I might get put into the clinic for this one -- mostly because we have a lot of people here who blame the quarterback when the team loses no matter what -- ala why JaMarcus got some flack when he was here. but I expect Jefferson to have a big year in 2010. Real big, breakout year. Let's check out the numbers, shall we? Picture quarterback A and quarterback B. Through 2 years, quarterback A hit 59 percent of his passes so far in his career for a total of 21 touchdowns and 8 interceptions combined in the 2 seasons. Quarterback B wasn't quite as accurate as quarterback A in his first 2 seasons and completed just 57 percent of his passes so far in his career. He was a little more of a big play guy with 24 TDs, but he had 13 picks, as well. Who would you rather? Looks like to me, Quarterback A is the prospect with more upside, eh? Well guess what, Jordan Jefferson is A. JaMarcus Russell is B. The fact of the matter is this -- yes, the kid has his flaws. What 19-year-old QB doesn't? For a kid with no running game and no offensive line, I surely do like the man we've got, though. With a full second year under center, I expect a JaMarcus-like breakout as a junior -- close to JR's 28 touchdown and 8 interception output he displayed in 2006. Call me a liar. Tell me why you dislike Jefferson. I trust numbers and trends (FACTS) more than I trust your ill-advised opinion. Now go ahead and tell me I'm wrong. Just remember, he's ahead of arguably the best QB in school history's pace. I take that every day of the week.
Call me a upside kinda guy, but I'll agree with you here. The only thing that seems to be holding JJ back is his lack of command. If he turns it on and becomes a field general, I expect him to make plays when there aren't any plays to be made. If he can find some check downs and come up with a quicker release, he's geauxld, IMO.:LSU231:
Wat? Hodson? Tittle? Jones? Russell couldn't carry their jock strap. He's not even in the top 5, in my ill-advised opinion.
I like it, but do have a question that I don't know the answer to, but know you can find it Clair. What was the avg run ydg total per game comparison between JR's and JJ's time frame at this point in their career? And, what is the amount of sacks taken at this point comparison?
I would asume MUCH MUCH BETTER with JR. I think last years run game was among the worst in a very long time.
Its not just taking sacks that JJ needs to work on, its backing up while being sacked which results in a huge loss of yard, many times in key situations. If he can improve on simply that, he WILL be a better qb this year. I personally believe he will turn the corner this year and play better. My concern for the team, however, is that our schedule is brutal. We will be tested very early and thus our learning curve will be very short. Anyone wishing to compare stats, they can be found going back to 1986 on LSU's Athletics site: LSU Football Statistics - LSUsports.net - The Official Web Site of LSU Tigers Athletics
Hope so Clair, because so many things need to happen for JJ to be successful. The O Line needs to punish people, the running game has to get better, receivers need to be better blockers, something i haven't said in a long time, and Jordan himself needs to have much better pocket awareness. I think all of those things can happen, but will they?
Jefferson and Lee should be experienced juniors this year and should not be judged by rookie-year shortcomings. I think we will see much improvement. But they both still have a lot to prove, particularly the starter. He must be able to take charge of an offense, not just run the plays. The #12 offense in the SEC is a number that is hard to ignore and it must be improved upon. No excuses this year for Jefferson. He has game experience, 3 years in the system, and is surrounded by talent. Good year for a breakout.
I don't think it's fair to say that Jefferson will breakout this year strictly because his stats are a little better than Russell's up to this point in his career. They are two completely different quarterbacks. Russell was being coached-up by Jimbo Fisher, who was way better of a QB developer than many of us realized at the time. Jefferson's still being coached by the same dude that insisted on running him in the option after it failed time and time again. That said, Jordan certainly has all the tools to be able to reach the same level success that Russell did. While he lacks JR's brute arm strenght (who doesn't?), he makes up for it by being mobile and athletic. The key factor is whether or not he can put it together upstairs. I don't think that anyone would argue that Russell was any more intelligent than Jordan, so he certainly seems to have the ability. In fact, I would argue that much of Jordan's difficulties last year stemmed from him overthinking when he was in the pocket. He was much more decisive and effective in his two outings in 2008. I think he just put too much pressure on himself last year, and was petrified of making mistakes. If he can learnt to relax a bit and trust his instincts, the sky's the limit.
