I just saw 3 touches, but I'm impressed. Running at the QB spot, and lining up at receiver, and when he touches the ball, good things happen. Yeah, he left one on the ground, but it was a good hit on the ball. You hear everybody talking about adjusting to the speed of the game going from high school to college, but it appears to me RS has already adjusted to the speed of the SEC. About 10 yards a touch, he goobles up yards FAST. The roster lists him at 6' 1", and 188 lbs. In high school they had him at 175. Based on limited sightings, I'm want to see more!
I'll go a bit further than that. Besides Cecil Collins, this is the most explosive player I have ever seen take the field at LSU. And that from only 3 plays. By the Georgia and Florida games, Russell Shepard needs to be on the field between 1/3 and 1/2 the time. He can obviously catch a ball, he looked great on that pass (although he fumbled but he knows now to protect the ball when going over the middle especially). Hopefully this coaching staff (er, Les Miles) sees it the same way. Not holding my breath however. Russell Shepard on the field affords LSU the best opportunity at succeeding on offense this season. Even if he is a decoy half the time. We must have him out there.
Yes, and that includes any LSU player, save Holliday. But Holliday can't allude tacklers the way this guy can. Totally different ballgame.
Speed and moves are a ticket to success . . . if he has the durability. Like Holliday, he's probably not an every-down player. He's going to get hurt if linebackers can pick him up and piledrive him like that.
That's a negative. He's not that fragile. He's over 200 lbs and very solidly built. Let's stop this mentality before it catches fire.
In addition to being fast, on the first run, he showed he can follow his blocker, but he has the vision, and he knew when he had to step on the accelerator as he could gain more by leaving the blocker behind. Great natural instinct.
