Sports
Link Gumbo: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
LSU got two more gifts to add under the tree yesterday afternoon
One thing I am becoming more and more thankful for is BKs long history of success in the college ranks, the coaching tree and connections he has available, and his ability to teach the QB position and develop players in that spot. You can see the that materializing in real time as you see the belief from the players. They believe in the staff and they have bought in on the capabilities of the staff to develop them and increase their draft stock. This played out most specifically with Boutte and most recently with Daniels. Those players were not given the draft grades they believed they could reach, and they took a chance on coming back for more development.
Which leads to an over arching theme. Kudos to Kelly on building out a staff that can compete with the Death Star. They put this recruiting class together, they weren’t perfect but they delivered what we mainly needed. (Cortez Hankton is a super star btw) And what gives me even more comfort is this. House is a stud, he will get a HC job, and due to Kelly’s history in the game, we will be able to replace him with equal talent! That was Orgeron’s grand demise! He could not re stock his coaching tree when talent left. It affected recruiting. It affected development. It affected scheme and player capability. And worse, it affected belief from the players.
Right now the belief is there. It is apparent. It is palpable.
The propaganda is leaning in our favor
LSU is deemed a winner on national signing day by On3 (yahoo.com)
I always need to remind myself that I get fascinated with 5 stars only to see 4 stars become hyper giant stars. Justin Jefferson was an afterthought who turned into the best receiver in the NFL and gained the most Pro Bowl votes of any player while Tom Brady is still in the league.
The QB battle will march into the spring, then we will see what the room looks like:
Jayden Daniels is returning to LSU, bypasses NFL draft | LSU | nola.com
I see his return as great news, as he is a dynamic runner in space and showed better timing as the year progressed. His achilles was a zone defense with LB spys. It is the only thing I would practice against for the next 6 months if I was him. And beating that type of defense is timing and comfort in knowing where your receiver sits in the zone.
Takes the sting out of the Ricks news:
Wanted him last year. Got him this year. I see this pattern developing.
Finebaum got the quotes, but they paint a pretty dynamic scene:
“It certainly is [bewildering]. And I think for me, more than anything else, that’s why we’ve tried to minimize the use of how we go about in utilizing the portal. Now look, there is the ability to reset your roster, so there is an advantage there. I’ve tried to look at what are the advantages. Look in one year, Paul, we’re gonna turn over 75 percent of our roster. And having the transfer portal has allowed us to do that. In years past, you were holding on to players because there was no place for them to really go. Through the transfer rule, it was difficult for them to want to transfer. So there are some advantages, I think you use them to your advantage. “
