Impact Player Predictions for LSU Football 2004

It all starts at the quarterback position for this team.

Marcus Randall is declared starter at the beginning of the season. After some lackluster and forgettable performances in the first 3 games of the season, he gives way to JaMarcus Russell by the time we play Mississippi State. JaMarcus Russell leads LSU the rest of the way, making some rookie mistakes along the way but overall does a stellar job. He throws few interceptions due to the fact that the defensive backs cannot handle the errant torpedo like passes and have many of them bounce away. LSU receivers learn to catch the rifled passes as the season goes along. His touch passes get better as well. Matt Flynn does not see any action.

At running back, LSU plays "Share the Wealth".

Vincent leads the talent laden running back corp as LSU finishes in the top 5 in the nation in rushing offense. Most of the rushing duties are limited to Vincent, Broussard (the new lean and mean version) and Shyrone Carey. Joseph Addai and Barrington Edwards ends up seeing spot duty. Defenses are constantly worn down in the 4th quarter with LSU swapping out fresh troops at the running back position. The pressure is taken away from Russell securing key victories for LSU.

At wide receiver, LSU starts slow but ends up with quite an effective unit.

Dwayne Bowe has his breakout season as he has added size and is in his best shape ever. At 6' 3" he is a tall target with very good speed and shows amazing hands. He makes critical catch after critical catch all year long. Skyler Green makes good strides in improving his capabilities at the slot position. His added dimension of running with the ball is utilized in much the same manner as 2003. Early Doucet makes the biggest impact of the incoming freshman. Amp Hill shows signs of brilliance but is inconsistent as he comes back from his critical injury from last spring. 2005 looks to be his breakout year. Xavier Carter is also brilliant at times but has some trouble making the transition from High School to College football. Buster Davis and Joseph Addai provide good backup depth support with their steady play. Bennie Brazell is once again limited to special teams where of course he excels once again. Lavelle Hawkins is redshirted.

Now turning to the offensive line.

Ben Wilkerson ends up 1st team All American this year. He anchors an offensive line that comes together quite nicely in forming the backbone of the offense. Andrew Whitworth is 2nd team All American. Nate Livings has his breakout year at the other tackle position. Terrell McGill and Rudy Niswanger are solid at the guard positions. Brian Johnson, Brandon Washington, Doug Planchard, Garrett Wibel, Peter Dyakowski, Pharis Hodges and Will Arnold provide excellent backup support. LSU ends up redshirting all of the incoming freshman offensive lineman. What a luxury.

Tight ends.

David Jones has his breakout season taking a little of the passing game pressure away from the wideouts. His yards after catch ability is outstanding and provides for many big plays for LSU in critical situations. Keith Zinger provides very good backup support. Kory Hebert sees limited playing time. Mit Kole and Jeremy Jones are redshirted.

Fullback.

Kevin Steltz is outstanding at clearing the way and creating huge holes for Vincent and the rest of the gang to run through. Shawn Jordan does ok as his backup. Jacob Hester is redshirted.

And now for the best defense in the land.

The defensive line.

Marcus Spears makes 1st team All-American. Kyle Williams is outstanding at the DT position. Kirston Pittman becomes a dominating force at the other DE position opposite Spears. Claude Wroten becomes an instant impact player at the other DT position. Excellent backup support from Melvin Oliver, Brian West, Alonzo Manuel, Carnell Stewart, Tim Washington, Sean Merrill, Ryan Willis and Jerrod Carter. Once again the depth at this position allows LSU the luxury of redshirting every freshman.

The linebacking corp.

Lionel Turner makes 2nd Team All-American. He shows great leadership amongst a talent laden group. Cameron Vaughn is excellent at the WILL position. Ali Highsmith and Darius Ingram split duty at the SAM position. Probably the thinest position for LSU as there is limited quality depth. Dorsett Buckles, Ken Hollis, Willie Demps and Dominic Cooper provide most of this support. Luke Sanders, EJ Kuale and Phillip Maxwell see limited duties. Luke Sanders is the only incoming freshman to see any duty as the rest are redshirted.

The secondary.

LSU will arguably have the best secondary in the nation. Corey Webster will be 1st Team All-American and Travis Daniels will be 2nd Team All-American. Travis learns to hold on to a few more of them interceptions this year. LaRon Landry gets even better at the strong safety position. Jesse Daniels holds his own maturing into a decent free safety but is still one of the few weak links to an otherwise outstanding defense. The depth at this position is greater than anywhere else on this team. Mario Stevenson will be one of the nation's best nickel backs, and Ronnie Prude does a good job in the dime defense package. Other notables will be Daniel Francis, Jonathan Zenon, Keron Gordon and Nick Child. Craig Steltz sees limited playing time and is the only incoming freshman that is not redshirted in the defensive secondary.

Kicking Game and Special Teams.

Arguably the one position that could single handedly lose a game for LSU this year. Chris Jackson will be fantastic in drilling the ball deep into the endzone as LSU holds opponents within the 20 yard line on over 80 percent of their kickoffs. Chris Jackson will also kick field goals beyond the 45 yard line as Ryan Gaudet assumes the field goal duties on all kicks within 45 yards. Pat Fisher assumes punting duties and is very inconsistent. Long punts with very poor hang time cause LSU's special teams problems against good return teams. Skyler Green is the nation's best punt returner once again (Clayton was not the best last year IMO, he had one great game is all). Shyrone Carey and Benny Brazell provide good support to Green.

Coaching.

Nick Saban is once again masterful in preparing his team week in and week out. There will be no repeat of a flat performance like that against Florida of this past year. His game day decision making skills and halftime adjustments are put to the test against touch SEC opponents.

In summary, this team is as deep as its been at LSU. LSU is afforded the luxury of once again redshirting almost off of the incoming freshman recruits. Early Doucet makes the biggest impact amongst the ones that do play. Others make the majority of their impact on an outstanding special teams unit. JaMarcus Russell leads a very efficient and sometimes explosive offense much like Matt Mauch did last year. The running game depth allows LSU to wear down opposing defenses late in close games to help seal the victory. LSU loses it's one game at Georgia but exacts it's revenge in the SEC CG (knocking Georgia out of the NC game). LSU then goes on to beat the "mighty" USC Trojans for the National Championship game. LSU finally shows the country that they are decidedly better than a "softened" (due to a light schedule) USC squad.

 

No we don't play anybody up until that point. And yes I am including Auburn in that mix. Defense wins that game all by itself.

 

Yeah I went back and re-read it. I guess I can see where you are coming from. It's meant to be predictions, so I wanted it to sound like I had written this after the season was completed. Most of it comes off that way, with the few exceptions that you allude to.

If anything, this gives the average LSU fan who may not know every one of the players a better idea of who may and may not become impact players on this team. I think at the very least I have achieved that goal.

 

I think Whitworth and Wilkerson are both going to be first-team All Americans. Whitworth is already on the Playboy pre-season AA team. This is going to be a fine line and we are likely to lose both of them next spring. Whitworth will be taken too high in the draft to consider staying for his senior year.

This needs to be a breakout year for Livings, McGill, and Niswanger, who must be the OL stars in 2005.