more physical of a corner than Chris Hawkins was. He lost his starting job as Peterson emerged, and he is fighting to get it back, but he might have to move to a nickel- or dime-back position to get it.

Harry Coleman, surprisingly, led the team in tackles last year with 71, but he was also one of the mainstays in the safety group that struggled all season in pass coverage. Coleman looked slow and out of position a lot. Once again, some of my commenters are of the opinion that this is entirely a result of coaching and scheming, and I will keep an open mind on that subject, at least for now. He will try to win back the strong safety job that is up for grabs, after he apparently lost it to Danny McCray during preparation for the bowl game. He may end up moving to linebacker to make room for a young player to move up.

Danny McCray catches a lot of flak for his struggles in pass coverage, having spent the last two years as our nickel back, where he was asked to cover speedy wideouts one-on-one a lot, and got beat a lot. One can hope that the new coaching staff will learn from the mistakes of the previous staff and not put him in that kind of position this year.

When McCray was used differently in the bowl game last year, when he moved to strong safety opposite Chad Jones who was getting the start at free safety, McCray played much better. He just seemed to be in his element, and his size and strength was a benefit rather than the liability his size became when he was trying to chase Percy Harvin and A.J. Green around the field. Put him at safety and ask him to give over the top help and run support, and he'll be fine. Ask him to play like a corner and he'll struggle. He could end up being our strong safety, or he could move to a linebacker position, or he could have trouble getting on the field. It's hard to know. The numbers at safety will make it difficult to win a job no matter who you are.

Those are the juniors and seniors who are trying to win starting jobs in this secondary. the young players will not make it easy on them:

From left to right and then down and left to right again, we have cornerback Brandon Taylor, corner/safety combo Phelon Jones, cornerback Ryan St. Julien, corner/safety combo Derrick Bryant, corner (?) Ron Brooks, and safety Karnell Hatcher. All of those guys will be sophomores except for Ryan St. Julien who will be a redshirt freshman.

Coaches and commenters have been very high on Brandon Taylor (younger brother of last year's starting free safety Curtis Taylor) since his high school days. He got some playing time as a true freshman last year, playing some dime back, recording 4 tackles and a pass breakup. Starting cornerback Chris Hawkins missed a couple of practices earlier this Spring, and Taylor moved up into the starter role in his absence. He appears to be the heir apparent at the position once Hawkins graduates, if he doesn't win the job outright this year.

Phelon Jones played some last year as the nickel-back, and sometimes as the dime. He got his most playing time against North Texas and against Troy, recording 6 tackles and getting a pass breakup against UNT and 6 tackles and 2 pass breakups against Troy. In the Troy game, he was getting playing time because of an injury to McCray. Jones showed promise, but also struggled at times.

Derrick Bryant played mostly on special teams, finding a role as the forward return man in front of Trindon Holliday on punt returns, to either block for Trindon or to discourage directional or pooch kicks away from him. Other than that, he didn't really play all that much and it's hard to know what's expected of him.

Ron Brooks is a sophomore who is probably getting the most press of anyone in this group right now. Apparently the new coaches are very high on him, and so is Les Miles. According to Les, "I think the secondary is coming along pretty nicely. Ron Brooks is getting an opportunity. I don’t know whether he’ll be at corner or at safety, but he’s really earned the opportunity to get a great look." Brooks is a very athletic guy who also reportedly has a very high football IQ. He can be trusted in a lot of situations and could adjust to a number of different roles. He will probably be actively involved in the return game as well.

The thought of Brooks being moved to safety from cornerback brings to mind something I said in the infamous article on linebackers. I said at the time, "If you need an outside linebacker who can cover receivers, how about converting a cornerback? Or your combo corner/safety nickel back? That's the theory behind the idea of converting Phelon Jones into your line-nickel-back player."

I was thinking about converting a big corner to linebacker, if the linebacker is going to have increased coverage responsibilities. The other, perhaps more logical thing to do is to move a corner into a free safety role, then move your regular free safety to "strong safety", and consider moving your regular strong safety to linebacker. When you go into a "nickel" alignment, you don't change personnel, but let your free safety (who is a natural corner) line up with the slot receiver, give your "strong" safety responsibilities that mirror a free safety's, and let your linebacker play more of a strong safety role, playing a nickel-like package without changing personnel or creating any major mismatches.

It appears that if a change is to be made, it will likely be moving Ron Brooks to safety. I'm not sure how much I like the idea, as Brooks is a pretty small guy. He's listed on LSUSports.net at 5'11" and 175#. While he would be a valuable asset in coverage, he could create problems when trying to tackle some of the more powerful runners in the conference. Chavis seems set on not having a true "nickel" personnel group, instead using his base grouping as a modified nickel package. If you're going to do it that way, this seems to be the logical move.

Moving along, I really wanted to highlight Karnell Hatcher. In the post on linebackers, I mentioned that the safety position looked slow last year and appeared to be in need of an overhaul. A number of people disagreed with me, and that's fine. I don't claim to have a monopoly on insight into the football program. Some said it was all about coaching and scheming.

In response to the "it was the coaching" argument, I present Karnell Hatcher as Exhibit A. He was the primary backup to Curtis Taylor at the free safety position last year, and I thought he was excellent whenever he got into the game. In particular, I remember watching him against Georgia when the game had gotten kind of out of hand. He made a hard, sure, confident open-field tackle on Knowshon Moreno to stop what could have been a big play, which is no easy feat for a true freshman to do. He closed on Moreno, who had broken through the line, and put him on the ground without difficulty. When I saw that, I said to myself, "I haven't seen Curtis Taylor or Harry Coleman do that in two years." The kid can play, which surprised me a lot, as I had said of him before the season, "I wouldn't expect Hatcher to play as a freshman, unless he really makes himself invaluable as a special teams player. I think one way or another Hatcher is going to be an excellent special teams player one day, and he has a real shot at being the heir apparent at strong safety when Harry Coleman leaves."

It wouldn't surprise me at all if Hatcher is our starting strong safety this year, even though he played free last year.

Also reporting for duty this Spring is incoming freshman Rockey Duplessis, a speedy athletic head-knocker who signed with LSU with the 2008 class but sat out the Fall Semester to get academically eligible. I don't know what his future is, but I'd expect him to contribute pretty quickly on special teams.

And let's not forget 5-star recruit Craig Loston, who will be hard to keep off the field.