???? http://rivals100.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=895371 Not trying to say you are wrong, but obviously, either you or rivals got some bad information, as it seems y'all are saying the exact opposite?
It's coming from Sonny who is at the practices. Dunno. Maybe he is wrong. He also says Myles and Armstrong > Loston right now.
This is what ESPN said about how the QBs did in Thursday's practice: Feeling their groove Despite the chilly temperature and a slight wind, both squads' quarterbacks heated up in practice. Black signal-caller Garret Gilbert (Austin, Texas/Lake Travis) looked particularly accurate and crisp today with his short-to-intermediate passes. Josh Nunes (Upland, Calif.) continues to show his good polish and arm strength. Russell Shepard (Houston/Cypress Ridge) threw his share of bad balls and struggled at times with accuracy, but he surprised with his downfield arm strength. The future LSU Tiger continues to freeze some of the nation's finer defenders in space any time he tucks the ball away. The White QBs also looked a lot sharper today. Matt Barkley (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei) had a few of the nicer deep balls of the day, flashing his good arm strength and downfield accuracy. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/football/columns/story?columnist=tucker_billy&id=3804133
Rivals was blown away by how Shep looked at practice for the Under Armour AA Game: ASSETS: Exceptional if not superior athletic ability for a quarterback. He may be a cross between Michael Vick and Vince Young when plays break down. AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT: Has really come a long way in his overall throwing mechanics. If he continues on this path he could be the next quarterback to lead LSU to the National Title. WHAT WAS MOST IMPRESSIVE IN PRACTICE: When the pocket collapsed he took off up the middle like a cruise missile darting and weaving towards the end zone. CONCLUSION: Shepard could become near unstoppable in the spread offense especially if he can improve his arm strength on deep balls.
More Shepard http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/andy_staples/01/01/russell-shepard/index.html
In Thursday practice, Shep was as accurate and consistent as any other of the other all-star quarterbacks out there. Shep had some nice completions, showed nice touch on the deep passes, nice velocity on the short passes. Of course, Shep also showed how scary he is when he tucks-and-runs. However, Shep's teammate on the Black team, QB Garrett Gilbert of Texas (Rivals 5-star), looked just as impressive, and Rivals said it was too early to tell which quarterback will get the start in Sunday's game. In Friday practice, Shep and Gilbert split first team reps. Rivals was even more blown away by Shep, saying that he was electric with the ball in his hands, and that he had unbelievable quickness and terrific speed and was "a nightmare for a defense." Shep also threw a perfectly timed fade route to Duron Carter that would have been impossible for any defensive back to break up. The other QB that Shep and Gilbert are competiting against for playing time is QB Josh Nunes of California (Rivals 4-star).
LSU-bound Russell Shepard is America's top prospect. Russell Shepard is ready to play on Saturdays this fall.
Just curious.. regardless of getting Debose or not.. does anyone see us running a good bit of slot-options with Shep at the helm? It's the best way to do it IMO.. get an extra blocker in there to spring the play wide-open. Either C. Scott/Allen lead blocker.. or both. Slot options to Debose, Trindon, Calhoun?
My projection would be: Slot - Debose, Calhoun?, Bell WR - Toliver, Tolliver, Benton, Randle, Peterson Calhoun sure is tempting in the slot and it is too early to say he will definitely be a DB, especially with as many DBs as we already have. I hope he ends up on the offensive side of the ball. Claiborne is another that could be either DB or slot.
