I don't see Claiborne starting over Eugene when he and Hawkins have been rotating so much. Eugene should give LSU a much needed boost in run support too, something Hawkins struggled with. Claiborne will be a full time starter by his Junior year, IMO. I see it being him and possibly Brooks starting. PP most definitely will be gone after next year, unless something devastating happens. With rookie salary cap possibly coming into play, plus scouts already have PP is one of the top Sophomore prospects right now... I've heard that Brooks is by far the best pure athlete on the team. Has some pretty good physical stats pound for pound.
Mark it down, Claiborne will start, Eugene just gets beat too much. If Eugene does start it will be because of Mile's partiality to seniors.
Over Chad Jones? He has been good on special teams the past two years, but I doubt he is the best pure athlete.
A number of the coaches on the staff and a few players have said that Brooks is the best pure athlete. He is not head and shoulders above everyone but he is a strong candidate.
I think Brooks is one of the strongest players pound for pound on the team - at least that was the word last offseason. I find it hard to believe anyone is more athletic than R Shepard.
This, along with the O-Line, are my biggest concern. We HAVE to have lock down corners to get back to the aggressive style of defense we used to play, and Peterson will be gone next year. Yes, a talent like Patrick is very rare but I have not seen us bringing in the caliber of CB that we can put out on islands, man on man, one on one, to free up our LBs and Safeties to blitz. This position most definitely concerns me.
I'm honestly not really concerned about it. We have Peterson for another year, and his backup Claiborne is a freak. He's the #3 CB as a true frosh, and we have some other genuine freaks coming in also. I worry more about the DL and hope we can get back to dominance there.. A good DL can make a strong secondary dominant :wave:
