SB Nation - Tim Molton

Getting Back Into Football

Richard Pittman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:47:42 -0000

Sorry for not posting yesterday. The intertubes had a blowout on me and when I wanted to post, there was no posting to be done. Anyway, here's an article for you.

Lately we have given you all things baseball, which is fine. It's been a lot of fun watching and commenting on this team striving for and ultimately achieving a national championship. LSU baseball is a wonderful program with wonderful fans. Here in Tuscaloosa, despite the fact that the local team was reasonably decent (heading into the last weekend of the season, they had a shot to win the SEC West), there was almost no regular coverage of the team. I do not think there was one Crimson Tide baseball game broadcast locally on television all year. The local talk radio, which I listen to at times, never once mentioned the team in my hearing. They just don't care about baseball here, and that's kind of foreign to me.

But now, baseball season is over. We have celebrated our good fortune and discussed the future. Now it is time to move on. Lo and behold, the opening kickoff of the football season is a mere 2 months away. It sounds like ages, which is the impetus for the new blog title, "An LSU sports blog currently experiencing the long dark offseason of the soul," which for those of you in the know, is an obvious reference to a novel by Douglas Adams, may he rest in satirical bliss.

About a month ago, I celebrated the fact that the football team was making almost no news. The thought was that all news was bad news. Any news about the football team that came out now would likely either be an injury, an arrest, or a suspension. Wouldn't you know it, the first bit of news to come out since then was about an injury.

Redshirt freshman wide receiver Tim Molton tore a ligament in his knee and is lost for the season. It's a terrible blow for a young man who had reportedly moved up the depth chart to the point where he was expected to make a significant contribution this season. It's a significant blow to his career and to the depth in the receiver corps. It was expected that Brandon Lafell and Terrance Toliver would be the #1 and #2 receivers on the team, but Molton was generally expected to compete for the #3 spot with veterans Chris Mitchell and R.J. Jackson and incoming freshman sensation Rueben Randle. Now his career is on hold. Good luck to the young man, and please come back to the team ready to go in 2010.

via media.scout.com

The second piece of news to come out recently came from TigerSportsDigest, in an original reporting that is well worth the subscription fee, about incoming freshman safety Craig Loston. While we have previously said that All News Is Bad News, this piece of news was more of a good news/bad news combination. Craig Loston, one of the crown jewels of an outstanding recruiting class, is qualified and will be enrolling in school today. The downside is that he needs wrist surgery that will keep him sidelined until October. A true freshman who can't practice with the team or even workout until October? I can't imagine he will be able to contribute this year, and I suppose a redshirt year is in order.

The kid is going to be a player, and I am thrilled he's made it to school and that he'll be learning the schemes and acclimating himself to college and to the team while he rehabs.

The team is currently going through 7-on-7 drills. Regular practice begins in early August and kickoff is on September 5, 2009, very late at night.

For the next couple months, we will follow the progress of the team, give overviews of the new players added to the roster, and generally fret about football like Arthur Dent.

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 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.