Definitely one of the more disappointing stories of this season for me. One catch for 15 yards. That's it. This guy is every bit as talented as Green or Jones, and yes I understand there is no sense of urgency that those teams had to getting their true freshman receiver on the field early, but this is still very disappointing. In the first 4 games (and especially in the 2 games vs Washington or UL-L) I had hoped we would have called some quick screens, 5 yard slants, 10 yard outs just to get him the ball and get his confidence going. I think we need every weapon we can get our hands on vs the likes of Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Ole Miss (even Arkansas possibly), as we might be a scoring slugfest most likely. Maybe the emergence of RJ Jackson has tempered that somewhat and put Randle even further on Miles' backburner. Still I would have liked to see a seasoned Randle by the time he gets going in 2010, when we will REALLY need him.
Ok this, I think is mildly premature.. Lafell plus TT plus Dixson is enough I think... Yea he wouldn't hurt, but, we dont need him at this point.. Though, LSU is shaping up to very nasty at the passing attack... But good point about the screens, Heck, let shepard throw to him!
I understand that, but at least Shepard. I mean, every time he gets the ball he makes a play. EVERY TIME!
I'm not bashing Miles by any means here... It is a bit puzzling why he's not involving Randle, or Shepard, for that matter more in the offensive game plan. Regarding WR's, we have excellent playmakers in the likes of Tolliver and Lafell, but why not get the ball to RR some more? Seems in past years we ran more screens and slants, with success, and I agree with Izzy here, why not try some of this with RR? Let these talented frosh make an impact! :geauxtige
Agreed. J Jones and AJ Green don't have the likes of 3 he mentioned ahead of him much. Agree or not, that is how Miles has done it (see LaFell, TT, Early Doucet, etc.) At the same time, C Mitchell, D Peterson, and RJ Jackson have gotten passes. JJ is spreading the ball out so he'll get his chances.
Man, I remember when we had Doucet, Bowe, and Davis. I also remember when we had Reed, Clayton, and Henderson. It seems that we always had at least 3 solid receivers with capable fill-in guys. Not so much these last couple of years. (When you run two TEs/I-Formation, I guess you don't need them) I don't think we can ever have "enough" weapons involved in the offense, especially this one.
I'm more worried about the limited touches by Shepard. The running game is where we need playmakers and Shepard has proven to be one.
We have 3 freshmen who were #1 at their positions in last year's recruiting class Randle, Shep, & Loston. Considering Loston's clearing house problems & he missed all of the preseason practice I can understand why we aren't seeing him yet but what about the other two? Shep even participated in Spring practice. Whenever the subject is asked to Miles he always says something like they just aren't ready yet or don't know the plays. That's pretty vague. I get in front of the TV every Saturday and see other teams using their top Freshmen and getting production out of them, GOOD production. So what is different about us? I bet no player, even our seniors knows or has practiced every play in Crowton's playbook which probably looks like the Los Angeles telephone directory. But I thought that the coaches watched film, figured out what they think they can attack on the next opponent, then Crowton digs into his playbook and picks out about 25 plays we can use to accomplish the game plan. Then we practice those plays over & over for the game. In that case the Freshmen would only have to know those plays. Am I wrong about this?
I dont mind Randle not getting too many touches just yet. He is getting in a lot of plays, its just Jo Jo and Toliver are the star WRs right now. Plus you have Dickson. Id much rather see Shepard get touches. Being he is the most explosive player on the team. What would have been ideal is for Randle and Shepard to get PT in games but since weve struggled in the gimme games they dont have the game time reps. Thats what bothers me. Lee also could have used PT in mop up time. In the long run I also have thought about if top recruits who now expect to play early wont consider LSU as much. Shepard has done well yet we dont try to get him the ball more often.
