I agree that there is no excuse and out there some where are young QB's that can get the job done. However it happens all the time that young highly talented players struggle before becoming great players, Rohan Davey is such a simple and perfect example that it should be a crime. Yes he struggled but there is plenty of time for him to become one of the greatest ever at LSU it's just that LSU needs a quality QB NOW!!!!!!!!!!!
I think you are being a bit of an optimist as well. As you said we don't have the best shot of getting him. IF we get him i would think that he would get a shot, but I still think that Russel will come out blazing next yera. If we get RP and start him i will be very nervous. I really do not want to have to go through a Freshman QB again. Much less a true Freshy. I don't know why so many people want that. I do hope we sign him though. We do need insurance.
JR has regressed throughout the season, he has shown no signs of shrugging his Freshman mistakes... if we see the same next year it could mean trouble again... At least with another "mobile" QB, we can run the same kind of offense that MR ran this year.
I'm too young to remember it, and I'm also VERY MUCH ABLE TO SEE that LSU's offensive line SUCKS AT PASS BLOCKING & HAS ALL YEAR. We also had a front line wideout in Dwayne Bowe get the yips and miss easy catch after easy catch after easy catch? Disagree with me? Then go ask Saban why he went to seek out and berate Bowe after one particularly galling touchdown drop at a recent home game. Outside of Skyler-who hasn't been at full strength all year due to an ankle injury suffered in the last pre-season scrimmage-we have NO returning experience at wideout. Davis might have caught 7 passes last year. He had NO experience. So, let's recap here...We've got guys with injuries, guys who have no experience, guys who have season long cases of the drops, and one in Doucet whose displayed a case of alligator arms twice now on long touchdown catches that he didn't extend on to get to easily catchable passes. We've got an offensive line that is absolutely terrible at pass-blocking. Talent is nothing without experience. There is no substitute for the latter. Your prediction may as well be that you dislike JaMarcus Russell and have no hope in him. But, some of us realize that a lot of ground can be made up in one year's time... Look what Alley Broussard did from '03 to '04... Give him some time before making predictions...you might end up looking foolish. This staff saw something in Russell, and I'm wondering how the decision they made can now be something you see a flaw in.
I think that JR's progress was hamperd by injuruies to the O-line and young recivers dropping balls. That demolished his confidence. I will admit he is not mobile right now, but i think this year's experience will prob start to show more after the off-season. If not then we need to have insurance ready, but i have confidence in our coaching staff. I do wonder though about Flynn. There has to be a reason that he did not get much pt this year. I think his (and anybody elses) chances of starting next year at QB depend heavily on JR's progress. IMO this is Russel's job to lose. If he comes in showing zero progress then we will have an open QB competition next year. If he shows that he has improved after this year then the job is his.
Obviously the results are not what you would have guessed from the previous postings. In the end, I think we need to invest everything we have into making sure he succeeds at LSU. He is obviously gifted. Confidence is all that he is missing at this point.
Just remember that if Doucet catches that pass that hit him in the numbers at the end of the AU game and we continue the drive then we may be undefeated (I think that if we would have won the AU game then the UGA game may have turned out diferently). Oh what could have been....
Considering we had problems with 2 RS Frosh coming in and beating out MR, what makes you think that any true Freshman can come into the situation and immediately take over? Leak had truly terrible QBs in front of him, and his play in several games wasn't as good as he played against us. And I don't see Leak sporting any SECC rings. The QB situation this year has me concerned, but only because everything Saban/Fisher tried seemed to fail at different times. That doesn't mean that JR cannot make vast improvements in an off-season where he can step in and be the emotional leader of the offense during unofficial drills, with the experience of true game speed at his command. He couldn't do that this year because MR did step up during the drills, but often not in games. JR has way too much talent to write him off now, especially to the hope of a HS QB who has committed to another school. JR will get better, and if he doesn't Flynn (another top 15 QB recruit) is in the bullpen. If RP comes to LSU (and I hope he does, you can never have enough QBs and I don't want Texas to think they can recruit LA), he will probably have to sit and learn the system. Any team that relies on true freshmen at QB is taking a big chance. If we don't get better play from the line, it won't matter who is calling the signals. GEAUX TIGERS
I would love to think that way too. But the simple fact is the young receivers and poor play by the O-line/Kicking/Special Teams were way too much to overcome to go undefeated this year. We need to be thankful we're 9-2. We really do.
