Let's Talk Receivers

[Fishhead]

Tons of things to discuss, as there is every season.  The good, the bad, the ugly, etc. 

But let's talk receivers for a minute. 

Last night at one point in the game, Burrow had completed 6 passes to 6 different receivers, which is a good thing IMO.  But one was missing.  Oh, he was targeted, but had no catches at the time. 

#7.  Giles.  I believe pretty much everyone was surprised to hear he would be donning the #7 jersey, including guys like Jamal Adams who tweeted something along the lines of "#7 should be earned".  Harsh, but so far, it's a real question...what did Giles do to earn this honor?

Last night Ed O himself was questioning it.  

Ed Orgeron on Jonathan Giles: “I gave him the number 7. He’s a great young man, but he hasn’t produced yet. He’s gonna have to pick it up.” #LSU

Giles has underwhelmed by not only failing to get separation, but dropping multiple balls that hit his hands when he does happen to get open.  IMO he needs to see the pine.  Also harsh, but here's the deal, there are other more consistent options and they're all more talented. (faster, bigger, etc...)

Justin Jefferson has been a pleasant surprise.  Fast, quick, pretty good hands, and not scared to go over the middle.  I can see him becoming a 3rd and 5-8 staple like Jarvis Landry was a few years back.  

DEE ANDERSON!  He's seemingly developing into what we thought he could be and per Foster Moreau, his off the field issues are behind him.  5 catches for 80 yards last night, and without him, we don't pull away late.  IMO, he's the MVP of that game.  

Chase and Marshall.  I'm lumping them together because my take on them is exactly the same.  Both insanely talented, similar build, and both true frosh.  It's amazing watching them step in right away and make plays.  They also have dropped some balls, but are more consistent than Giles and far more talented.  OBJ dropped balls as a frosh too.  

Sullivan is coming into his own, showing flashes.  Last week against AU he was silky smooth.  

Derrick Dillon with a HUGE play last week against AU!

We all expected an increase of TE in the passing game.  Well last night we began to see it.  Foster Moreau caught 4 balls for 33 yds including a clutch first down late in the game.  This has been slower to develop than I expected, but then again, so has the entire passing game.  

There's a lot of moving parts.  New QB still trying to acclimate to the speed of the game.  OL that is still trying to find itself, and having some difficulty considering injuries and a suspension (ingram).  And lets not forget, a new OC that's also surely trying to find his way.

Summation: 

Time for Giles to put up or sit.

Dee Anderson, Jefferson, Sullivan, Chase and Marshall are enough to give teams fits.  Jefferson as your quick slot guy capable of picking up 3rd down on a quick slant, the others are NFL prototypes with height and speed, hands are getting there. 

Moreau is finally getting to share in the fun!

 

 

[Herb]

I have not really paid attention to how individual receivers are blocking on run plays. 

The overall issue I have with receivers are the drops...can't wrap my head around why that seems to be a recurring theme.

On Giles, I agree he should ride the pine and let let hungrier guys light a fire under his ass. 

The OL is still the ever morphing master link in the chain. Hated seeing Brumfield go down given the fragile patchwork line we have.  Hope its nothing serious. Having said that, I can't help but feel these guys were not fully recharged after the emotional win at Auburn. That herculean effort was against a top DL and I know it took a toll in terms of getting bruised and fatigued. 

I think one thing LSU fans need to take into context is that La Tech is not the equivalent of East Alabama Southern State.  The Bulldogs are a program that is fairly prestigious that has not only beaten teams like Alabama in recent history but has also become a "stepping stone" school for coaching resumes as evidencedd by their most recent 3 head coaches: Derek Dooley, Sonny Dykes, and Skip Holtz.  Dooley was able to get a HC gig at Tennessee, Dykes went on to coach Cal Berkeley and currently is HC at SMU.  Holtz is on the short list for a bigger gig and probably won't be at Louisiana Tech for too long.

As a result of this, Louisiana Tech does actually have some talent on their squad which we saw last night.

Many LSU fans (probably myself included) think that anytime LSU wins that it should be by 21 points or more.  Even when that does happen, we tend to moan and complain. That is not to say that there aren't areas of concern, there definitely are.

However, the analogy I have for unrealistic expectations is to compare it to a boxing match where the fan of one boxer thinks that their guy should knock  out his opponent with the 1st punch and any punches landed on him are unnacceptable.

Having said that we do have a problem with our team going to sleep after a comfortable lead.  We need to have the ability to not let off of the gas.  There is a difference between running the clock down and not being able to convert a 1st down to keep the drive alive that should be running the clock down.  Last night we failed at key times to convert that let the Bulldogs make a game of it.

The good news is that the fans get their money's worth in a close win.

[Fishhead]

Regarding Tech, another thing overlooked or just unknown.  There are multiple players that due to being slow played or whatever, turned down way more prestigious offers that came late.  Oklahoma, Tennessee, etc...

There's a couple guys on that team that, given an extra inch of height, would be wearing purple and gold. 

That said, we have a few guys that can get separation and have decent hands.  Those are the ones that should be seeing the field at this point.  

[The Swamp Angel]

North Shore Mom’s beautiful pup has been forced to wear the “Cone of Shame” for awhile now. Being hampered by the cone, she has begun catching her play toys in her paws when they’re thrown to her. I suggest that Mom offer up her pup to LSU as the receivers coach for the rest of the season.