SB Nation - John Williams

If College Football Had a Playoff: #13 LSU Tigers @ #4 TCU Horned Frogs

Jeremy Mauss — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:07:10 -0000

Before we get to game four the previous matchup of #12 Penn State @ #5 Florida came down to the very end with Penn State completing the first upset, and becomes the second lower seed, but first true upset in the "If College Football had a playoff." The vote was very close 93-87.

This matchup features TCU who is the top non-BCS seed and has dominated nearly every game and has played three teams that are currently ranked or were ranked in the top 25 during the season. This TCU team is top 10 in offense and defense, so LSU will have a difficult time trying to stop them or to moving the ball.

The LSU running game is balanced but nothing dynamic and unless LSU can have moderate success they will eventually become one-dimensional throwing the ball. However, LSU is 13th in total defense which would be the best defense to date that the Horned Frogs would face, and the fastest defense as well surpassing the Utes in that category.

To give some help to those who are not sure who would win I turned to What if Sports to simulate this game. The winner would be TCU in a minor blowout 2 6-3; LSU did have the game tied at 3-3 but then TCU ran off 23 straight points. The Horned Frogs rolled up 320 yards and had the edge in time of possession 38 minutes to 21 minutes.

What if Sports is not the decider in this game, you yes you! The readers of this site decide who moves onto the next round.

So gather your friends to stuff the ballot and check back daily at 12 PM eastern time to vote for the next matchup, and voting is only open for 24 hours. As they say in Chicago vote early and vote often.

TCU Stats

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Andy Dalton	12	93.0	174	279	62.4	2484	207	8.9	22	5	107	522	43.5	4.9	3	-	-
Marcus Jackson	7	265.0	2	2	100	23	3.3	11.5	1	0	17	48	6.9	2.8	0	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Ryan Christian	11	14	66	6	4.7	0	19	244	22.2	12.8	3
Andy Dalton	12	107	522	43.5	4.9	3	0	0	0	0	0
Skye Dawson	7	13	111	15.9	8.5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Yogi Gallegos	1	1	4	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
Antoine Hicks	12	9	20	1.7	2.2	4	14	309	25.8	22.1	4
Marcus Jackson	7	17	48	6.9	2.8	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jeremy Kerley	12	14	50	4.2	3.6	3	37	457	38.1	12.4	2
Ed Wesley	11	93	605	55	6.5	4	7	142	12.9	20.3	2

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Logan Brock	5	5	67	13.4	13.4	0
Ryan Christian	11	19	244	22.2	12.8	3
Curtis Clay	11	14	188	17.1	13.4	2
Evan Frosch	3	3	33	11	11	0
Antoine Hicks	12	14	309	25.8	22.1	4
Bart Johnson	12	26	350	29.2	13.5	0
Jonathan Jones	3	3	30	10	10	0
Jeremy Kerley	12	37	457	38.1	12.4	2
Billy Pizor	1	1	10	10	10	1
Ed Wesley	11	7	142	12.9	20.3	2
Jimmy Young	11	27	430	39.1	15.9	3

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Ross Evans	12	-	-	-	-	-	14	17	80.0%	60	62	100.0%	102

LSU Stats

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Jordan Jefferson	11	93.0	169	272	62.1	1964	178.5	7.2	16	6	104	160	14.5	1.5	1	-	-
Jarrett Lee	6	73.0	16	40	40	197	32.8	4.9	2	1	3	-23	-3.8	-7.7	0	-	-
Russell Shepard	10	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	45	277	27.7	6.2	2	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Trindon Holliday	12	23	116	9.7	5	1	3	36	3	12	0
Jordan Jefferson	11	104	160	14.5	1.5	1	0	0	0	0	0
Brandon LaFell	12	4	6	.500	1.5	0	52	705	58.8	13.6	10
Jarrett Lee	6	3	-23	-3.8	-7.7	0	0	0	0	0	0
Richard Murphy	2	2	10	5	5	0	1	4	2	4	0
Charles Scott	9	116	542	60.2	4.7	4	8	54	6	6.8	1
Russell Shepard	10	45	277	27.7	6.2	2	5	34	3.4	6.8	0
Keiland Williams	10	70	368	36.8	5.3	4	4	22	2.2	5.5	0

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Richard Dickson	9	20	150	16.7	7.5	0
Trindon Holliday	12	3	36	3	12	0
R.J. Jackson	4	11	141	35.3	12.8	0
Mitch Joseph	2	2	18	9	9	0
Brandon LaFell	12	52	705	58.8	13.6	10
Chris Mitchell	7	10	65	9.3	6.5	0
Richard Murphy	2	1	4	2	4	0
Deangelo Peterson	4	5	82	20.5	16.4	2
Reuben Randle	7	10	146	20.9	14.6	2
Charles Scott	9	8	54	6	6.8	1
Terrance Toliver	10	47	654	65.4	13.9	3
John Williams	1	1	17	17	17	0
Keiland Williams	10	4	22	2.2	5.5	0

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Josh Jasper	12	-	-	-	-	-	16	19	80.0%	34	34	100.0%	82

Poll

Who wins?

TCU

475 votes

LSU

335 votes

810 votes | Poll has closed

LSU 42 - Tulane 0: Snap Judgments

Richard Pittman — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:47:09 -0000

More photos » by Bill Haber - AP

about 1 month ago: LSU running back Stevan Ridley (34) backs into the endzone over Tulane defensive back Jordan Garrett as linebacker Darryl Farley comes from the left in the second half of an NCAA college football game in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009. LSU defeated Tulane 42-0. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

Browse more photos »

I just isn't the same when the game is not on regular television. ESPN360 just doesn't give you the options that television gives you, and the picture is not as clear. That's not even getting into the whole problem of the connection to ESPN360 crashing and not being able to get a picture, missing several plays throughout the game, including Russell Shepard's touchdown run.

Anyway, here are some snap judgments:

I would like to take us back to what Poseur said in the Roundtable discussion:

Billy:

What would you like to see this Saturday versus Tulane?

Poseur:

A win. That's it.

I don't need to see fireworks and I don't need to see new wrinkles. I just want a quiet and uneventful win that serves as a nice appetizer for Bama.

Well, that's exactly what you got. The game was uncompetitive, uneventful, lacking in fireworks, and generally quite dull. Not that there's anything wrong with that. We came out and scored early and Tulane, though they put up a couple nice drives, never did anything that even resembled getting into the game.

I can't say we didn't see any new wrinkles though. After LSU had struggled to get good support from the fullback position from James Stampley and Richard Dugas early in the season, and inserting freshman Dominique Allen into the rotation last week met with mised results, Les Miles and Gary Crowton took a different approach and moved reserve scholarship offensive lineman Thomas Parsons to the fullback position. This experiment seemed to work well, as Parsons was effective getting to the defenders and blocking them.
We also had our most effective power running game yet. It's hard to know if that's because Parsons was added to the I-formation roster or if it's just because we were playing overmatched competition. However, I think it's worth pointing out that we rushed more than 100 yards more against Tulane than we did against UL-Lafayette, with a higher yard per attempt average as well.
By the numbers, LSU had 267 yards rushing, though Stevan Ridley's 73 rushing yards on the final drive of the game perhaps skews that number a little. Then again, Charles Scott had his most effective game of the season, rushing for 112 yards and 2 touchdowns. All together, LSU had 455 total yards, plus a ton of punt return yards.
Jordan Jefferson also had a pretty nice game, averaging over 9 yards per attempt and throwing two nice touchdown passes to Brandon Lafell, who had 85 yards receiving on 4 catches. Things didn't look good for him early, as he took a quick sack and then threw an interception, but he rebounded to have a very productive day.
And what to say about the defense? It was LSU's first shutout since beating Middle Tennessee State 44-0 on September 15, 2007.
At first blush, it was not exactly a dominating performance. Tulane had 216 total yards, including two substantially long drives, one of which ended in a missed field goal and the other of which ended in an interception. Tulane got nothing going on the ground, however, getting credit for only 26 rushing yards on 20 attempts, helped along by 3 sacks of Ryan Griffin for -22 yards.
Tulane's passing game was a little better, averaging just over 5 yards per attempt. It's not surprising that senior wide receiver Jeremy Williams was Tulane's most effective offensive player, with 78 yards receiving and 21 yards rushing. He probably has an NFL future. Andre Anderson led Tulane in rushing with 27 yards, but averaged only 2.5 yards per attempt.
Tulane was able to have some of its most successful plays when they exploited our aggressiveness with screens or dump-offs. LSU will sometimes have problems chasing down a running back, particularly when they flare out to the left side of our defensive line. The left-side defensive end triumvirate of Pep Levingston, Lavar Edwards, and Chancey Aghayere just don't seem to be quick enough to keep up with a running back who gets a release to the outside, and those plays sometimes get big yards. It's been going on since the Washington game.
Kelvin Sheppard had another outstanding game. It's hard to say that there's a "great" linebacker out there for us, but Kelvin Sheppard, Harry Coleman, and Perry Riley sure seem to work very well together as a group, and they are productive as all get out. We may not have one Rolando McClain or Brandon Spikes out there, but we have 3 very good linebackers who do a lot of good for us.
Special teams did not get much action against Tulane, but we did get a nice blocked punt by Daniel Graff and a couple nice returns on punts from Trindon Holliday. Trindon sometimes struggles to be productive in the SEC, but when we face a weaker team, Holliday usually gashes them. He has been a useful and productive player for us over the years, but he could have become a legend in the Sun Belt or another conference.
It was great to see the second team get some time in the game. I think this was the first time all season the 2nd team offensive line got a chance. They got in the game with the ball on the 2 yard line and they opened rushing lanes for Stevan Ridley all the way down the field, for one of the most impressive touchdown drives in recent LSU history. Jarrett Lee completed 2 passes along the way on that drive, one to Reuben Randle and the other to John Williams, who I think was seeing his first game action of his career. Another pass was in the direction of Chris Tolliver, who was well-covered.
Defensively, we saw a lot of 2nd team cornerback Morris Claiborne, who is definitely the most surprising member of the freshman class. He got into the game in place of Patrick Peterson long before other starters were subbed out. They are clearly grooming him for important playing time next year, perhaps as Chris Hawkins' replacement on the other side of Peterson.
Richard Dickson went down with a scary-looking injury in the first half, but returned later in the game. As far as I can tell, we escaped the with no significant injury to any player. That satisfies me.
Obviously, things ramp up a bit this week.

Class of 2009: WR/Ath Morris Claiborne

Richard Pittman — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:00:11 -0000

via image.cdnl3.xosnetwork.com

Morris Claiborne of Fair Park High School in Shreveport is one of the more interesting prospects in the class of 2009. While the class of 2010, as presently constituted, has included so far a number of players who are relatively unknown in the recruiting media before their senior years begin, Claiborne was completely unknown until well into his senior year. When he committed to LSU shortly after receiving an offer, most observers knew very little about him. The recruiting services not only did not have film, they did not have a picture of him.

How does a player completely escape media attention so thoroughly? Let us answer that question by dispelling a few myths.

First, it is not true that great athletes are sure to be found at all. Colleges have only a handful of potential scouts available to them: a head coach and 9 assistants, plus probably a few others who may not be able to make contact with recruits, but are free to go and watch them. I do not even have a guess as to how many high school football teams there are within 300 miles of LSU, but I can guarantee that it is impossible for any college team to have enough resources to get to all of them.

Instead, the coaches do much of their talent evaluation through high school coaches sending film, potential recruits attending camps, and general knowledge of a small number of typical feeder schools. If a player does not come from a typical feeder school, does not attend recruiting camps, and does not have the marketing power of some of the bigger schools, it is entirely possible that he will completely escape the attention of the big-time programs. This is one of the reasons that good players end up at places like Arkansas State and Rice on a regular basis? Probably, the bigger schools just never knew about them.

Such was likely the case with Morris Claiborne. He did not attend camps, and Fair Park High School rarely puts out big-time prospects. There is no junior film of him. What happened was either that the coaches first saw Claiborne while scouting a different player for an opposing school, or a coach or parent sent some film in late. Whatever happened, the coaches liked what they saw. They offered and he accepted.

On LSU's roster, Claiborne is listed as an "athlete", meaning he does not have an assigned position as yet. Without a position to play, I have no choice but to label Claiborne a project at this point. It is expected that he will be a wide receiver, but perhaps he will move to defensive back, as his 6'0" 180# frame seems more suited for the defensive side of the ball than the offensive, but he is quite an electrifying athlete with the ball in his hands.

For Fair Park, he played mostly quarterback. He was one of those quarterbacks that was simply the best athlete on the team, so his coaches wanted the ball in his hands on every play. He will certainly not be a quarterback in college. His film is very impressive. He has terrific raw speed and change of direction. He is the sort of player who could be a slot receiver and take short passes for long gains. Or he could be a cornerback and use his quick change of direction to keep up with wide receivers.

I like him quite a lot as a prospect, but he must find a position to play and settle into it, learning the techniques of either a corner or a wideout. The longer he waits to settle into his ultimate position, the more difficult it will be to develop into a productive player. He is, in that sense, like a Ron Brooks or a John Williams. Brooks settled into one spot and is excelling. Williams has been unable to find where he fits and has not been a productive player yet. If Claiborne finds his spot, his pure athleticism will give him a very good chance to develop into a good or even a great player.

Class of 2009: RB Drayton Calhoun

Richard Pittman — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:00:15 -0000

via media.scout.com

Tucker, Georgia, product Drayton Calhoun was an early commitment to LSU. He was also an early enrollee, meaning he graduated from high school one semester early and enrolled at LSU in time to participate in Spring Practice. Because Calhoun was an early commitment and never wavered, he did not really get a lot of attention from the recruiting media as the season wore on, but he had a very good season with the Tucker Tigers, winning the class AAAA state championship in Georgia.

Drayton Calhoun is a 6'0" (probably a generous listing) 175# athlete. When he committed, I watched his highlight videos and saw a running back who had terrific acceleration, quickness, and speed, but who was called upon by his coaches to always run outside the tackles with reverses or to use counter plays. His film showed almost no traditional running back play where he got the ball on a handoff or pitch while in the backfield. Everything was a reverse from an H-Back position or a counter. Because of this, I did not see him as a running back and expected him to be a defensive back at the next level. Slot receiver was also a possibility, but we also did not see him catching a lot of passes.

He is currently listed as a running back on LSU's semi-official roster. I still don't see it. For that reason, I consider Calhoun a project.

I have a theory, developed years ago when I was really big into hockey and paid just as much attention to the development of hockey players as I do now to the development of football players. This theory is that players rarely add elements to their games after moving up to a higher level of competition. In hockey, this meant that if a player was not a scorer in junior hockey, in all likelihood he would not be a scorer in the AHL. If he was not a hard hitter in junior, he probably would not be a hard hitter in the AHL.

This should not be that surprising, but the key part of the theory was the converse. A player might lose an element of his game after moving up to a higher level of competition. A big scorer in juniors might suddenly be unable to score in the AHL. A guy who hit like a ton of bricks in the AHL may find himself unable to line up a check in the NHL, or may shy away from the contact altogether because the adversaries are so much tougher.

What does this have to do with Drayton Calhoun? If the theory holds in college football, it means that Calhoun, who did not have the "tough runner" element available to him in high school, probably will not be able to develop it in college. He was a pure speed runner and slasher in high school. He was not really a tackle-breaker. We can't expect him to suddenly develop the skill of running through arm tackles in college, as the arms he'd be running through are a lot stronger than the ones that the coaches tried to avoid having him contact in high school.

As a running back, he reminds me a lot of Bama running back Terry Grant, a fellow speed back who had really nice production in 2007 with 891 yards, mostly to the outside. Then, because he was unable to run effectively inside, he was shunted aside when more well-rounded backs like Glen Coffee and Mark Ingram emerged, players who could run both inside and outside and therefore wouldn't be as predictable as Grant. I see Calhoun the same way, except that I doubt there would ever be a time when a one-dimensional outside runner could be our feature back.

There are a lot of electrifying runs in Calhoun's highlight reel. He clearly is a fine athlete. I just don't think he is a running back. He may be a punt returner, though. He seems to have the elusiveness one would look for in that position. I think he will probably eventually move to the defensive back. If you want a comparison to recent well-known recruits, I would submit former Tiger John Williams and current Tiger Ron Brooks, both of whom came to LSU a little undersized but with obvious quickness and speed on their resumes. Brooks moved to defense and found a home as the likely starting strong safety in this his sophomore year. John Williams has never been quite able to find a home after bouncing from wide receiver to defensive back and back again.

I would like to see Calhoun move to cornerback sooner rather than later. I suspect the only reason he is not there now is because he was promised a shot at running back. There were no pure cornerbacks signed in the 2009 class and the opportunity is there, as a redshirt year would put him two years behind Brandon Taylor and Patrick Peterson with really no can't-miss prospects lined up after those guys right now.

Maybe I'm wrong. I'd love to be. I'll be first to quote this article mockingly if I am.

Spring Football: The Wide Receivers

Richard Pittman — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:30:06 -0000

For previous position previews, see the following links:

Probably no position on the team has more storylines going into Spring than wide receiver does. Other positions have more uncertainty, but none have more angles. Alright, even that's not necessarily true. The corners and the safeties have tons of stories too, but wide receiver is going to be one of the big spots to watch this Spring.

LSU has the luxury of getting Brandon Lafell back for his senior season. A couple other receivers in the SEC made more headlines than Lafell, but no receiver was more productive last year. Lafell led the SEC in receptions, tied for the lead in touchdown receptions, and was second in the league in yards receiving. He's a true #1 receiver, maybe the best in the conference, plus he also blocks and is a leader and teacher.

The other veterans returning to the wide receiving corps are junior Terrance Toliver and senior Chris Mitchell. The world awaits Terrance Toliver's breakout season, and this could finally be it. After a very promising but expectedly inconsistent freshman season, he was expected to emerge as a big threat last year, but he caught only 22 passes, which was more than double his freshman catch total, but less than was really hoped out of him, and he did not emerge as a big play guy, averaging only 11.7 yards per reception after averaging almost 25 yards per catch in 2007.

He had his most productive games late, however, making several nice catches, and averaging 3 receptions per game from the Bama game forward. I think, perhaps more than anyone other than Demetrius Byrd, Terrance Toliver suffered from the lack of a quality experienced quarterback last year. Toliver's still as talented as he was when he was rated as a 5-star out of high school, and it's hard to teach someone to grow to 6'5" or to run like the wind. Take that 5-star rating with a grain of salt, though. He played at a run-oriented high school program and did not catch a lot of passes. He was very raw coming out of high school and has needed a lot of coaching. It's time for Toliver to put it together, and he gets his opportunity this Spring as the apparent starter at the X receiver position opposite Brandon Lafell.

Chris Mitchell returns to give the team experienced depth. Mitchell has caught 14 passes in his career, including 8 last year.

The big story on the wide receiver corps coming into Spring is the reported emergence of redshirt freshman Tim Molton. This article explains some of the reasons why this young man has emerged, and it's clear that Les Miles and other coaches are not exactly discouraging the media and fans from talking about him:

"I expect him to play a lot of football," coach Les Miles said.

...

"He made plays every day, whether it was a big catch or a big block," wide receivers coach D.J. McCarthy said. "He made a play every day."

...

"I watched him during some scout team and realized he has real skill — good speed, niftiness, makes you miss and excellent ball skills," Miles said.

"If a ball is thrown to him, he’s going to catch it."

...

Said McCarthy, "He has great potential. He has the size we’re looking for, the speed we’re looking for and good football savvy.

"He’s a hard worker."

So there you have it.

Said Miles, "He’s very talented. He’s got great speed and agility, very confident ball skills."

Well, if the kid wanted high expectations, he has them now. He was part of the 2008 class of receivers that included Chris Tolliver (no relation to Terrance), Jhyryn Taylor, and Deangelo Peterson. All of those guys were 4-star players. Molton was the 3-star. The afterthought. The one a lot of fans thought should have been passed over in favor of another receiver. If the reports from the team are to be believed, he is the best of them all.

It sometimes happens that way. Sometimes a kid is physically immature, and I think Molton would have qualified there. He says he's grown half an inch since getting to college (that was only 6 or 7 months ago, by the way), and may not be done yet. Brandon Lafell was also a 3-star coming out of high school, and here he is a 1st Team All-SEC player. See also, Ciron Black, a 4-year starter at left tackle who was a 3-star out of high school, and may end up tying the NCAA record for most games started. Also, Tyson Jackson. The point of this little tangent is to further disabuse people of the notion that recruiting rankings are everything. They mean something, but they're not the end-all, be-all.

Young depth at the position also includes redshirt freshmen Chris Tolliver and Jhyryn Taylor, and sophomores Deangelo Peterson and John Williams.

Of these 4 guys, Deangelo Peterson has the most experience, having played last year on special teams and getting some action at the end of blowouts, but did not catch a pass. He may be seeing a move to tight end, however, to give us another pass catcher there.

John Williams has been around a while, but has had trouble finding a place to contribute. He has not gotten onto the field during a game yet, but contributed last year as a scout team running quarterback. He has bounced from corner to receiver and appears to have settled at the receiver position. He's a relative of former great LSU running back Dominique Davis, and like Davis he hopes to contribute as a returner as well.

Tolliver and Taylor redshirted last year and hope to contribute this year.

Senior Jared Mitchell is not expected to return to football, instead concentrating on his baseball career, where he could be going pro very soon.

And of course you can't forget about 5-star recruit Rueben Randle, who is fully intending on coming in and contributing right away once he arrives in the summer. If he can do it with this group of receivers in front of him, he is definitely a special player. I expect him to come in and displace a few veterans in front of him and be an immediate contributor, but I wouldn't be expecting AJ Green or Julio Jones-like rookie numbers from him. The depth at LSU in the receiving corps is much better than anything those guys had to face, and I don't think Randle is quite at their level anyway, but he should contribute early.