Look, our coaches (who have had some good times) outdumbed the dumb last year. There's a lot of things they didn't try that could have been better than what we were doing at times. We barely saw RS run the ball either and GOD KNOWS we were bad enough at times to see him in there. And we had SUCCESS when he did actually run the ball. I know I've probably said this 100 times, but he had our longest run in three years against Auburn with that 69-yard TD run. ZERO carries against Penn St. after having a month to practice/put in new plays. LOGIC? Based on what we've been seeing recently, I'd have to agree with you. I have more faith in a stripper not taking all of my money if I pass out while she's giving me a lap dance than LSU using RS like Percy Harvin. Well, based on our recent coaching decisions... At WR, some things have to go right and the ball has to actually get to you. At RB, it's pretty much assured that you're getting the ball. He should get a good mix of both to assure he gets the ball. Is it any relation to the reason they passed the ball SIX straight times against LA. Tech for SIX straight incompletions when J. Lee's aim was so bad that he couldn't have taken an AK47 and hit someone wearing purple and gold in Tiger Stadium? Because if it is, I guess I don't understand that kind of football wizardry. Here is what the ESPN recruiting guy said of Shep. coming out of high school: Shepard's Scouts Inc. Evaluation "Shepard is a rare athlete who resembles University of Florida receiver Percy Harvin lined up at quarterback -- a scary thought. Shepard is lean, flexible and plays with a lot of wiggle. He might seem like just a great athlete playing quarterback at first, but he's the real deal. Still, he makes most of his plays with his legs, either on called runs or on scrambles after the initial play unravels. Causes headaches for defenses because he can break down a defender in the open field as well as anyone. Stays low to the ground and doesn't take a lot of big hits. Has excellent vision and the lateral mobility to bounce runs outside after starting inside. Excels at locating cutback lanes. Takes little time to reach his top speed. Has the burst to get through holes quickly and to turn the corner. Accelerates out of cuts, changes directions quickly and shows fluid suddenness in space. Wins most footraces. Has a smooth, fluid release and a quick, compact delivery on his throws. Flashes the ability to place the ball anywhere on the field. Shows some zip on underneath throws and can fit balls into tight spots. Has great touch and timing on the deep ball. Throws on the run very well and has the arm strength to throw off balance and across his body. He's explosive in all areas: change-of-direction skills, elusiveness, speed and arm. Shepard is much further along as a passer than Terrelle Pryor was at this stage, and Shepard is more explosive. He's the type of player any college program would want to get his hands on the ball as often as possible." Tom Luginbill is the national director of recruiting for Scouts Inc. Luginbill is a college football and recruiting studio analyst for ESPNU. _________________________________________________________________________ Now, I know college is a huge step. And he played QB for the first time in his life during his sophomore year. I ain't saying he's ready to be a QB in college. I believe those of you on here that have been to practices and say he's had issues with hitting his targets. And supposedly he doesn't have a great arm for deep balls. However, I heard more than a few say enough to where you at least know he has potential to hit shorter targets. The coaches should have let him throw a short route at least once or twice last year. If anything just to make the other team really have to worry about it when he was in the backfield. It's not like he has two club hands. He could have completed a freakin pass. Some of y'all are buying into the coach speak we heard last year. You know, where we treated our players like girl scouts when it came to taking risks in a number of games. We're acting like RS is retarded or something and incapable of completing a short screen. Remember, we are the team that let 17 huge seconds run off the clock against Ole Miss and then tried to clock it with one second left. I just want to see the guy touching the ball on the field more. I remember P. Peterson talking about how good he was when carrying the ball in practice and how he thought RS could be SEC freshman of the year. And you know Peterson isn't the type to just praise someone he's trying to defend. I think RS could be good at anything he does, but I'd rather see him in a position where he is guaranteed touches because he's got the talent and the leadership factor. He's a good kid and has said that he will play wherever coaches need him as long as he gets a chance each spring at QB possibilities. He never has said he's happy to play anywhere without that opportunity. So I think as long as he gets a chance to fail/succeed at QB in practice, he'll be okay playing another position if he's not making progress. I do still think he would like to be QB at some point, but after last year, I think he just wants to get on the field. Let's just hope the coaches use him a lot more next year.
i really dont care. what i want is results. 1. i pretty much knew shep wasnt going to play QB-- he's more of an APB anyway - i get it. 2. i want to get back to our foundation of 2007---- people so scared of the run we can lite it up in the air AND VICE VERSA. 3. but mainly i want to get back to our fearful pelini defensive scheme with fast safety blitzes- b/c people should be able to man on man this year . 4. of course special teams int eh sec is huge--- and it begins with one of my best strategies--- a great kicker------- think about how many times you dont get past the 35 and if you can get points on a routine basis-- it will equate to 1-3 point wins--- again it allows for that one or two big plays but in the end what wins is consistency 5. i will be interested in the RB this year--- i like murphy from a person perspective but i just dont see him being the same murphy. 6. ALA at home how huge is that game??
In the end, I don't care how we get it done...power run or spread attack...stingy defense or opportunistic defense or anything in between. Choose your method, your bread and butter, and let's get this engine greased and ready to roll into the Georgia dome come September. I hope shep and gonzales bring some added legitimacy and consistency to our offense, something that we all know is damn crucial to success in the sec.
You make it sound like they knew Lee would go 0-6 and put him just to spite Shep. Is that what you're saying? JL had a bad outing that game, and had a ton of interceptions the year before but he was also second to Tommy Hodson in yards for a freshman with almost 1900 yards. Even though he gave up a ton of pick six's, JL had already proven to the coaches that he can in fact move the ball down field. Shepard had not. Simple as that. Nobody is saying he's an idiot and can't play. What I'm saying is, last season he simply wasn't ready to pass the ball. You can pull up all the write ups you want on him by whoever you want and it won't change a thing. In case you hadn't noticed, our starting QB last year struggled a bit too and if the coaches are going to spend time getting someone comfortable in a game-time atmosphere it may as well be your starter or #2 guy, not the #3 guy that struggles to throw passes. I can tell you this, I watched him throw several passes with my own eyes at a few scrimmages before the season started last year, one in the spring and one in the summer. He did not look ready to throw in a game in either one. He made decent decisions, but his passes looked wobbly, floating, and took a while to get to the target. In a real game he'd have been picked off pretty easily. Also, on at least 2 occasions I saw him try to go deep and the ball never came within 10 yards of the receiver. None of my comments are to say he doesn't have a shot at passing ever. I'm just saying there's a reason they didn't use him like that last year.. and trust me, I was hoping he would at least get 1 or 2 in... This we agree on for sure. I'd have loved to have seen him used quite a bit more than he was. I think (hope) this year we will. I look for him to be a clutch player, and even though he will be a WR technically, I seem him running a lot too, kind of like Holiday. I'm guessing they use him as a slot receiver a good bit too; if he can catch the ball in traffic, he's going to be a defense's worst nightmare. I'm really more concerned about having a QB that can get him the ball. I don't care if it's Jefferson, Garrett, Lee, Bailey, the other Lee, or whoever.
I don't know, at that point in the game against Tech, I think 0-6 was not a bad bet. He never looked comfortable in that game and the passes were crazy looking from the start and getting wilder as the game went on. I remember watching the broadcast and he threw like a 10-yard pass early on that went about a mile high and the announcers didn't know what to say. The game was very much in doubt when they passed that many times and the running game was the only thing that we had real success with at that point. It was probably two of the strangest play-calling series I've ever seen considering the pressure that they put on a struggling QB. I felt bad for Lee at that point. My point was not that they did it to spite anyone. It was that our coaches did not have the best judgment last year when it came to what could be successful and what clearly wasn't. The announcers, fans in the stands and players were baffled during that game (and it wasn't the only game). And I don't think any of us really feel that RS is an idiot or anything, but I do feel that our coaches acted as if players like RS, etc., didn't have great capabilities by the safe way we played 90% of the time. I agree with you that he probably wasn't ready to play QB significantly, but I was just asking for a short pass or two and I know you would have liked to see it too. But we didn't even do that. I feel he's capable of that even if it came out wobbly. Even if it failed, the defense would have to pause for a second the next time he lined up at QB instead of knowing 100% that it would be a run. But we DID NOT have that element of surprise last year and our offensive numbers showed that. You have to make the D think. We didn't last year. I just want them to allow the great talent they have to make a bigger impact. When you don't play guys like RS more, I feel like it puts more pressure on them to do something big when they finally do get in. And sometimes that can cause some issues with them trying to take it to the house on every play rather than taking what is given.
