He has had a reputation for not having the best hands in the world, but he's got his senior year and a real quarterback at his disposal. This is his make or break and I think the jury's still out. He's too good of an athlete to NOT have on the field.
Rare disagreement with you here. LSU isn't short on athletes and he might be the fastest WR but he certainly doesn't run the best routes, doesn't have the best hands, doesn't block the best, goes down with a sneeze, has improved ball security but isn't the best there either, etc. If athlete was that important, Xavier Carter would have been All-American and he could barely hit the field. Another guy rated very, very highly out of HS and played like a 2* player....worse than Shepard BTW. Whoa, Carter was a 6.1 5* Rivals guy just like Shepard and a 100% bust!
Have to agree with you Miles. I would have to add that Shepard has a hard time getting off the line of scrimmage against a physical corner. You add inconsistant route running and he won't be where the QB expects him to be for a timing route.
Agree with all of this. What I meant was, perhaps he's kinda got the Reggie Bush factor. With the investment you have in him, you have to get what you can get out of him, whether if it's giving him 3 touches a game or simply using him as a decoy or whatever, I still think he should see the field. Trindon Holliday wasn't a pure receiver either, but they found ways to get him the ball and he made the most of it. On the flip side of that coin, Shep has increasingly shown butterfingers and a seemingly natural ability to fumble the football. That combination will get your ass sent straight to the 2nd or 3rd string, just like we saw in the BCSCG, but he is a tiger, and I support him 100% and want to see him on the field and see him improve and be the star and player we all hoped he would be.
Shepard does not have great hands, and his route running abilities are suspect. Having said that, the weapons that would make him more effective just aren't there when (a) your QB is not a deep threat whatsoever and can't force the back 7 deeper into coverage, and (b) your QB can't consistently hit short passes with accuracy. Jefferson was a case study in this. On simple 2-3 yd swing passes he could never hit a back or receiver in stride, almost always too far ahead or behind, and his windup was painfully slow. That automatically negates Shepard's speed edge since he has to slow down for the ball, and a defense loading the box can tee off on him. Lee could get the ball out faster, but whenever a pass rush got in his face his accuracy went to hell. I'm not saying Shepard will be an all-SEC WR with Mett at the helm, but if he put in the work this offseason he might surprise people.
If receivers needed a QB to hit them in stride for them to catch it, no one would bother watching football...
I haven't mentioned this before but another problem I have with Shepard is that he doesn't make people miss due to cuts either....opposite of that is Beckham's Heisman type run after catch against Kentucky. I thought he would be more shifty but Shepard is straight line speed IMO just like Holliday. I think the "decoy" factor is long gone. That works for a while and then you have to perform. The only sensational play I remember from RS was the 75 yard run against Auburn for a TD and that was like his TR FR season. I don't remember Trindon Holliday doing much at WR...obviously did it on PR and KR and had the really good run against somebody for 35 yard TD. Sounds like I don't like the guy but I give him a lot of credit for helping Montgomery and Loston choose LSU. They have said as much. Not his fault that he got overrated of HS.
We'll just have to wait and see. If Shep has a good year, are you all gonna admit you were wrong? I will if he sucks as bad as you guys think.
He would need a 1250 reception yards type year with 500 or so rushing to make up for all the crap routes, dropped balls, and not making that TD in the first Bama game. A TD in that Bama game and we might just be NC right now.
