Jordan Jefferson to take reigns over offense next season

There is nothing negative in my post.

Nowhere in my post do see me predicting the same outcome for JJ that Lee had.

What you do see is a realistic post saying that one solid game against Ole Miss is nowhere near enough to project the future. Dude has tons of potential. I said that much on the mid-week Geaux Show after the Troy game.

Don't read anything more into it than what is there.

 

If I did that then my bad, but your defense of Lee was pretty strong, just seems odd that I didnt see for myself you giving Jefferson any props.

Not that you have to, you are entitled to your opinions.

 

For those wondering about Tenuta... Rumor was, he was recruiting some of our defensive recruits last year and he was partially the reason they chose LSU over GT. So bringing him here might have hurt some of the recruiting last year. These guys just didn't like him. This was probably part of the reason we didn't offer the job to him.

 

Pre-Bama, yeah I defended Lee pretty strong because of the potential and flashes of greatness. The mistakes Lee makes are all mental.
Chances are JJ will make mistakes too. Thats what young inexperienced QBs do.

And next year, if/when JJ is making those mistakes, people on this board will be screaming for Russell Sheppard. And I'll be here defending JJ just like I did for Lee, and just like I did for Flynn (yeah he was senior, but 1st year starter), and just like I did for JR.

 

We'd all like to see Jefferson do well. I'm sure we'd all like to see Lee do well. I think it wise to temper your optimism about Jefferson and your pessimism about Lee at this point. Both are green, which probably benefits the dual threat QB and hinders the drop back passer. I love running QBs, but Lee has shown flashes of greatness that Jefferson hasn't approached yet. He's also shown flashes of not-so-greatness. We'll see what the future holds.

 

I'm not being facetious, but could you give some examples?

Let's be honest, LSU came back to beat Troy on talent. While Troy was wearing down, Lafell and Toliver were coming alive, the running game came back, the blocking was better, and Troy was making stupid decisions (going for it on 4th, fumbled the punt, lots of drops, etc). Lee was still staring down one guy on every single play, only this time, that one guy was getting open.

The same exact thing happened with Auburn. He stared down one receiver on every play, and because Auburn was such a bad team then (and maybe now), Lafell and the other recievers he stared down started to make plays.

These flashes of greatness have been his arm strength and the luck of the one guy he stares down being open. He has shown no progression, no ability to move around in the pocket or run, no ability to read coverages or look for another guy that's open, and no leadership. The Troy game was one of the first games where he threw the ball away... and the crowd cheered!

Again, these flashes of greatness have all been the strength of his arm. He can bomb it as good as anyone, but screen passes, over the middle passes (post/slant), curl passes, etc, he can barely do it. Well, that roll out to the right where he throws it to Toliver every time works every now and then.

I understand that JJ wasn't spectacular, but he showed us a few things. He can run, his arm is just as good as Lee's, and... wait for it.... he can LOOK FOR AN OPEN RECEIVER. Also, he doesn't have that glazed look in his eyes on every play that Lee has. JJ has fire. He gets frustrated at himself when he misses a throw. You can tell he wants to be better... Lee looks scared the whole game.

That alone makes JJ better.

I realize how this seems to trash on Lee a lot, but understand that I hope he gets healthy. My heart sank when I saw him twist his ankle, but it's not sacrilege to say he isn't a good QB. I'd be shocked if he doesn't transfer after next season. I think JJ and Shepard will steal his thunder completely.

 

If JJ has a major breakthrough in the offseason... and Shepard comes in and learns our O with ease I think you'll see Shep starting and JJ playing the back up role.
Who knows though the offseason is a long process and anything can happen. But I still think JL has a place on the team... I think hatch needs to address the possibility of leaving.

 

Unless Shep makes some serious strides (granted he already has improved) in his passing game, I don't see him taking the starting role next season even IF he learns the playbook. Either Lee or JJ will still be behind center, and IMO rightly so.

 

Based on Sheps most recent playoff game, I am wondering if he could throw himself a 70 yard bomb??? Dude ran for over 300 yards as a QB!

 

While I agree with Nootch in that we should be cautiously optimistic about Jefferson, he did a few things Saturday that I haven't seen an LSU QB do in quite some time:

1) Stepped up in the pocket to sell the run, then dropped back and threw. Granted, you can only do this if you are a legitimate running threat (which he obviously is), but it's a very effective tool if you don't overdo it. Tebow has made a living doing this.

2) Pump faked. Now, he didn't complete the following pass that he threw, but still, I don't think I've seen a Tiger QB do that since Rohan. It's like the coaches have been telling them that it's illegal.

3) He went through his progressions to find an open receiver, rather than locking onto his hot route. That's something that we haven't seen all year.

Now, there were a couple of times when he hung back in the pocket a little too long and got sacked. But he will improve in that area over time, as his timing and peripheral vision improve.

These few small things (well, #3 isn't that small) don't necessarily mean that he is ready to be the chosen one just yet. However, they demonstrate that he has great instincts as a quarterback, and can do the little things that often make a huge difference. He seems to be a very natural fit, and plays with a lot of fire (another knock on Lee).