A wise man once said "a child is a product of the environment growing up in". That seems to be the case for Janzen. it is only fair to wish him the best for a turnaround. Not easy but possible witha better,stronger,positive environment.
Yes and JJ was a rotten egg, it was only a matter of time until he started to stink off the field. IMO LSU dodged a bullet and a close one.
No argument there. It was best for LSU. Just being human and hoping that JJ can get his life turned around.
Right now if you are a defensive back it is hard not to be very impressed with LSU. Saban has produced some pretty good DB's for the NFL, but mostly those guys are cornerbacks and not safeties. He's had highly rated safeties and some drafted fairly high, but they haven't enjoyed a high degree of success. Right now LSU is loaded with NFL talent at the secondary with Brandon Taylor being a potential 2nd or 3rd round pick if he blows up the drills. You have Eric Reid a potential future first rounder. Then you have Chavis having produced Eric Berry while at Tennessee. Then Ron Cooper while at South Carolina had Dunta Robinson, Jonathan Joseph, Ko Simpson, Fred Bennett, Captain Munnerlyn, and Stoney Woodson drafted under his tutelage. Ko started a couple years for the Bills at safety. Played 4 seasons. Bennett started a few games at corner. Played 4 seasons. Jonathan Joseph has been a Pro Bowler at corner. Active. Dunta Robinson has been at times a Pro Bowl level corner. Active. Captain Munnerlyn is a starter at corner. Active. Stoney Woodson suffered an ankle injury after being drafted and has bounced from practice squad to practice squad. LSU in recent years has put Chevis Jackson, Craig Steltz, Curtis Taylor, Chad Jones, Patrick Peterson, and LaRon Landry in the NFL. Four of those players are safeties. Chad obviously hasn't played due to the car crash. Curtis was a special teamer. Craig has done special teams and spot duty. LaRon has been a starter. Since Saban took over at Alabama only 4 defensive backs have been drafted -- Rashad Johnson (3rd round), Marquis Johnson (7th round), Javier Arenas (2nd round), and Kareem Jackson (1st round). That will change obviously this season with Lester, Barron, Dre, etc.. However, Arenas has only started 3 games in two years and plays sparingly. Marquis Johnson has practically not seen the field. Rashad Johnson has 10 starts in 3 seasons playing sparingly. Kareem Jackson has been a solid player at corner for the Texans. So Alabama and LSU have comparable recent success with secondary players being drafted, and both are set to send a lot of guys to the NFL in the next couple years. If I was a safety at this point I'd probably give the slight edge to Ron Cooper and Chavis over Saban at this juncture.
Don't forget about: Chris Hawkins - Ten Travis Daniels - KC Corey Webster - NYG Ryan Clark - Pit Curtis Taylor - SF (?) Mark Roman - (?) Danny McCray - Dal Randall Gay - (?) Johnathan Zenon
I definitely wasn't meaning to leave LSU players off the list I made. I was looking strictly the past several years of players developed by LSU, Alabama with Nick Saban (hence no mention of Roman Harper for example), and of Ron Cooper's work with DBs at South Carolina along with Chavis' tutelage of Eric Berry while at Tennessee. Hard to properly quantify the effects of each component (LSU, Chavis, Cooper) so I was looking at recent examples of each coach or program's influence in the secondary that were drafted. LSU and I am sure Bama have a few DBs in the NFL that went undrafted in recent years but that would have required a lot more digging on my part. Most recruits aren't going to look back to the Ryan Clark's or Mark Roman's of the world when it comes to their current situation. Program history is a great benefit, but they want to see in my opinion what the current staff, coach, and program have recently done -- that was why my focus was on very recent draft selections. We all know coaches/GMs are MUCH more likely to keep a drafted player in the NFL over an undrafted guy -- they are egotistical and don't like to appear wrong. Sean Payton is a rarity in that regard. He cut 4th round pick Antonio Pittman in favor of undrafted rookie Pierre Thomas. Most NFL teams give drafted players a lot more chances to prove themselves so being drafted is definitely a big deal. I was surprised Saban hasn't really sent more prominent safeties into the NFL given his pedigree as a secondary guru.
I believe Ron Cooper is a tremendous defensive back coach and he seems to create that success as much as it follows him. This staff is really quite remarkable from Chavis to Coop to Frank Wilson to Krags.. you can't pick just one guy you "can't afford to lose" and that's the signature of a championship coaching staff to me.
