That's a simplistic look at the situation. First of all, Lee was not a true freshman when he was forced into the starting role; he was a redshirt. Secondly, Lee would never have been put in that situation had Miles not kicked Perrilloux off the team (which was the right decision). Next, Miles was not quick with the hook on Lee that season; the guy got 8 starts before JJ got a chance. And to be fair, Jefferson played well when he was put in. The following year, it was JJ's team all the way, and neither he (nor Lee in limited opportunities) showed much progress. Miles gets a pass for that season, because the long range planning was for Perrilloux to have been QB of that team. It wasn't until 2010, when JJ was getting the majority of the snaps though JLee was showing more progress, that it became fair to begin questioning CLM's use of the quarterbacks. From JLee's perspective, it was "Put me in as a true freshman, I mess up, and I pay for it the rest of my career." From JJ's its,"there's no coach in the country more loyal to his QB than Les Miles."
The crazy thing in all of this is that last year, Lee was the one who came in and won games late. How could we not atleast run that offense and try. I kept waiting for that, thinking how great could be for JL to lead us to a comeback win possibly. JL lead the SEC in Pass Efficiency for the 2/3 of the season! Forget the MNC, its inexplicable the lack of playing time or respect for him after the first Bama game.
I could not disagree more. Miles needed to take heat for his assinine performance on Mon night. It is irrelevant that T-Bob is on the team. I am glad someone in the media had the nuts to ask that tough question. Would you prefer the media just go in there and act like everything is peaches and cream? This is football for crying out loud! Get real man! Out of line would have been: "Hey coach, how many times did JJ suck your **** in order to keep getting back on the field???"
To blame the lack of a quality QB this season on one QB leaving 4 years ago before his then Jr season is ridiculous. QB's flunk out, graduate, leave early, transfer, bust and get kicked off of teams all the time. It shouldn't take 4 years to replace them. RP was going to be a Jr, there should have been at least two quality QB's in the pipeline already. This falls 100% on the shoulders of the coaching staff for poor QB recruiting and poor QB development. The JJ/JL disaster should have lasted 2 seasons at the most.
And it WOULD have been for 2 seasons at the most IF RP hadn't been kicked off the team. The fact is that neither JL, nor JJ panned out as a great QB, but both were sought after out of high school--so they might be what you'd call a bust (of sorts). However, we may never really know what their potential could have been if they had not been forced onto the field 1-2 years earlier than the coaches planned to do. JL became the all-time leader in pick 6's in a season when he'd have been seeing mop-up duty only in '08 and '09. Later in '08, JJ saw the field as a true freshman. That never would've happened if not for the RP debacle, and I still feel it set us back at the QB position for 4 years. Yes, the coaches should've had a QB in the class after RP signed. That was the biggest problem--but not if he'd panned out.
99% of the time early playing time makes players better sooner, not the other way around. It's Miles fault we went so long without a quality QB not RP's. Plus it's not like RP wasn't giving Miles warning signs since day one.
And the 1% of the time that early playing time does NOT make you better is being handed the starting QB job for the defending national champs in the SEC. That was sending a child into the deep end of the pool without his knowing how to swim.
For the last time, LSU not having a decent QB IS NOT THE FAULT OF RP! It's been 4 fkn years since he left the team!
