Yea you rite. We have so many talented receivers salivating over the ball, that RS will probably be a situational player. He'll still get 40 catches and 17 TD's !!
Here is what you quoted "IMO, Crowton's playcalling wasn't that bad....maybe a B- grade in fact." Here is the entire short analysis of Crowton that I indeed made. "IMO, Crowton's playcalling wasn't that bad....maybe a B- grade in fact. Where Crowton got an F was QB development which of course affects what plays can be called." As OC/QB coach, you are judged by your head coach and fans by BOTH factors, not just playcalling.
He's a dynamic threat with the ball in his hands. Much like Reggie Bush was with the Saints, yes, he will be maddeningly inconsistent at times because he's got a play fast and loose mentality, but he has something you simply cannot teach which is elite speed and playmaking ability. Sometimes he will commit a blunder, no doubt, but given the proper amount of touches he'll also take a lot of those risky touches and make something substantial out of nothing. He's not a Darren Sproles who seems to rarely ever make a mistake. Reggie Bush was a feast or famine type guy, but USC and even the Saints more often benefited from his feasting than when he was starving. Shep given the touches in a variety of ways will make some critical errors, but his ability and feel for the game wll allow him to embarrass a lot of defenders while setting up the LSU offense in favorable positioning. Every national championship team needs a guy who can change the game in their favor in one play. Tyrann was much of the year that guy for us last season, but Shep could be that man on offense with more creative touches.
C'mon Steve, you know what he meant. He is saying that Randall caught over 50 passes and Beckham caught over 40. Shepard was WAY DOWN as a miniscule 14 below believe or not an LSU TE in Peterson who caught 18. You can spin it all you want but the statement I made is the same one LSUPride brought up. Funny, how Randall and Beckham could have good seasons despite inconsistent QB play. Shepard could not. You can only blame the QB play for so long...BTW, 62% for a team completion percentage is NOT bad by any stretch. What I think the fans complain about were the shortness of some of those passes and the fact that when it came down to crunch time, the passes were off and on in accuracy.
Wow, good luck on that happening. First, you mentioned Reggie Bush who is very fast like Shepard but Bush is trusted to field kicks also. Bush also has moves that can make defenders miss...Shepard is straight line speed only. Third, there are probably 200 guys at skill positions in the NCAA who are very fast in the open field...the key is to GET into the open field. That is not the coaches' problem...that is Shepard's problem. You get off the LOS without being jammed...you run the proper route...you don't catch the ball with your chest, you don't get brought down by someone grabbing your sleeve, etc, etc, etc. Watching the guy in HS a little on TV and at LSU for 3 years now, he simply isn't a 5* guy. Just like Xavier Carter was not a 5* guy. I would rate the guy a high 3* out of HS from what I've seen. He isn't even close to being a franchise football player IMO.
BTW, time to put a HUGE fact on the table {this given fact is done with already having said that I do NOT consider Lee nor Jefferson starting SEC caliber QBs). The LSU passing game completed 62% of their passes last season! 62%, and yes I know a lot of them were flairs, etc but everybody throws those. Mettenberger was 8 for 11 so he didn't play enough to run up the stats out of 173 passed completed. IMO, to blame the QBs for Shepard's or the TE's ineffectiveness is pretty silly. 62% is NOT the worst in the nation, not remotely close. Now, LSU did finish 100th in passing yardage but that is because LSU ran the ball so much AND played in the SEC, not the Wacky WAC or whatever.
Never said they didn't suffer. Only that the better WR's made plays when it mattered. Like a great player should. SHEP is not on OBJ's current level. Again, I wish for only the best.
Our point has never been answered...why were the other receivers catching a lot of footballs? And since to be fair they were being thrown to more, why was that? And like I said, 62% of passes thrown were caught by someone on LSU's team during the 2011 season...173 passes total. I was NOT a fan of either QB because I admit I think the stats were skewed a bit by short passes, etc. However 62% did NOT hit the ground so were these QBs as bad as Marcus Randall for example...Sol Graves for example...Andrew Hatch for example...I don't think so. These were not the worst QBs in LSU football history, not even close to that.
