I saw a number of things at the practice, but one thing that stuck out the most to me was Early Doucet. That kid is going to be one hell of a player for us. He runs fantastic routes, excellent hands, just about everything you want in a receiver. I'm really excited about him.
I know... that I have only seen one practice, so take this with a grain of salt. QB's: I grew very tired of watching M. Randall throw those "nose" down balls. He did make some good throws, but all in all I thought that JR really handled the ball much better. Especially when he has only been in the system for the second year.(My take on MR is that they are trying to build him up with all of the "really becoming a leader' and "really learning the system and reading defenses" bull. After 5 years that should already be entrenched in him) Watch his balls and notice how the ball flies nose down which forces the ball to dive! MF and Reever also looked very solid. WR: The only problem with this group is how to play all of them! E. Doucet is a stud! RB: Awesome! OL: Awesome! Better than last year! Punting: Not good at all! There was signs of brilliance but it was well hidden. TE: Great! DEFENSE DL: It was hard to tell. Was our OL that good or was our DL told to let them have that hole to make sure that the RB's and the OL was on the same page. Tough to know. DB: Awesome and full of depth. WR did get open and make some catches, but look realistically at the talent in that pool. LB: Will be a strength. E.J. Kuale is fast and looks as if he just enjoys hitting people. K. Hollis is huge. I hope that he can catch on. Coaches rode AHighsmith pretty good, but he is great. Special Teams: Really couldn't get a good look. Field Goals weren't kicked so there was no notes on this. Overall: This team is absolutely huge! You look at players like C. Webster and say that he is small. Don't be fooled. Even our QB's are huge! It is hard to believe that people that are so big can move so fast. I came away from there absolutely amazed at the size of these kids.
Justin Vincent is great and Alley Broussard is a specimen. However, don't count Shy out. He looked good. So much potential at WR its scary. Amp Hill looked good, its a shame he got hurt last year. Mario Stevenson seams to have picked up the system. LaRon Landry is going to be even better this year. Travis Daniels got a haircut ! Nate Livings is a monster. Spoke a little to Jason Spadoni, he is really a nice kid. LaVelle Hawkins likes Baton Rouge, he's got nice speed. Early Doucet made some nice catches and XC can run. I would hate (not really) to be a DB at LSU. Saban rides someone @ss after every play ! Apparently the older DBs are telling the younger DBs not to focus on HOW he says it and instead focus on WHAT he has to say. Fun day but hot. Thank goodness we are having this little cool spell.
I know! Nose down :cuss: JaMarcus was outstanding (as always) throwing the ball. Doucet is going to more than replace Henderson by the time he is done. Bowe looked great too.
To me, there's just a noticeable difference between the balls that JaMarcus throws and the balls the other QBs throw. He's got a cannon and he gets the ball the receiver MUCH FASTER. And, he had touch when he needed it. JaMarcus has a MAJOR LEAGUE arm. The other QBs have "nice" AAA arms. Just my $.02
I just got back, drove all the way from Memphis, mainly to get tickets to a game. Ja Marcus looked incredible, stout, a physical wonder, but under center Randall looked better. He just "knew" where he was and seemed to look confidant and at ease. :grin: :grin: :grin: JaMarcus looked nervous during the "actual" running of plays and didnt seem to read as well as Randall. During the deep ball throws JaMarcus was "all that" ....AMAZING ARM.... If this guy learns the offense and learns to read defenses, he will be one incredible machine. He has height and can gun the ball. Right now Randall has one thing on him, experience at reading defense and that makes all the difference in the world in getting the ball to the right place. MR had that "comfort" look down under. PLEASE DO NOT THINK THIS IS A SLAM ON JR. He is DEFINATELY the future and I'm sure he will do fine in a Short time. :grin: :grin: Skylar looked pretty good especially on return practice. JV looked incredible and super ready to play. I was getting worried that JV was actually doing "too good" and might get hurt. I think he only knows how to put out 110%. :grin: Carter and Early looked like they could start for a Pro team next week. I saw both of them make some really great grabs and drag both feet to stay in like a pro. GREAT to be in Tiger STADIUM! Saban was his normal technical self, all over the field and coaching. Will MusChamp blew a 30 amp fuse on some defensive player who missed an assignment, not sure who it was but he was livid. GO WILL! :grin: FINALLY THE ROCK HAS COME BACK TO TIGeR STADIUM! :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin: :grin:
I agree Anyone who says JR looked way better was only looking at his size and arm strength and nothing else. He may have been a little more accurate, he may have been less; it was not significant enough to claim he should be the starter though. He threw behind on several throws (Doucet made big league plays on a couple of these, and nobody seemed to notice that the throws weren't really that good) and low on some. He also seems to throw all of his throws at the same speed- really fast. A ball that is a little low and behind thrown that hard seems to me like it would be much harder to catch than a MR throw with the same accuracy. There is no room for error with a throw like that. He also couldn't handle the blitzes as well as Randall. I saw nothing today that made me think he should start before Randall right now. He may come in during a game or a couple of games, light it up, and take over as starter, but I don't see him starting any other way this year.
