SB Nation User Blog: Richard Pittman

2009 CFN LSU Preview, Part 3

Richard Pittman — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:32:43 -0000

I swear this will be the last installment of this series, as I think we've milked it about as much as the audience will tolerate. Yesterday, we talked about the 10 best players on the team and the schedule. The day before, we talked about Jordan Jefferson, the defensive coaches, and the high-profile incoming freshmen. Today, let's get into some other topics. Again, the links are preview, offense, defense.

On Charles Scott:

Senior Charles Scott broke free from the running-back-by-committee backfield to rush for 1,174 yards and 18 touchdowns averaging 5.4 yards per carry. The 5-11, 233-pound senior is extremely quick with a great burst and excellent power. He ran for 95 yards or more in eight of the first ten games, and then everyone loaded up on him and the production tailed off. Even so, he's plugger who's always falling forward and is unstoppable around the goal line. He can also catch a bit with eight grabs for 67 yards, and he's not a bad blocker.

...

Watch Out For ... Scott to score 25 times. While there's enough talent in the backfield to keep a steady rotation going, Scott is the star of the show and he's the proven producer who can can control games and take the pressure off the passing game. He's also tremendous when it comes to getting into the end zone, and he'll be one of the nation's leading scorers.

I don't see 25 touchdowns happening. I actually think Scott will get fewer carries this year than he got last year, because I think we will distribute the ball a lot more between the top 4 running backs than we did last year. Keiland Williams was supposed to share the load with Scott early in the year, but he really struggled and his carries did not come. He did not run very hard it seemed; he was too tentative. Later in the season, he came on pretty strong, averaging over 7 yards per carry against Arkansas and Georgia Tech, and having a really good game against Bama. I think Keiland's going to earn more carries this year than last year.

Richard Murphy is another that could earn more carries. A proposed breakout star for the last two years running, no one is really talking about Murphy after his very weak season last year, but this is the same kid who showed flashes of brilliance as a freshman, averaging about 7 yards per touch.

The coaches love Stevan Ridley, and he got some garbage-time carries last year. He is not healthy right now, and who knows if he will get healthy, but if he is at 100% at the start of the season, his workload is likely to increase at least a little, taking more carries away from Charles Scott.

Then there are the quarterbacks, Jordan Jefferson and Russell Shepard. We know that they liked to run with Jefferson when he was in the game, and while they may cut down on his rate of planned running plays, he is not going to be a part-time player this year. He's going to be playing full time, and I would expect them to probably call about 5 planned runs per game with him. We're still not sure how they're going to use Shepard, but his wheels are just going to be too good not to use.

My tentative prediction is that, barring injuries, the coaches will give the ball to Charles Scott about 170 times, down from 217 last year. What they may do as well is give him the ball more in the passing game. Scott's a pretty good pass-catcher. He caught 12 passes in 2007, when he was a much smaller part of the offense than he was in 2008, when he only caught 8 passes.

On Linebackers:

Step one is replacing Darry Beckwith in the middle, and the Tigers have their man in Jacob Cutrera, a 6-4, 236-pound senior who was a key backup over the last few years and got two starts finishing with 33 tackles with 3.5 tackles for loss. He had a tremendous spring showing great toughness and enough range to be the leader and the anchor of the corps to work around. He has been groomed for this job for the last three years and he appears to be ready.

Is Harry Coleman really going to be the starter on the outside? The team's leading tackler, who made 71 tackles with seven broken up passes, was tried out in the linebacking corps this spring and he might be the main man after showing tremendous toughness on the strongside and good range on the weakside. A monster hitter and strong enough to handle the job despite being 6-2 and 205 pounds, he's not starting from scratch having played linebacker in high school. As good as he is, he might move back to safety from time to time just to get all the linebacker prospects on the field.

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Strength: Tacklers. If Coleman is a linebacker, the corps will have the team's top three tacklers from last year in Coleman, Sheppard, and Riley. The linebackers don't miss many plays and they'll be all over the field doing a variety of things under the new coaches.
Weakness: Pass coverage. It's not a glaring problem, but it could stand to be better. The addition of Coleman would help change that up in a real hurry, and it would be nice if there were more broken up passes and tighter coverage on short to midrange plays.
Outlook: The position should be the star of the show. This isn't the most talented linebacking corps LSU has had, but there are producers all across the unit with Curtera about to blossom into a force and with Coleman, Sheppard, and Riley all possible all-stars. This could end up being the team's biggest strength as the season goes on.
Rating: 9

We talked about Perry Riley yesterday, so I omitted the discussion of him here.

Like a lot of people who will read the CFN preview, I think this is gloriously optimistic. The linebacking corps did not make a lot of headlines for LSU last year. Nor did Harry Coleman. Again, it is possible that the coaching situation did not get all that it could out of the group in 2008, but I'm going to have to see it turn around for myself before I'm going to go around rating our linebackers a 9 on a scale of 10.

Just for comparison. CFN rated Alabama's linebacking group as a 9 out of 10, and I just can't see giving LSU's linebackers the same grade.

On the Offensive Line:

Watch Out For ... the battle at center. Lonergan was great this spring and looks the part as a leader and quarterback of the front five. However, Hebert will need to find a space when healthy. It's a good problem to have, considering either one can move to guard, but it should end up being a good battle for the job this fall.
Strength: Durability. LSU didn't have to change its starting five once, with all the starters going from pillar to post. While it's asking a lot to get the same injury luck two years in a row, Black, Hitt, and Barksdale are rocks to build around. However, because of the durability of last year's front five ...
Weakness: Proven depth. This was supposed to be a problem two years ago, and last year, and it wasn't. There are a slew of redshirt freshmen needing to shine and players like Hurst and Parsons have to be productive, but there's a massive drop-off from the ones to the twos.
Outlook: Disappointing last year, the pass protection was mediocre and the run blocking was fine, but nothing special. This year's line has plenty of talent with Black and Barksdale a nice tackle pair, and Hitt a great blocker who should get more attention. This might not be a dominant front five, but it'll be great at times.
Rating: 8

Let me just ask this question. Is there any college football team that has a wealth of proven depth on the offensive line? Teams don't sub out offensive linemen all that much, and it's a position that always suffers a lot of attrition. There aren't a whole lot of teams out there that have multiple offensive linemen with real experience on the bench.

OK, enough of picking on the obvious. I don't really think there's a "battle at center" unless T-Bob Hebert is not healthy yet from his torn ligament suffered in the middle of the 2008 season. By all accounts, Hebert was the #1 guy in Spring despite being slowed by the injury

If there is a real weakness on this unit, it is probably size. Replacing Herman Johnson with Josh Dworaczyk is a big downgrade in size. It may be an upgrade in quickness, and size is not everything in life, but this will be a much smaller unit as a whole than it was last year. T-Bob is also a fair bit smaller than Brett Helms was (I'm not sure I believe LSUsports.net's listing of 282 pounds for him).

This will be a different unit than it has been the last couple years. Who knows? It may be a better unit, but it will not be able to rely strictly on bulk on the left side this year.

That's all for this series. Tune in next time.

2009 CFN LSU Preview, Part 2

Richard Pittman — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:01:48 -0000

Yesterday, we discussed CFN's preview of LSU and how it pertained to the new defensive coaching staff, Jordan Jefferson, and a few incoming freshmen. Today, we look at a few more topics.

The 10 Best Players on the Team:

Ten Best Tiger Players
1. WR Brandon LaFell, Sr.
2. RB Charles Scott, Sr.
3. OT Ciron Black, Sr.
4. LB Perry Riley, Sr.
5. DE Rahim Alem, Sr.
6. TE Richard Dickson, Sr.
7. QB Jordan Jefferson, Soph.
8. DT Drake Nevis, Jr.
9. LB/S Harry Coleman, Sr.
10. CB Patrick Peterson, So.

Well, at least he didn't name an incoming freshman as one of our 10 best players.

I think 1 through 3 are right on, or at least I only disagree in their order. I would put Ciron ahead of Charles Scott, but if you asked me who the 3 best players on the team are, those are the three I would name. After that, we start getting into some murky waters on who *I* would name, but CFN pretty much goes off the rails with the #4 pick.

I happen to be quite fond of Perry Riley as a player. When he was a freshman getting mop-up duty, I saw glimpses of a budding star. Last year, as a junior, he finally got a chance to start, and the results were solid, but underwhelming. One of my general principles in observing player development is that "the player you are as a junior is probably the player you will be as a senior." By your junior year you have some experience on the field. You should know the system. Your body should be fully matured and you should be in the best shape you'l ever be in. I have no empirical data to back this up, but I firmly suspect that the vast majority of players in college football do not make great strides in their game between their junior and senior seasons.

This is no indictment of Perry Riley. I think he's a fine player and a solid linebacker for us. I just do not believe he is going to be in the same stratosphere with guys like Rennie Curran, Brandon Spikes, and Rolando McClain. And who knows? There's reason to believe that last year's team didn't get all it could get out of the linebackers. Maybe Perry Riley is a coiled spring ready to be released. Pete Fiutak seems to think so:

Best Defensive Player: Senior LB Perry Riley. DE Rahim Alem should be the team's star pass rusher and he should be an all-SEC selection, while tackle Drake Nevis could grow into the special player to build around. But it's Riley who has the size, range, and experience to be the biggest playmaker in the more aggressive system and he should be a stat-sheet filler on the outside in a veteran linebacking corps.

If this is true of Riley, then either he greatly improved in the offseason, or our defensive coaches were worse than we thought last year.

After Riley, the next two are very defensible. Rahim Alem is, after all, a returning 1st team All-SEC performer. Many people would place him even further up this list, perhaps even at #1. Richard Dickson is an experienced and consistently productive tight end whose blocking skills are greatly underrated in my opinion.

Here is also, though, where we get to an omission. We all know what kind of an athlete Chad Jones is. How many starting free safeties are also the best left-handed pitcher on his particular campus? And bat over .300? And can chase down Darren McFadden from behind? Yes, it's not like Chad Jones tore it up last year, but Fiutak has shown himself to not be shy about projecting great increases in production from year to year (see Riley, Perry). If you're going to project that sort of thing, Jones is the better candidate. It is widely acknowledged, even by Jones himself, that he was misused last year, moving from position to position between plays, confusing him and leading often to him being out of position or scrambling even to get on the field. With him parked at the free safety spot, a monster year can be expected of him.

After this, I think it becomes very difficult to differentiate between a number of possible candidates to add to the 10 best. Here is my list:

1. Brandon Lafell, Sr. WR
2. Ciron Black, Sr., OL
3. Charles Scott, Sr., RB
4. Rahim Alem, Sr., DE
5. Chad Jones, Jr., S
6. Richard Dickson, Sr., TE
7. Patrick Peterson, So., CB
8. Drake Nevis, Jr., DT
9. Lyle Hitt, Sr., OL
10. Perry Riley, Sr., LB

That's right. I put Perry Riley in the top 10 anyway, but really at this point you could have put Harry Coleman, Keiland Williams, Joseph Barksdale, Chris Hawkins, Jacob Cutrera, Josh Jasper, or even special teams sensation Ryan Baker.

On LSU's Schedule:

LSU isn't exactly extending itself in the non-conference slate, even though it's not the program's fault that Washington stinks. The SEC schedule is nasty with Georgia and Florida to deal with from the East, while trips to Alabama and Ole Miss in November could end any hopes of winning the SEC West. Holding serve at home, even against Florida and Auburn, will be a must with three road trips in four weeks down the stretch. The battle against the Gators on October 10th could be a preview of the SEC Championship

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The season will be a success if ... LSU wins the SEC West. Just getting to Atlanta for the SEC title will require a war and a negotiation of landmines with road trips to Georgia, Alabama, and Ole Miss to deal with, along with home games against Florida and Auburn. But this is LSU, and to shoot for anything less than the SEC title is selling the team short after loading up with talented recruiting class after talented recruiting class.

Nov. 7 at Alabama. The Tigers can split against Georgia and Florida from the East and still win the West, but it'll take wins at Alabama and Ole Miss to get the job done. If they lose to the Tide, the game in Oxford will end up being to shake out the pecking order for the bowls. If they can beat their old head coach, Nick Saban, and get a little revenge after losing last year's thriller, then LSU will be in the thick of the SEC title hunt.

I will have a lot more thoughts on this particular subject later. It is pretty much unmistakable that our nonconference schedule (@Washington, UL-Lafayette, @Tulane, La Tech) is a sure 4 wins with probably not a game in there that will be closer than a 20 point differential. We also have what appears to be the toughest conference slate of anyone. (@Georgia, Florida, @Alabama, @Ole Miss). My quick thoughts on that are, a) I think Georgia is better than most people think, b) Florida is a tall order for this or any other team to beat, but at least we get them at home, c) Bama's offense is not going to be nearly as good as it was last year but the defense should be stellar barring injuries, and d) Ole Miss isn't sneaking up on anyone this time around.

Our other four conference games are Vandy, @Mississippi State, Auburn, Arkansas. Vandy should be halfway decent, but I don't think they're in our class. Mississippi State is going to struggle. I keep going back and forth on Auburn between thinking they'll be better than everyone expected and realizing that their head coach has a career 5-19 record. Arkansas is a very solid team who can and may beat anyone on their schedule, including us.

Its a difficult schedule, but every one of these games is winnable. We have 3 sets of 4 games. Four nonconference games that should not be particularly stressful. Four conference games against teams that are probably not as good as us, but we need to avoid let-downs to avoid upsets. Four conference games against very good teams. The key I think will be avoiding upsets against the 8 teams we really should beat. If we do that, we really have something to play for in the 4 games against really good teams.

That's all for today. We continue this series tomorrow with even more thoughts on the schedule and other topics.

2theadvocate.com | Ochinko signs contract with Jays

Richard Pittman — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:54:29 -0000

2theadvocate.com | Ochinko signs contract with Jays

Not a big surprise. Good luck to you, Sean.

Top running back Storm Johnson chooses LSU - NOLA.com

Richard Pittman — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:52:32 -0000

Top running back Storm Johnson chooses LSU - NOLA.com

This is the one we jumped the gun on earlier. I am a big fan of Storm Johnson, out of Loganville, Georgia. If you look at his film side-by-side with the film of 5-star running back Marcus Lattimore, you would have a hard time figuring out which one is the 5-star and which is not. He is perhaps a little raw and you would like to see him be more of a pass-catching threat than his videos show, but the kid can haul the mail.

He reported offers from all over the country, including Florida, Florida State, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Penn State. He made it very clear early that he was not interested in staying in-state, so Georgia and Georgia Tech never made a serious play for him.

We aren't done at running back, as we will certainly look for at least one more and possibly two more.

2009 CFN LSU Preview, Part 1

Richard Pittman — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:49 -0000

Before we get into Pete Fiutak's LSU preview over at College Football News, let me make a few prefaces. Overview. Offense. Defense.

First, I really like Pete Fiutak. He's a very knowledgeable guy. He's forgotten more about college football than I'll ever know. The problem is that college football is just too big of a world for one person to be expert in all of it. No national reporter or national figure knows our team better than we do. The flip side is that Pete Fiutak knows a hell of a lot more about Eastern Michigan than I would ever want to know.

Secondly, despite all that, Pete Fiutak may have insights that I don't have. He may have some super-down-low sources within the team that feed him information that the ordinary local press does not get. I doubt that's strictly true, but it is entirely possible that some of the things he says that make me cast a sideways glance may be more true than I realize.

I don't think we should use Fiutak to learn more about our team, but it is nice to look at him and get an insight into what fans around the country may be thinking.

With the preliminaries out of the way, let's parse out what he says.

General Comments:

While this might not be the SEC's best team, it's good enough to have a puncher's chance against anyone in the league (more specifically, Florida in an SEC title game and on October 10th in Baton Rouge), and if you win the SEC title, you're in the discussion for the national championship.

But this year's team might need a break or three to move up the timetable. Remember, LSU needed a minor miracle just to get to the 2008 BCS Championship game, and this year's schedule is way too hard for anyone to get through alive. Even with a conference slate (with Georgia and Florida from the East, along with road trips to Alabama and Ole Miss) that would force most teams to make plans to hang out with their families for the holidays, there's reason to think this will be a bounceback year that should reestablish LSU among the elite.

So he doesn't think we're #1, but he thinks we could end up there if we get some breaks. I don't have a big problem with that. We have to face the fact that while Georgia is perceived to have lost their window of opportunity for now, and while Ole Miss may be getting too much love, and Alabama has to replace a lot of production at QB, OL, and Safety, the Florida Gators are loaded. Just plain loaded. And while we have talent and we have the ability to beat anyone, beating Florida is going to be a tall order if everyone arrives healthy for that game.

On the new defensive coaches:

The defensive front that struggled to get into the backfield should be far more aggressive with Chavis directing the way, and that should help a fast secondary that didn't get a whole bunch of help against the better passing teams.

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What to watch for on defense: More attacking. It's not like the defense was awful last year, but it wasn't the high-flying disruptive machine it was in previous years. This year's D should make far more plays in the backfield, it'll come up with far more takeaways, and it'll start to look a little bit like the defense that now-Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini put together. The speed is there and the talent is solid across the board, and now the defense that gave up a not-that-bad 326 yards per game last year should be a brick wall.

The defense wore the LSU uniforms, and it had several players that were part of the team that won the national championship in 2007, but it didn't look like LSU. The pass rush was spotty, the secondary was a sieve, and there weren't nearly enough big plays all across the board. Welcome to 2009, and welcome to John Chavis, the former Tennessee defensive coordinator who's going to have this ultra-athletic group flying around.

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Strength: The scheme. Play time is over. As if defensive coordinator John Chavis isn't going to whip this group into enough of a frenzy, there's Brick Haley, a former assistant for the Chicago Bears, who has the potential to make this group special. This year, the front four will get to pin its ears back and get into the backfield.

I would say this qualifies as "very complimentary" of the new guys, and by extension very critical of the old guys. I think this is right. Last year's team (and even the teams under Pelini) tried to outsmart and out-trick the other team with fancy formations and unpredictable schemes. We ended up just getting ourselves out of position and confusing our own players.

I believe this year's team will play much more aggressively than that.. While at this level of football, it take football smarts to succeed, 75% of playing defense is playing fast and getting after the football. I think this year's defense will emphasize that a lot more than last year's.

On Jordan Jefferson:

The quarterback play that was so lousy at times and was directly responsible for two losses should be far better now that Jordan Jefferson appears to be ready to be a leader and a playmaker, and not just a caretaker.

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What to watch for on offense: Better quarterback play. Jarrett Lee tried his best, and was trying to get through his first season without collapsing after Andrew Hatch had injury issues. He collapsed. The 16 interceptions forced the coaching staff to adjust the gameplan on both sides of the ball to hide him, and then enough became enough. Lee was raw, but freshman Jordan Jefferson was really raw and extremely erratic. However, he showed signs of becoming a playmaker. This spring, Jefferson was far more consistent and far more accurate while top recruit Russell Shepard was solid. If LSU's quarterbacks were better last season, the team would've been 10-3 and would've beaten Alabama and Arkansas.

I am not quite sold that Jefferson's going to be a strength of this team. He is still very inexperienced, and while he had an excellent Peach Bowl performance and we can expect improvement, we simply must go into this season expecting Jefferson to make the kinds of mistakes that second-year quarterbacks make on a regular basis.

I would expect significantly improved QB play over last year's performance, however. Let's keep in mind though that it's not like Jarrett Lee was inept. We were in the middle of the pack of the SEC in passing yards, and actually moved down that list after Jefferson replaced Lee. We had a wide receiver lead the league in receptions and touchdown catches. Lee was able to crank out some yards through the air. He just made a lot of mistakes that led to turnovers and points going the other way as well.

I think this year we are not going to see as much passing yardage as we saw. I say that because I think we aren't going to pass as much as we did last year. I think some of those passes will be replaced by quarterback draws and/or "Wildcat" type plays.

The 6-4, 210-pound sophomore has a nice arm, but not an elite one, and he has good running skills, with 134 yards and a touchdown, but he wouldn't necessarily be considered dangerous. However, he has nice speed and was far more accurate this offseason than he ever was during last year. To say he stepped up his game is an understatement.

I think they're actually selling Jefferson a little short on the talent department. He was not heavily recruited nation-wide, but I think he probably would have been had he stayed healthy in his junior year of high school. When Jefferson came to the team, I said he had the best tools of anyone there. He has the best tools of any recent LSU quarterback other than Jamarcus Russell (if you count "head" as a tool, otherwise he is also behind Ryan Perrilloux). I think he has a higher upside than Matt Flynn had or Rohan Davey had. He has that much talent.

On A couple incoming freshmen:

Superstar recruit Russell Shepard will likely end up working at wide receiver early on, but he proved this spring that he was good enough to be used at quarterback, his real position. The 6-1, 179-pounder isn't exactly JaMarcus Russell size-wise, but he's a devastating runner and an accurate enough passer to not make a slew of big mistakes. If he's in, he's running and will be trying to get the short to midrange passing game going. He's not going to push the ball deep on a regular basis early on.

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While super-recruit Russell Shepard is a quarterback, he's way too good a player to sit on the sidelines and watch Jordan Jefferson. The 6-1, 179-pound speedster can be used in a variety of way lining up under center as a change-of-pace runner, as a running back, or most likely, as a dangerous playmaker in three and four wide sets. He can do it all.

As good as recruit as Shepard was, Reuben Randle might have been better. Arguably the nation's top receiver prospect, the 6-3, 195-pound true freshman has all the tools and all the ability to be the next LSU first round NFL draft pick. Used as both a quarterback and a receiver in high school (no, he didn't throw to himself), he threw 20 touchdown passes and ran for 683 yards and 12 scores, and as a junior he caught 55 passes for 1,058 yards and 11 scores. It's all there with size, toughness, athleticism and deep speed to become the starter on the other side of LaFell or the No. 2 option on the X.

It wouldn't surprise me at all to see Shepard used extensively as a receiver, but it will probably more in the way of a Reggie Bush type receiver, in that he would not be asked to run a lot of routes. Instead, he would catch the ball at or near the line of scrimmage on screens or dump-offs and try to make something happen with his legs. The kid has simply never played receiver, and it's not as easy a position to learn as it sometimes looks. There is a lot of technique there, and Shepard would be way behind in learning it.

I think the Rueben Randle description is about accurate, though I would not be expecting Julio Jones-type or AJ Green-type numbers from his this year. As mentioned, I do not think that LSU will be passing as much next year as we did this year, and neither Green nor Jones had a 1st team All-SEC receiver running alongside him last year. Green had the most talent around him, but he also had an established throw-first QB with a cannon arm getting the ball out there. If Randle catches 30 passes, I would consider that a very pleasant surprise.

The team's top defensive recruit this year was Chris Davenport, a 6-4, 318-pound block of granite who was out for most of his senior hurt, but was still considered among the nation's top tackle prospects. Very big and very active, he was a man among boys in high school and has the body and strength to be a factor right away somewhere on the interior.

I'm not so sure. It's a little harder to break into the playing rotation on the lines than it is to break into it at the skill positions. Most freshman big men need to physically mature and work their bodies a lot to really be strong enough to be ready for SEC competition. Most are a little soft in the middle and lack the definition you like to see. Even if the upside is there, it usually takes a year or so to really start reaching it. Can anyone name the last true freshman to make an impact at LSU on either the offensive or defensive line. Hint: it hasn't happened while Les Miles has been the coach. The last one I remember was Marcus Spears, which was 8 years ago.

We'll continue with our thoughts on this in the next installment.

Continuing with the team previews and breakdowns, today's featured team is LSU. Learn about...

Richard Pittman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:27:01 -0000

Continuing with the team previews and breakdowns, today's featured team is LSU. Learn about everyone and everything going into the 2009 season with in-depth breakdowns for every team coming throughout the next few weeks. Also check out today's discussion ... does it matter that the BCS is moving to ESPN?

Scout.com: CFN 2009 College Football Preview. Didn't see this this morning. More thoughts on this as I have time to process it this week.

5 Players LSU Can't Afford to Lose to Injury

Richard Pittman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:01:17 -0000

Back in August of 2008, I wrote a post entitled "5 Players We Can Ill-Afford to Lose to Injury". The title was self-explanatory. I attempted to name off five players who were too important to the 2008 season for us to lose without significant costs. Those players were, in order, Ciron Black, Colt David, Darry Beckwith, Ricky Jean-Francois, and Richard Dickson.

Alas, Darry Beckwith got hurt and missed time, seeming to not return to full strength for the rest of the season. Ricky Jean-Francois ended up not being all that important despite being healthy. Many of us overrated him. Otherwise, it was a good list.

This year, I found the list of 5 essential players to be harder to compile.

1. Ciron Black, LT. Last year, we were mainly concerned about the fact that there was no backup plan to Ciron Black. backup left tackle Jarvis Jones had been expelled from the team and it appeared that if Black went down we would have to go with an out-of-position guard or a true freshman. Now we at least have a backup plan, as Greg Shaw did some nice things as a true freshman backup tackle last year, and we have a nice true freshman class of linemen as well. The depth is there, but Ciron Black is the most experienced player on the team, having been a full-time starter and every-down player for the past 3 seasons. He actually has a chance, if he stays healthy, to tie a record for most games started by a college player. If LSU goes to the SEC Championship Game and then to a bowl, Black will share that record. It will be a big luxury to have such an experienced player at left tackle.

2. Brandon Lafell, WR. I defended LSU's depth at wide receiver last night, but the fact is that Brandon Lafell is the only proven high-level player at that position. People seem to forget how productive Lafell was last year, and how productive the passing game in general was. In a league where Julio Jones and A.J. Green got most of the press, Brandon Lafell led the league in receptions, was second (to Green) in receiving yards, and tied for the lead in touchdown catches. He was a deserving 1st Team All-SEC player, and he is returning for a 5th season. The most productive wideout other than Lafell returning is Terrance Toliver, whose 22 catches last season for 257 yards was probably a disappointment, but it's not at all too late for Toliver to reach that vast potential. It would be nice to let him do it while Lafell is getting double-covered though.

3. Rahim Alem, DE. Alem is an outstanding player, but here is where the picking gets tougher. I really think the depth is there on defensive line that we will have good players there no matter what. Alem is just such a good pass rusher and such an athletic guy that he adds a dimension to the defensive line that would be very difficult to replace, even if we could easily plug a competent guy in there after him. I just don't think we could plug in a dynamic penetrator and pass rusher like Alem. If Alem were to get hurt, we would have to turn to unproven freshman Chancey Aghayere and Sam Montgomery in an attempt to find that spark.

4. Richard Dickson, TE. I picked him last year, saying:

The big passing target is going to be an important outlet for our young quarterbacks all season long. If they struggle to get the ball to the outside, Dickson will be there finding holes in the zone and giving them a big target to throw to. There is no receiving tight end to speak of behind him, and no receiver quite like him on the team, so he is going to be an essential part of the offense.

You could just cut and past the first two sentences of that entry here and it would still true. We still have young quarterbacks. We can still expect them to struggle at times. Dickson was our #3 receiver in both catches and yards last season, and I would expect the same this season. One difference is that I think we have better depth there now than we did last season, but like Ciron Black, Dickson has been a 3-year starter and it would be impossible to replace that experience.

5. Chad Jones, S. It gets harder and harder here. Chad Jones looks like a star at this position, but we are really getting into areas where the depth is also outstanding. If we were to lose Chad Jones, we could plug Danny McCray in there, and he would do very well as a regular safety, as opposed to nickel back where he has been used and where he struggles. Or we could insert Karnell Hatcher, who I thought was outstanding as a freshman backup last year. Or we could move Harry Coleman back to safety again. Jones is great but there are options, and losing him would not be the end of the world. The same could be said in varying degrees of Patrick Peterson, Drake Nevis, Charles Scott, Lyle Hitt, Joseph Barksdale, Perry Riley, and others who are sure to be important players on this team. You have to choose someone, so you might as well choose the best left-handed pitcher on the football roster.

Of course, this list could change between now and September 5, 2009, as it is always possible for us to lose more players to injury and/or attrition, screwing up the depth at various positions.

Who are your five?

Getting Back Into Football

Richard Pittman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:35:57 -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.

Mainieri named Coach of Year

Richard Pittman — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:12:08 -0000

Mainieri named Coach of Year

The title here is pretty self-explanatory. It's hard to argue with results, and when you consider this was a pretty bad team just a couple years ago, it shows just how good a job Paul Mainieri has done (even though I will continue to criticize bunting, but at least he does it a lot less than many coaches).

The Houston Rockets kept in close contact with LSU guard Garrett Temple and immediately after the...

Richard Pittman — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:24:41 -0000

The Houston Rockets kept in close contact with LSU guard Garrett Temple and immediately after the draft concluded offered him on spot on their summer league team that will compete in Las Vegas, July 10-19, at the Thomas and Mack Center and the Cox Pavilion.

...

Guard Terry Martin from Monroe will also be heading to Las Vegas as he has been invited to join the New Orleans Hornets summer league squad.

Three Tigers Headed to NBA Summer Leagues - LSUsports.net—The Official Web Site of LSU Tigers Athletics