On paper, the class of '09 is the best class. I realize these guys haven't even made it to the first practice yet, but we really loaded up and there appears to be more "star power" in this class. If nothing else, we got a ton of exposure for having such a great class, and that can only help us in the future. Top-tier kids all over the country continue to hear about :lsup:, and that can only be a good thing. :crystal::geaux::crystal::geaux::crystal:
2009's class of Downs, Shepard & Randle all showed glimpses of their potential last season, and will be instrumental in the coming season. Look for several more of these guys to end up being great players as well. This should be a good year for some of the 2008 class. At least of half of this class will play consistently this coming season. Patrick Peterson is obviously the star of the class, but some other guys have the potential to be pretty good as well. 2007's class is pretty firmly entrenched by now. Lots of talent at OL in this class now starting. Also Toliver, Nevis, & Chad Jones are pretty big names although it could be said non have reached their potential. Only Kelvin Sheppard, Jai Eugene, & Richard Murphy remain from 2006's class. All look to have an impact this season (if Murphy is healthy). Overall, a lot of forgettable names in this class. Charles Scott & Richard Dickson are the only 2 I would say had exceptional careers. 2005's class is now gone. RJF & Perilloux were 2 great players with head issues. Hitt, Hawkings, Holliday, & Rahim Alem were all starters & solid players for us. Beckwith, C. Black, & LaFell all had exceptional careers at LSU.
I say bust because they didn't do much contributing to LSU. I understand some of these guys had major life changing events and some major injuries...but they're still busts in my eyes since they didn't contribute on the field. 2005: Kyle Anderson-bust Darry Beckwith-good Ciron Black-good Chris Hawkins-solid Lyle Hitt-solid Trindon Holliday-solid R.J. Jackson-bust Ricky Jean-Francois-disappointment Al Jones-disappointment Steven Korte-bust Brandon LaFell-great Ryan Perrilloux-bust Antonio Robinson-bust 2006: Matt Allen-bust Jacob Cutrera-bust(injuries entire career here) Richard Dickson-good Ricky Dixon-bust Jai Eugene-disappointment so far Troy Giddens-bust Lazarius Levingston-disappointment so far J.D. Lott-bust Danny McCray-bust Chris Mitchell -bust Jared Mitchell-bust(baseball) Richard Murphy-disappointment so far Jacob O'Hair-bust Derrick Odom-bust Perry Riley-solid Charles Scott-great Kelvin Sheppard-great Steven Singleton-bust Mark Snyder-bust Jason Teague-bust Zhamal Thomas-bust Keiland Williams-solid Al Woods-solid 2007: Kentravis Aubrey-bust Joseph Barksdale-solid Will Blackwell-disappointment so far(could change soon) Ron Brooks-disappointment so far Demetrius Byrd-solid Shomari Clemons-bust Jordon Corbin-bust Sidell Corley-bust Andrew Crutchfield-bust Josh Dworaczyk-solid Stefoin Francois-disappointment so far(pushing for starting job) T-Bob Hebert-disappointment so far(injury plagued) Josh Jasper-great Chad Jones-good(needed another year) Jarvis Jones-bust Phelon Jones-bust Mitch Joseph-solid Jarrett Lee-disappointment so far Ernest McCoy-bust Drake Nevis-solid Stevan Ridley-solid Alex Russian-what needs to be said? long snapper Terrance Toliver-solid(hasn't come close to living up to potential) John Williams-disappointment so far 2007 has a lot of people pushing for starting jobs but so far, nobody has really took command yet. Some of these guys on this list could be great but for some reason, really fell off their senior years. Black, Byrd and Dickson come to mind. I put disappointment so far for a lot of guys. Lee shouldn't even be on the field until this year...he really got thrown into a bad situation. Some positions just develop slower. LSU's main problem on the team right now is the 2006 class has absolutely killed us...especially on o-line. Then you have the QB problem. Its put up or shutup for these guys this year. Lee will be in this program 4 years, its time for him to show something. JJ has had a lot less time compared to Lee. Most 2005 players didn't live up to their potential either, although most were decent players for LSU and contributed a title.
I think we get caught up a lot expecting every safety to be Laron Landry...or even Ronnie Lott. Every WR to be Jerry Rice. Every RB to be Emmitt Smith. A lot of these guys were great, but didn't play a big role in a given year due to playcalling, ie; Richard Dickson last season. He was a GREAT TE. Just underutilized last year. Sometimes I think WE as fans are the ones with the problem. If a guy came into the program with high expectations and didn't sniff the field, or didn't eventually start, that can be considered a bust. But if he eventually started and contributed, that's at least solid. It means he was better than any other at his position, or he wouldn't have been starting. ie; Al Jones. The guy didn't even start in 08, and led the team in sacks. He had an off year last year, but he wasn't a dissapointment in the grand scheme of things. He was actually a pleasant surprise in 08.
Only reason I put those like that was because they had very disappointing Senior campaigns. Black really started to fall off the second half of his Junior year to his Senior. I can't put great for a guy who was suppose to be a leader and struggled majorly last year. Byrd had some great games as a Junior and is a reason we went to a NC. Lafell was a great player because he was consistent his entire career here and showed improvement every year. Same with Scott and his struggles last year weren't exactly his fault and still played with heart(Georgia game). Black declined as his career went on. Byrd had a attitude problem his Senior year and probably was one of the problems on the team that year. I expected Alem to have a great Senior campaign but he was very mediocre at best last year. So, he was a very big disappointment to me. Same with RJF, again, it seemed like he took a step back. Looked dominate and then Junior campaign comes and hes mediocre. This has happened to a lot of our players over the years. Tyson Jackson is another player. He started going backwards after a great Sophomore campaign... I seen Black getting pissed on the sidelines a lot and I think a lot of his struggles, was his own fault. Scott never cried on the sidelines when he was struggling...he just kept at it and still found ways to make plays when we needed them. He was starting to move in the Bama game until he got hurt.
The game changes significantly from HS to SEC and requires a pretty significant transition. Some make it quickly (Peterson). Some make it slowly (Jordan Jefferson?). Some never make it (Al Woods?). I took the point of the OP to be simply looking at classes and seeing how they turned out - as a class. For my money, it's more about the impact of the entire class on the team's results. I'm not as interested in individual players' development, although in certain skill positions (QB) the impact on the team is more significant than others. I vote for 2007 because lots of those dudes are contributing big time and they still have a couple of years left. End of the day, 2011 may end up being another class like 2007. Maybe better.
