Hit Toliver's Cast.:hihi: They were allowing Lee to throw little screens and out most of the time. Only saw him throw over the middle twice and one deep ball dropped by Randle. They should have called the same when JJ was in to build rhythm. However, the defense has a huge advantage in these things given that we have vanilla packages and these are the same looks they have been seeing all Spring. Hell, Loston was in the backfield waiting for that screen pass a few seconds before the pass was made. Lee still should have looked where he was throwing though.
Overall, I saw some improvements in some areas. What I liked. - No more swapping players for specific plays... with only a few exceptions like Shep coming in to run Wildcat - RBs are all around backs, they can run, catch, and block... no more switching out players. Matter of fact Ford and Ridley look like twins. Great vision by both and Ford has greater speed than I though. - OL looks better but Mingo blew up about 50% of the pass plays. - Kick return and fgs look great... PP would had a TD. - Great pass rush from the ends What I thought was ok: - Lee was solid did make a few mistakes but he was fighting Mingo for most of the day to get passes off.... Loston knew the play was coming and made the play. - Wildcat, just seems like it's a fill play instead of being exciting for some reason - Shepard, so-so... made a couple of solid catches, missed a couple of easier ones What I thought was bad: - JJ looks completely out of synch and just looks lost - Concerns up the middle on DL, RBs blew them up... is this a case of bad D or just great running? Concerns for next year. - QB - Up the middle D - Will Crowton get his crap straight
With that schedule if the offense doesn't click by the 4th game it's going to get rough. We'll see. I would say IF LSU losses 2 games by the time florida comes around it's going to be long year. That schedule is brutal.
Short synopsis of what I saw out there: Defense: - Run defense was questionable - Sam Montgomery is going to be a terror off the edge. - The secondary is much better than last year. Ron Brooks and Maurice Claiborne are crazy athletic, to go with Thorpe frontrunner Patrick Peterson we should be among the best in the conference. I didn't get enough of a look at Eugene at safety today to gauge how he'll do. - Francois looks like another Harry Coleman out there, very fast and more filled out. Here's hoping he makes the same impact out there. Offense - Ridley looked really good, and Michael Ford looked incredible. - Jordan Jefferson was pretty terrible, overthrew the deep ball about 8 times - Good to see that Jarrett Lee is in midseason form. He hit Craig Loston right on the number and of course Loston promptly ran it in for a TD. Other than that, Lee looked like the better of the two QBs (scary, right?) - Shepard will be more than fine at WR this year. Granted, he dropped a few catchable balls, including the one deep ball Jefferson put on the money, but he made enough plays in the passing game to give me hope. He also did well running the football, as is customary for him. Glad to see him take a few snaps, except for the one under center. The kid is obviously a very special player. - Rueben Randle looks like he's ready to explode, provided he gets enough targets this year. Doubt we'll throw it often enough for him to really break out, but expect him to make a few big plays this season. Misc. - Josh Jasper is the best kicker to ever live. He hit a 57 yarder into the wind with room to spare. - Peterson returning kickoffs has me giddy. He could possibly be a game-changer there. - After Jesse Palmer compared Shep to Pat White, he asked what number White wore in college; Chris Fowler mistakenly said 7, and Craig James gave Fowler credit for "knowing" it. All three of these men are idiots for this exchange. Didn't really care too much about the outcome, just glad to see Tiger football again.
On the bright side if JJ gets his s**t together and Shep's hands get better, then I wouldn't want to be the defense that sees Ridley, Ford and Shep in the backfield. Also nice to see Nevis clean house in spring awards.
My Thoughts, Despite the "maturity" that J.J. has supposedly attained, I didn't see it after some adversity today. I saw the same sour "it ain't fair" look on his face that I've seen before. Jarrett "snakebit" Lee.. even with the p6 we have all GROWN to know and GROAN about... was checking down.. NOT following one wideout.... looked better than J.J. besides. Shep... just faster and more athletic than everybody else and it's evident. Still a diamond covered under a bunch of coal dust. Barkevious Mingo.... one of the booth tools hit on it today.. shades of Jevon Kearse.. just needs a few pounds. I think before it's done we're gonna feel us some Mingo. Don't know factor: Either the OLine is a good bit more physical or the Dline is a little too small. Unfortunately,I think we're good on the corner but kinda light up the middle on D. Josh Jasper... 57 into the wind... "nuff said" Just good to see some Tiger Football.... Thought :milesmic: Les looked a little puffy in the High Def though. Geaux Tigers:tigerhead
I need to watch it again - and Spring Games are really just big scrimmages - but I don't think any of the most important questions were answered. Important questions: Do we have a reasonable starting QB? Dunno. Do we have a better OL? Dunno (not sure the DL is a reasonable SEC caliber test yet) Do we have a passing game? Dunno and that's being generous. Will Russell Shepard be a key contributor? Dunno, but admit that's a tad pessimistic. Stuff we already knew or suspected: Ridley and Ford are a good RB combination. Randle is the real deal. Shepard is fast and quick. LSU's defensive backs are way good. P. Peterson is a great idea at return man. Josh Jasper is a rockin' FG kicker. Deangelo Peterson was a good move to TE. I can't wait to have time to really rewatch. But from what I've seen so far, LSU still has a QB problem.
If I didn't know any better I'd swear LSU were playing the week after the Cap One Bowl judging by QB play. Makes me wonder just how much time Gonzales is getting with Jefferson.
