A high school recruiting guru, so he knows of what he speaks "He's the most physically dominating defensive player in the country, and I can't remember the last time I've said that about a cornerback, but this guy truly is. The opposition avoided him like the plague. I can guarantee he will be an impact player as a true freshman this coming fall." This guy will be starting by game 4. Look for him to be a key player in the return game too.
Please Tiger fans, have no fears about our secondary next season. It will be just fine. Might end up being the best part of out D.
Anyone think McCray would be more effective if we can move him to the position he played in HS or what? Also, is it crazy to think or even want Chad Jones to put on weight and be a LB since that's a big weakness in all defenses against the spread? I guess him taking Steltz's place would mean he leads the team in tackles too though. PJ sure strengthens it and gives us some options. Another question, a USC poster on their forum asked me about Jai Eugene yesterday and I wasn't sure what's up with him. Is he progressing like he should? I'd read he had a good spring but he didn't get much PT this year.
Eugene came into a game versus what was considered as the top QB in the nation at the time and possibly a front runner for the Heisman (Woodson). I hope people remember that. And people act like he got burned all over the place. He was only caught on once or twice, from what I remember. I think he will be fine. I think Hawkins. Jones and Williams will share time at nickel as well as backup Johnson and Eugene. Francois will be a good sub at free safety, preparing himself to take over after Taylor graduates. McCray will back up Jones.
One of the announcers for the US Army game said: "He just didn't fall out of a tree and become a great football player, this is a kid that works harder than anybody. He told us that Saturday mornings, for the last 2 years, he's up at 6:30 working on his back pedal and working on other drills with his father. So here's a kid who has paid the price and has EARNED his way here. Patrick said 'I work when everyone else is sleeping'." Kid is not only an unusual physical specimen, he is also polished at such a young age and has a TREMENDOUS work ethic. Patrick did say at the announcement "that he wants to play the next couple of years at LSU". So he plans on playing as true freshman, lighting it up and leaving after being a junior. I'll take that. Emjoy Tiger fans, enjoy.
He took over his team, and he took over the games. His teammates had never met him,most of them anyway, but they just naturally gravitated to him. There was NEVER a question of who was the leader of that side." Maybe this is the reason for the Pryor comment about following PJ to LSU. We should contact Pryor ASAP!! :thumb:
Lemming is an irish whore. He has his nose up notre dame's butt so far it will NEVER again see the light of day. He's around HS recruiting a lot but experience alone doesn't make it good, just makes it experience. He wasn't wrong about PJ but it's nothing new. Everyone who has seen PJ play knows he's the real deal. If you saw Lemming's utter disgust yesterday when an expected irish recruit selected ASU instead, you'd know what I mean. DANG, I loved it. The AA game is nothing but a nd lovefest, sickening to watch.
Since Jones is also playing CF for the baseball team, I don't think he'll like the idea of putting on too much weight. Besides, reguardless on how much Curtis Taylor plays next season (i.e. either next to or in front of CJ), CJ's going to be a starting full-time safety for 2, maybe 3 more seasons after this one. You don't move one of your most dominant players at his position to another position he's never played before. You can use him as a nickel back against the spread option and take advantage of his hard-hitting by playing him close to the line, but I wouldn't move him to LB. I look for our LB'ers for the next few seasons to be lighter and faster than what we've had the past few seasons, and we haven't had a BIG MLB since Lionel Turner left. Beckwith will probably be our biggest LB and he'll only be 225-230 lbs range. Our OLB's will likely be 215-220. When you have the size, speed and strength that we have on our D-line, you can afford to have lighter, faster LB's. If we didn't have all that great talent and depth on the D-line that we have, our defense (specifically our LB's) would be in TROUBLE. ...but we don't have that problem.
