Had a chance to see one of our future quarterbacks play last night in Plano, TX. Matt Flynn and his Tyler Lee Red Raiders beat the Plano East Panthers 24 - 14. Flynn was 11 of 16 for 172 yards with one touchdown. He threw several long passes including one 60 pass that was very sweet. I am certainly no expert but he looked poised in the pocket and looked like he was seeing the field very well. He is a big guy, he can throw the ball downfield, and he has a nice touch. If any of the DFW Tigers are interested I believe Tyler Lee will be playing in Texas Stadium next weekend against the winner of today’s game between A&M Consolidated and The Woodlands Again, I am no expert but I am looking forward to seeing him in the purple and gold. Geaux Tigers
From Dandy Don's site (www.dandydon.com) I didn't know about the injury or the illness. That may explain why he didn't look very mobile. Now I am even more impressed. Geaux Tigers!
Enjoyed reading your post McKinneyTiger. Although Randall looked better Saturday night against Ole Miss, he has a long way to go. Any help the Tigers can get from a Freshman QB will definately help. It sure would be nice to see LSU for once get a good quality QB that could be good enough to beat out the competition and be able to start as either a Freshman or Sophmore and play out his entire career in Tiger Town. No one has done that in many years.
I think we have quarterbacks that can be effective, they just need experience. Both Randall and Mauck will have valuable experience going into spring next year. I would like to see Flynn and Lane get redshirts next year and let Mauck do what he can. Mauck is an effective leader and has a lot of maturity. He will be a junior next year, so even if he played as a senior also, Flynn and Lane would have 3 years left with 2 years in the system.
Marcus Randall will push Matt Mauck next year, without question. Randall's upside may be more than Mauck's, as Randall has shown he can throw downfield (10-20 yards) in situations favorable for him to do so. He's also 3-2 as starter, against tougher competition than Mauck faced. And, for as good a runner as Mauck has been, Randall has been just as good. Neither QB has shown he can throw the deep pass effectively. But both QB's have shown improvement with the experience they gained. LSU will be in a good situation at QB next year, and with the highly rated freshmen QB's coming in, plus Lester Ricard, the position figures to slowly, buty surely, become a position of strength for LSU. Does anyone know if Auburn has stopped recruiting Jamarcus Rusell? If so, why? Saban's interest in Russell has to be tied to the fact that he doesn't know for sure if Lane will choose the baseball route.
Freshmen Quarterbacks I am excited about the 2 guys we have committed right now and also excited about the two guys we still have considering us (Conner and Russell). However, I think alot of people forget that true freshmen cannot play QB in today's SEC. If you want some recent case studies, look at Brodie Croyle (#1 rated QB coming out of high school). He was red-shirted and has been sporadically good this year. Brock Berlin was the top-rated HS QB the year before and he was basically ineffective as a true freshman at Florida. He should have redshirted. Jason Campbell at Auburn was a top 10 QB but needed two full years to come up to speed. If you've seen Reggie McNeal at Texas A&M this year, you know he had a good game against Oklahoma but stunk it up in other games and was pulled. I think we can safely assume these two commits are 2+ years away from being winning SEC quarterbacks.
It takes awhile to learn the college system as a QB. As evidenced by all LSU recent QB's, with the exception of Herb Tyler. Although Herb had Faulk & didn't throw as much, he still had audibles to call. I believe the Jimbo system is very complicated, & takes time to learn. Having said that, I believe next years starting & probably backup QB is already a Tiger. We are recruiting for 2005 is my guess. Lane may not stay that long. So Flynn just may be it. Next subject: I also believe it is a tough transition from WR to DB (IMO). Corey Webster & Jack Hunt are to be congratulated. Let's also not lose sight of the fact that Spears & Hill are starting for the first time this year. Without their nagging injuries their numbers would be up. I say congrats to all of them.
Spears looked to finally be getting his mobility back this past week, although he was unable to prevent Ole Miss' RB from getting around the corner on one play. Lejurn came up with a big tackle on that play to prevent a big gain. I don't know what's going on with Marquis Hill. I thought he was coming on in early October, but now 92 is more likely to be in the game at any given time than him...
