National Signing Day for Football, Wed. Feb. 6 2019

[Fishhead]

The class overall is fine.  On paper. Like an average Miles class. Disagree?

My point is, we NEED OL and DL. If Parker is actually good to go, great get. We'll revisit in August and see if he's in school. 

But DL? We're in trouble going into 2020. I'm very aware next years class for DL is stocked and hope we get em. But how many true frosh DL have you seen dominate in the SEC? This year will be OK because Lawrence and Fehoko came back. But we needed guys THIS class to build depth and get guys ready for 2020.

If what O says is true...that we need to get better in the trenches (and it's definitely true), then this is a huge letdown. The rich got richer today, and it wasn't LSU. 

[LSUDad]

2 hours ago, Fishhead said:

The class overall is fine.  On paper. Like an average Miles class. Disagree?

My point is, we NEED OL and DL. If Parker is actually good to go, great get. We'll revisit in August and see if he's in school. 

But DL? We're in trouble going into 2020. I'm very aware next years class for DL is stocked and hope we get em. But how many true frosh DL have you seen dominate in the SEC? This year will be OK because Lawrence and Fehoko came back. But we needed guys THIS class to build depth and get guys ready for 2020.

If what O says is true...that we need to get better in the trenches (and it's definitely true), then this is a huge letdown. The rich got richer today, and it wasn't LSU. 

We have only four (Chaisson, Travez Moore, Fehoko and Lawrence) defensive linemen, if you count OLB's Moore and Chaisson, that will be Sr's next season. We brought in 7 DL last class, of that group, Moore was the highest rated, he had 1 tackle last year. Cherry was the next highest rated, he didn't play. Two, Rosenthal and Hines were moved to offense. Chaisson only played in one game. This year we lose one guy, Alexander, good player, needed to stay healthy. If you count the Nose and DE's, we only have two Sr's next year, the rest, a bunch of Jr's, soph, Red-Shirt Freshmen and True Freshmen. As for TF dominating? Not asking that, like I said, a red-Shirt year will help a bunch.

On the OL, Three Sr's, Magee, Lewis (Who was the second best, on paper, OL) and Traore (The highest rated OL in last years class, and by most, the best JC lineman that came out last year). I said I was wrong with Cushenberry, after watching him in the Spring Game, he was light years better, once the season started. He was a major player, I didn't see it in the Spring. But the first game and on, he improved each game. We lost Brumfield, thats it. Once again, we had too many lineup changes, across the OL, each game.

We can look at every position across the board, I do think both sides of the ball will be better this year.

I've said before, you have to get guys to stay, for their Sr years, being a 4th or 5th year Sr. Last year we had 6 players declare early. LSU had 11 players leave the last two years. In the last 6 years, we've had 32 players leave early, the most by any school in the Nation. The next closest, 24. How good would the OL have been with Clapp and Weathersby on the OL?

 

How did we rank in the start of the season, by all the sporting magazines.

Lindy's 30

Athlons 26

Street and Smith 17

Phil Steele 43

Was LSU that good? Were everyone off? Did we over achieve? Did the staff do a better job than most?

[Fishhead]

11 minutes ago, LSUDad said:

We have only four (Chaisson, Travez Moore, Fehoko and Lawrence) defensive linemen, if you count OLB's Moore and Chaisson, that will be Sr's next season. We brought in 7 DL last class, of that group, Moore was the highest rated, he had 1 tackle last year. Cherry was the next highest rated, he didn't play. Two, Rosenthal and Hines were moved to offense. Chaisson only played in one game. This year we lose one guy, Alexander, good player, needed to stay healthy. If you count the Nose and DE's, we only have two Sr's next year, the rest, a bunch of Jr's, soph, Red-Shirt Freshmen and True Freshmen. As for TF dominating? Not asking that, like I said, a red-Shirt year will help a bunch.

On the OL, Three Sr's, Magee, Lewis (Who was the second best, on paper, OL) and Traore (The highest rated OL in last years class, and by most, the best JC lineman that came out last year). I said I was wrong with Cushenberry, after watching him in the Spring Game, he was light years better, once the season started. He was a major player, I didn't see it in the Spring. But the first game and on, he improved each game. We lost Brumfield, thats it. Once again, we had too many lineup changes, across the OL, each game.

We can look at every position across the board, I do think both sides of the ball will be better this year.

I've said before, you have to get guys to stay, for their Sr years, being a 4th or 5th year Sr. Last year we had 6 players declare early. LSU had 11 players leave the last two years. In the last 6 years, we've had 32 players leave early, the most by any school in the Nation. The next closest, 24. How good would the OL have been with Clapp and Weathersby on the OL?

 

How did we rank in the start of the season, by all the sporting magazines.

Lindy's 30

Athlons 26

Street and Smith 17

Phil Steele 43

Was LSU that good? Were everyone off? Did we over achieve? Did the staff do a better job than most?

I'll go last to first.

I think everyone was off.  I expected 10 wins and we got there with the bowl.  Honestly, if you told me we beat AU and UGA, I'd have expected playoffs.  We shouldn't have lost to UF or TAMU, but we did.  It is what it is...we lost games we should've won with Miles and Saban too.  Good season. 

I have no doubt we'll be OK THIS (2019) season on the DL.  Wasn't worried about that.  Thinking beyond that, though...it's dangerous territory we're in.  O even admits this.  It's really not an argument, it's just a matter of fact.  We haven't recruited the kind of players in the trenches to compete with Alabama, and this continues with today's result.  

I believe Little can be a Mingo/Montgomery/Key type player, in time.  Mingo had to RS to gain weight, but his athleticism was off the charts. 

Traore flopped.  Highest rated JUCO OL.  I don't like the JUCO thing because it's a crap shoot at best.  Our best chance at a quality OL this season is Ingram being reinstated, which I actually think that will happen.  But.......we STILL have no elite OT prospect.  An issue that has plagued LSU since La'el?  It's a real issue.  I'm not being overly negative, it's just the truth. 

Little can be good, he'll contribute eventually.  But...he's not even a DL in our system.  Chaisson's not either.  Nor is Moore. Nor is the JUCO get.  They're rush LBs.  It's the interior that gets us killed against InbredGumps, Dad.  You know that.  And we're lacking there.  We've got guys, as you mentioned, switching from OL to DL and vice versa.  The reason is we aren't getting it done in recruiting the trenches, and nothing that happened today or even in this entire recruiting cycle changes that.  

We HAVE to kill it next year, which means we have 2 more years of this issue to traverse before the issue is corrected.  And that's IF we kill it next year in recruiting.    

[Fishhead]

There was a stretch, a LONG stretch, where I literally expected LSU to win every game it played.  That's not realistic, but it surprised me when LSU lost for a long time.  Then it moved to a stretch where I thought LSU had a legit chance to win every game it played.  2011 occurred somewhere in the middle of all that.  

But then things changed and I don't like it.  I don't like that Alabama has beaten us 8...EIGHT...consecutive times.  I don't like not even having a glimpse of hope in that matchup.  And be honest...we haven't had a glimpse of hope in that game for a few years now...like since 2014.  I DO like that the HC recognizes it and accurately identifies the exact issue.  But....until something is done about it, nothing is changing.  

I don't care where people or publications had us ranked last pre-season.  We had a good season, better than THEY predicted.  I expected about what we got, and I think it sucks that my expectation is less than competing for SEC championships and playoff contention.  That SHOULD be the expectation at LSU.  It was for most of this century.  

The bar has been lowered, and goal posts continually moved to defend and protect those that we ALL "like".  I WANT them to be successful, but I don't think it's wrong to point out when they fall short of it, especially when they themselves point it out lol.  

 

[LSUDad]

3 hours ago, Fishhead said:

 

My point is, we NEED OL and DL. If Parker is actually good to go, great get. We'll revisit in August and see if he's in school. 

 

O said that he made his grades. Should be here in the Fall.

[Herb]

2 hours ago, LSUDad said:

if you count OLB's Moore and Chaisson, that will be Sr's next season

Chaisson will be a junior next year.

[Fishhead]

1 hour ago, LSUDad said:

O said that he made his grades. Should be here in the Fall.

I'm not sure grades was the issue, but i don't care if they can get him in. 

However, since we're quoting O, he also said Parker is gonna play TE, so....

[Nutriaitch]

2 hours ago, Fishhead said:

I DO like that the HC recognizes it and accurately identifies the exact issue.  But....until something is done about it, nothing is changing.  

 

he identified AN issue. it’s not the only issue either. 

our tenches do need to get better. 

but had we even remotely attempted to scheme around our weaknesses, our defense would have kept the game close enough to give us a shot. 

other teams have been able to have success in trenches against Alabama despite having even less beef and talent there than we do. 

 

[Nutriaitch]

2 hours ago, Fishhead said:

The bar has been lowered, and goal posts continually moved to defend and protect those that we ALL "like".  I WANT them to be successful, but I don't think it's wrong to point out when they fall short of it, especially when they themselves point it out lol.  

this is the part that pisses me off the most. 

so far the results we’ve seen are pretty much equal to what had me agreeing to part ways with the last guy. 

but because it’s O, we praise it and give him an extension for “exceeding expectations”. 

the expectations were low BECAUSE of O. 

same roster, same schedule, with Les, Jimbo, Herman, etc as HC and the expectations would not have been as low as what they were.   

and let all be realistic about the season. 

2 of our projected losses (Miami and Auburn) turned out to be liquid dogshit. So those two wins weren’t just us overachieving, but also them grossly underachieving as well. 

[LSUDad]

1 hour ago, Herb said:

Chaisson will be a junior next year.

From LSU Sports, but any kind of good year, don't know if you see him sticking past the 2019 season.

 

SOPHOMORE SEASON (2018)
Tremendous talent at outside linebacker that missed all but one game due to injury ... Injured in fourth quarter of LSU’s season-opening win over Miami ... Had five tackles and a sack against the Hurricanes ... Redshirted as a sophomore in 2018 due to injury and will have three years of eligibility remaining when he returns to the field in 2019.

[Fishhead]

Correct, technically will be a RS Sophomore.