SB Nation - Deangelo Peterson

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

Initial Impressions from the LSU Game

outsidethesidelines — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:03:58 -0000

Almost 24 hours removed, a few initial impressions from the LSU game:

First and foremost, it was obviously a huge win for the Tide yesterday. We came in absolutely needing to get the job done, and with LSU giving us their best shot we answered the bell. We played the best we've played since late September, and truth be told there was absolutely what was required. Credit goes to LSU for playing well in their own right, and they made us take our game to the next level to get the win.
Mark Ingram logged another unreal performance yesterday. LSU was highly physical on the defensive side of the ball, and Ingram racked up 177 total yards. He averaged 6.5 yards per run and the way he powered the opening drive of the second half really changed the game. As I mentioned in a fanshot earlier, the Heisman is an "award" for tools... it's based more on glamor than anything else, and it's given by a collection of idiots. Ingram will probably never win it, but I wouldn't trade him for any other player in the country, and we just need to enjoy him while we have him. He's a three-year player, and someone will be paying him big bucks to do this come 2011.
Julio Jones had his best performance of the year, and it was very interesting how things were discussed in the post-game. Based on what everyone is saying, it's clear that only in the past week or so has Julio gotten back to near 100%, and he looked very different yesterday than he had the rest of the year. His explosiveness was back, and he was a difference-maker in this game. Even aside from the long touchdown run off the screen, he had a huge first down on the final drive, had a couple of other nice grabs, and the pass interference on Peterson was yet another big play. And, of course, that's not counting the throw in the first half that should have been a touchdown. Nice to have you back, Julio.
Greg McElroy played the best game in at least a month, and was clearly improved over the course of the past few weeks. We needed every bit of what he did, and we could not have won had he played anything like he had the past three weeks. Unfortunately, McElroy still has a long ways to go, and he left a lot of points on the board today. He did some good things, but he did a lot of bad things too. He missed Julio on an easy touchdown throw, costing us four points, and the dumb interception before halftime cost us at least a field goal. He held onto the football too long on the safety, and he missed an open Smelley on the trick pass out of the Wildcat that could have been a touchdown, and of course that is to say nothing of the terrible decision to try to force the ball to Julio late on the controversial incompletion. Bottom line, McElroy played pretty well and he clearly showed some progress, but he still did some things to cost us a lot of points and he clearly still needs to play better.
Speaking of passes out of the Wildcat, remember the first Wildcat snap we had that resulted in a fumble? Did you happen to notice who was coming in motion at the time of the snap? It was none other than Earl Alexander, and that was one of the few snaps he saw in the game. And if you will recall correctly, Alexander was a quarterback in high school, and Ingram was very upset after the fumble. I'd about bet the farm that we had a trick play called in that situation with Alexander getting the ball looking to throw a pass.
The offensive line played an incredible game today. Both James Carpenter and Drew Davis were nothing short of outstanding protecting the edge in pass protection, and we beat up LSU in the trenches in the running game. It was a complete effort by the big uglies, and I don't have any doubt that we played better along the offensive line yesterday than we have at any point in the year. Joe Pendry deserves a lot of credit for what he has done with this group. We don't have any real dominant players out there, but we consistently play good, solid technique and just get the job done.

Bamagrad had it right in the fanpost... we're throwing the football to set up the run. That was clearly the plan offensively, and it worked very well.

All in all, it was certainly nice to see us moving the football again. McElroy's mistakes and the illegal substitution penalty kept some points off the board, so it wasn't exactly a perfect day, but again it was clearly an improvement over the past month. LSU has a good defense, and any time you average almost 6.5 yards per play against a defense of that caliber, you're certainly doing something right. Hopefully we can just continue to build off of this effort.

Marcel Dareus, for all intents and purposes, is unstoppable when we move him inside in pass rushing situations. He consistently takes the manhood of every guard they line up over him, and he did the same thing on Saturday with senior right guard Lyle Hitt. I can guarantee you this much... come April of 2011, that young man will be getting a lot of money from an NFL team. Enjoy him while we have him.

Defensively, we really had some struggles at time stopping the option. We had things set up defensively pretty well most of the time, but the execution looked ugly a good bit of the time. In particular, Jefferson made Justin Woodall look pretty bad on one option play. That's something we're going to have to fix before we leave for Atlanta.

Jordan Jefferson played a fine game yesterday, and that young man has a great upside. He has all the physical tools you would ever want, and he is a legitimate dual threat to boot. He clearly still needs to progress, but if he ever puts it all together then he is going to be a legitimate superstar.

And speaking of Jefferson, what in the world was the deal with him not going back in the game? The CBS broadcast reported that word had came from the LSU sideline that he could have gone back in, and he looked okay on the sideline. I have no clue what the deal was there, but Lee was clearly a drop-off. And here's the thing on Lee... he has great physical tools, and he can throw the football down the field with the best of them. But in terms of having to hit receivers over the middle on crossing routes, he cannot hit the broad side of a barn. If he could ever gain some accuracy on crossing patterns, he'd be one hell of a quarterback.

LSU really does have some unreal talent at the skill positions. For whatever criticism you can make of Miles, this is certainly not one of them. Even with Florida, there is probably not another team in the country that has the kind of athleticism at the skill positions like LSU does.

Colin Peek misses the game for 'Bama, and Richard Dickson didn't play either. Pretty much a balancing effect, really.

The more I watch of the LSU offense, the more I think that it is really just too complicated for its own good. It can certainly create some issues for defenses, mind you, but it certainly does create a lot issues for the offense, too, and that was the big catalyst behind all of the false starts, the illegal formations, and the wasted timeouts. With all of the talent that those guys have, I really just cannot help but think that they would be better served just by simplifying the offense and letting all of the raw talent just go to work for them.

Chad Jones didn't have much of an impact yesterday, and his mobility wasn't particularly impressive. On both the long pass to Maze out of the end zone, and the drop by Julio out of the end zone in the third quarter, Jones was tracking the ball the entire way and at first sight I was almost convinced that he was going to snag an easy pick. In both cases, though, he never really got close enough to make the play. I don't know if he was hurt or perhaps just a tad bit overrated, but either way he didn't exactly blow me away yesterday.

The LSU linebacker corps is a very underrated group. Those guys played a fine game, and Kelvin Sheppard in particular really looked good. I tell you, he's probably not quite in the same league yet as Rolando McClain and Brandon Spikes, but he's not far behind. Outside of those two and Hightower, he might be the best linebacker I've seen in the SEC this year.

Patrick Peterson is an incredible player, and he played a great game yesterday. Unfortunately, he really shot himself in the foot by never being properly hydrated in the first place, always a tell-tale sign when you're cramping up by halftime in a game where the temperature never rises above 70 degrees. I know he had some flu-like symptoms earlier in the week, but that had cleared up by mid-week and at that point you just have to make sure you get plenty of fluids. Once the game started, of course, it was entirely too late and you simply lose entirely too much fluids to get them back to where they need to be. Peterson played great when he was in the game, but really he was his own worst enemy.

Charles Scott deserves a lot of credit for playing a fine game. His drop on the busted pass play was a big one, but he ran the ball really well and played a physical game. It was a shame to see his collegiate career likely ended on such a fine run, but such is life sometimes. Best wishes on the recovery, Mr. Scott, and we'll see you on Sunday next year.

DeAngelo Peterson was huge on LSU's first touchdown drive, and their coaching staff really got us there defensively. He's a wide receiver, regardless of what you call him, but when they lined him up at tight end we covered him with a safety (Barron) and then a linebacker (Reamer), and he ate our lunch both times.

Are any of you guys familar with ROBO-PUNTER, the theoretical punter whose punts are downed at the opposing team's one-yard line every time? Well, that was pretty much LSU yesterday. I swear, those guys did an unbelievable job punting the football. If they weren't pinning it against our goal line, they were kicking it a mile and eliminating any chance of return for Arenas. Ill be perfectly honest, it was the most impressive display of punting that I've seen in many years.

Look at it this way... LSU punted the football eight times yesterday, and Javier Arenas ended up with 11 return yards. And that is not counting the penalty on Smelley, and when you take that into consideration we ended up getting a grand total of one return yard on eight punts. And if that's not getting the job done, I don't know what is.

And speaking of punt returns, why in the hell is Brad Smelley in the game? He has to lead the conference in penalties committed in the return game, and his penalty yesterday was one of the dumbest I've seen in a while.

The punt that LSU rolled inside the one-yard line was touched at around the four. Refs missed that one, I believe. And it had a big impact on playcalling, too, no doubt about that.

All of this hoopla over the interception is ridiculous, and it's mainly just a bunch of homer fans looking for an excuse for a guy that they otherwise got their asses beat. It was a close play that could have legitimately gone either way, to be sure, but the ruling on the field was an incomplete pass and there was no indisputable evidence on the replay that would command the play be overturned. And I'll be frank, even if you give him the interception, it doesn't matter. LSU would have been 61 yards away from the end zone, and those guys ended up with 17 total yards on three possessions in the fourth quarter. The end result would have been the same regardless. The only difference would have been that 'Bama might not have covered the spread had it been called an interception.

Two huge plays in the fourth quarter have been overlooked in the wake of all of the talk of the incomplete pass, and they were the stop by our defense on 3rd and short early in the fourth quarter, and the running into the punter penalty. We scored on the screen to Julio immediately after the defensive stop, and the running into the penalty not only gave us three points but also took another three minutes or so off the clock. The incompletion is getting all of the attention, but those two plays are really the ones that broke LSU's back.

And speaking of the running into the punter penalty, that was one gutsy call on the fourth down after that. We're literally three inches from a first down and we decide to motion McElroy out wide and snap it five yards behind the line of scrimmage to Ingram in the shotgun, when we fumbled a snap in the Wildcat earlier in the game? Hell, that might be more than gutsy, it might even be stupid, but fortunately it worked out for us in the end.

Leigh Tiffin is a fine young man, a wonderful kicker, and we should all feel fortunate to have such a valuable asset on our team. And, again, I'm just going to shut up about him.

The way we dominated this game physically was nothing short of amazing. We were much more physical than LSU, and their players were dropping like flies. Moreover, we absolutely dominated this game in the fourth quarter, and that was ultimately the difference. In many ways, we didn't so much win this game yesterday afternoon as much as we won it last summer in the S&C program. We were clearly the more physical team and better conditioned to boot. If there is an unsung hero of this team, it's strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran. That man clearly deserves a raise.

Bama 24 - LSU 15: Snap Judgments

Richard Pittman — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:32:50 -0000

More photos » by Dave Martin - AP

about 1 month ago: LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson (9) reacts near the end of a 24-15 loss to Alabama in an NCAA college football game at Bryant Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

Browse more photos »

i had a good time at the game, and yes, my family is still intact. We're pretty good at this "not aggravating each other after a sporting event" thing. Anyway, here are my Snap Judgments, not at all influenced by television or camera angles or replays, because I have not seen any yet:

Patrick Peterson is an absolute stud. He tied up Julio Jones the whole game, whenever they were matched up on each other. If there's a better corner in the country, I'd like to see him, but not in a game in which we're playing against him.
His cramping problems could well have made the difference in the game. The touchdown pass to Julio Jones came when Peterson was sitting out recovering from the cramps. If he's in the game, that play is probably very different. Heck, they may not have even called that play if Peterson was in the game.
Speaking of injuries, the injury to Jordan Jefferson (I do not know the nature of the injury or how serious it was) was another huge factor in this game. I like Jarrett Lee, but he was not sharp in this game, and we had no passing game once Jefferson went out.
In the stadium, people were saying the "interception" by Patrick Peterson really was an interception and that replay got it wrong. Heading out of the stadium, we got an LSU feed and Jordy Hultberg was saying the same thing, suggesting the league office would probably deal with the replay official later. I got home, and Mrs. ATVS told me there was no replay that showed it. I don't know what to believe. I know if we got that interception, we had the ball down by 6 with enough time on the clock to mix in runs and passes. Again, maybe it's a different game.
How many people got hurt for us in that game? Peterson 3 times, Al Woods, Ciron Black, Charles Scott, Jordan Jefferson. Anyone else? Richard Dickson did not even play a down.
We really played well for most of the game. I cannot fault the effort our team put into that game. I could tell before the opening kickoff that they were charged up and ready to play. It showed throughout the game.
Who would have thought we'd score two touchdowns, and they would be scored by Deangelo Peterson and Stevan Ridley.
Bama really abandoned the run early in the game, and I have no idea why. I thought Mark Ingram was hurt for a while, they were doing so little to get him involved in the game. Then they came out running in the 2nd half and they were getting us on play after play. I don't know why they didn't do that all game.
I really think our offensive line played its best game all season. For the most part, except on the play where Jefferson took an intentional grounding penalty, our quarterbacks had time. The running game was able to do a lot of positive things as well.
I have not even looked at a box score yet, but I figure they outgained us by quite a bit. They had a few drives that got yards without getting points, whereas we did not have a lot of medium-length drives that did not produce points.
I did not like the decision to go for 2 at the time. My rule of thumb is that you don't look at the chart until the 4th quarter, and there were still 3 minutes left in the 3rd when we got the touchdown. It's hard to say the 1 point would have made a difference, but if we got for one then Bama probably goes for 1 on its touchdown to put them up by 4. Then the final field goal would have kept it a 7 point game instead of a 9 point game.
I don't think Alabama was any more talented than we were, and I don't think we got outcoached. I think we had some costly injuried during the course of the game that converted it from a game between two evenly matched teams to a mismatch. When we needed to pass, we just couldn't.
There's still a lot to play for here. The SEC Championship is out of reach, obviously, but we will be favored in every game we play, and if we win out we are a shoe-in for the Cap One Bowl with a shot at an 11-win season. That's nothing to be ashamed of.

Spring Preview: Tight Ends

Richard Pittman — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:30:08 -0000

It's no question who the man is at tight end. It's senior Richard Dickson, who has been starting since the middle of his true freshman year. Dickson was 3rd on the team last year in receptions (31) and reception yards (324), and tied for second in touchdown catches with 4. His productivity in 2008 was just a little less than it was in 2007, but it was also in one fewer game. He caught at least one pass in every game except the North Texas game in 2008.

Everyone knows that Dickson is a receiving tight end, but people tend to forget his freshman season, when he started 9 games and only caught a handful of passes. He was known as a blocking tight end at the time, and he's still a very solid blocker. But any tight end who catches passes will automatically get a reputation as an indifferent blocker. It's just not true for Dickson, who is a solid all-around player as a tight end.

The question at the position is what will go on behind Dickson. We have a ton of blocking-style tight ends, but no other tight end on the roster has caught a pass. Let's look at the depth in the position:

From left to right, we have sophomores Mitch Joseph and Alex Russian, and redshirt freshmen Tyler Edwards and Matt Branch.

Mitch Joseph is the most experience of the group, as he was the 2nd tight end last year, and had a fair bit of responsibility in blocking. I think they threw to him a couple times, but he was never able to reel in the catch. At 6'5" and 261#, he is only go to be so effective in running routes.

Alex Russian is primarily a long snapper, but is trying to contribute as a tight end as well.

The redshirt freshmen are also trying to find their way into the tight end rotation. Tyler Edwards is the younger brother of former LSU tight end Eric Edwards. He has the size to be that combo tight end that everyone looks for, and he could be versatile enough to play multiple positions, as the team is also looking for someone to play fullback. Tyler will get a look there.

Matt Branch is a pretty big tight end at 6'6" and 246#. He is probably even heavier than that by now. When he was being recruited, many believed he would be converted to offensive tackle, but there has been no word of that happening. He will also be in the mix this year.

In an effort to find more playmakers in the passing game for the tight end position, and to relieve a logjam of talented young wide receivers, the coaching staff is experimenting with sophomore Deangelo Peterson, who formerly played wide receiver. He will definitely bring great athleticism to the position, but he has a long way to go in learning how tight end technique differs from wide receiver technique, and of course he can't be a tight end if he can't learn to block.

Teams like Kentucky and Florida with Jacob Tamme and Cornelius Ingram, respectively, have shown that having a tight end with wide receiver skills can create tremendous mismatches for opposing defenses. It will be interesting to see what comes of this experiment, but there is no guarantee the coaches will stick with it. If Peterson is going to move permanently to tight end, I would suggest he use a redshirt year to bulk up and learn the position, as he still has his redshirt year due to playing a fair bit of special teams as a true freshman last year.

The position is a deep one for the Tigers, even though no incoming freshmen will be at the position. The fact remains though that if Richard Dickson gets hurt, we lose a dimension of our offense, as he is the only tight end who has proven he can be an effective receiver. He should have a big season this year, but watch for someone to emerge as the next offensive threat at tight end.

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.

Recruiting Update: Part 2, Who Do We Think We're Getting?

Richard Pittman — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:30:06 -0000

We'll get back to our unseemly obsession with the Gene Chizik story in the afternoon. This morning, as LSU has returned to the practice field, we go back to our series on recruiting.

Last recruiting update, we talked about the last three players to commit to the 2009 LSU football recruiting class. Today we take a look at those who are not yet committed but who everyone pretty much agrees are going to end up as Tigers. This is a pretty solid group here and will help form the nucleus of this recruiting class. Let's get started.

This is consensus 5-star strong safety Craig Loston from Aldine, Texas. Both Scout and Rivals list him as the #1 safety prospect in the country. He is first cousins with fellow LSU recruit Russell Shepard, who is the #1 rated quarterback in the country according to Rivals.

This kid promises to be a cornerstone player for LSU for several years, and will compete for playing time immediately. He appears to have no weaknesses as a safety. He's an aggressive, hard-hitting player, but he also seems to be a fundamentally sound tackler. He has good ball skills as evidenced by his interceptions and his play on the offensive side of the ball. And finally, he has the speed to close on receivers. He may even have a future as a returner, but I won't go as far as to predict that.

And to top it all off, much like his cousin Russell Shepard, Loston appears to be a high-character kid. If you're looking for a weakness, you can point out that LSU is actually the third school he has committed to (but some don't consider him a commitment yet). Early in his high school career, he committed to Texas A&M. Earlier this year, he committed to Clemson. Ever since then, however, he appears to have been all about LSU, and appears to have a great relationship with Les Miles. All things considered, I think his multiple de-commitments doesn't really say much about him. Sometimes these things do indeed speak volumes, but that's usually when it's accompanied by other signs of trouble, such as when Luther Davis had multiple commitments and other issues going on with his recruiting.

No, this is a great kid, and one who may very well see immediate playing time, and not just on special teams.

This is Barkevious Mingo from traditional LSU feeder school West Monroe High School. Mingo is an interesting kid. He does not have a whole lot of experience playing football, and most think that means he will have to understudy for a year or more before he is really ready to contribute. His junior year of high school was his first time playing organized football.

Think about that for a second. This kid never played organized football until he was a junior in high school, and yet he opened this recruiting season as a consensus 4-star player on both Rivals and Scout. A kid's junior year is the most important year for his recruitment. It's the year that coaches most look to in deciding who to offer and who to target. Many teams have their recruiting classes halfway finished before the senior year even starts, and few players earn scholarship offers from major programs based on senior year production (Morris Claiborne and Lamin Barrow are two exceptions). This kid started his junior year having never been coached, and still managed to attract the attention of schools around the country.

He is listed as a linebacker, but may grow into a rushing defensive end a la Kirston Pittman or, even more hopefully, Jevon Kearse. Jevon Kearse is the player that most often is the subject of comparisons with Mingo. Like Kearse, Mingo is very tall (6'5"), is lightning quick, and has long arms. He has a very high level of athleticism, and a big frame for putting on more weight. He is listed at 210#, but may be bigger than that by now.

As a prospect, Mingo may be a boom-or-bust type. He could end up being an All-American. Or he could disappear on the depth chart. You just don't know, because he is so raw. He appears to have a high ceiling, but high-ceiling players are always risky because they may never approach that ceiling. The good news for Mingo is that LSU's linebacker situation is not exactly intimidating for a new recruit. We appear to be missing out on all the national-level linebacker recruits we've targeted (with one or two exceptions maybe), and of last year's linebacker class only Ryan Baker appears to be a can't-miss prospect. That leaves a lot of room for a strong-side linebacker like Mingo to manuever.

Wide receiver Andre Debose is part of the Seminole Trio, which also includes defensive end Dyron Dye and safety Ray Ray Armstrong. LSU has been recruiting all three of those players, but only Debose appears to be likely to sign with LSU. He is out of Seminole (hence the titular "Trio") High School in Sanford, Florida, and he is an electrifying athlete. He is a little small for a wide receiver at 6'0" and 170#, but he can fly. He is also quick enough to warrant a good long look at punt returning.

Debose was recently upgraded to 5-star status on Rivals, and had been a 5-star on Scout for a while. He merits such high marks because he is incredibly elusive with the ball in his hands. His videos show him juking defenders out of their shoes, and then running away from them when he gets into the open field.

Just in watching his videos, he seems to be a little raw as a receiver, but that may be deceiving because his videos come from his junior year. He reminds me a lot of Skyler Green, who was also fast and elusive and appeared to be developing into a great player before his career got sidetracked by an injury that slowed him down. He reminds others of Percy Harvin, and I think it's certainly possible he could have a Harvin-esque career here at LSU. We may be getting ahead of ourselves by making that comparison, but keep in mind that Harvin and Skyler Green were pretty similar players in terms of style. Both were undersized receivers who were quick and fast, and ran a lot of reverses and things like that. Unlike Green, Harvin lined up in the backfield a fair bit, but Green probably could have done that as well, as he was initially recruited as a running back, but simply none of his coaches (Jimbo Fischer was his OC for his entire career at LSU) ever tried it with him. Harvin and Green were similar in style, but Harvin is just better at it.

I think you can fairly say that Debose's upside is to be another Harvin. His downside is probably Skyler Green territory. Still, that's not a bad downside at all. Whatever happens with Debose, he will enter a very crowded depth chart at LSU. He would primarily be competing for playing time with other smallish receivers like Chris Tolliver and Jhyryn Taylor from the 2008 recruiting class, and Kenny Bell from the 2009 recruiting class. Not to mention there's the possibility that Drayton Calhoun and Morris Claiborne could be trying to get time at slot receiver.

And those are just the smallish inside-type receivers. The outside receivers could see young guys like Tim Molton, Deangelo Peterson, DeAngelo Benton, and possibly Reuben Randle and/or Kendall Kelly. And those are just the YOUNG receivers. Don't forget about Brandon Lafell and Terrance Toliver.

This is all to say that any receiver that breaks out of that pack and gets playing time will be a pretty special player. Debose could be that guy.