December 6, 2018
CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEA!
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Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
I wish I could say the “hot topics” of this week interest me, but they don’t. I will address them very quickly, though.
Greedy Williams not playing in the bowl? He’s not the first and won’t be the last. Get used to it.
The Saints stinker against Dallas? It is a long season and would rather the whole offense stink in November than January. We need Armstead back badly.
The College Football Playoff? We have such short memories. Would you rather the BCS with Notre Dame sitting home at 12-0?
Jalen Hurts? If we all had the character to handle the last 11 months of his life as he has this would be a better world. I would hire him to do anything, no matter the field.
Clemson and Alabama making every playoff? Amazing. I am in awe. Especially Clemson whose recruiting classes are not always rated in the top 3.
I think I hit on the hot topics, so now I want to look to next year. The College Football Playoff has changed football. For me, the goal of a bowl game changes now that players are opting to sit out. I see it as the first game for the next season. Not that the result of the game means anything for the next season, but when I watch I will focus on who is coming back. Those players have a month to improve and their progress will determine the success of next year’s team.
To be clear, recruiting, grad transfers, draft declarations, injuries, coaching changes, attrition and discipline issues will all play a factor on the 2019 LSU Tigers.
Still, let’s take a peek to the future of LSU football, starting with the offense. LSU should be in good shape at quarterback. If Brennan stays it would mean LSU would have an experienced starting quarterback for 2019 (Burrow) and 2020 (Brennan unless he gets beaten out by a more talented player). In addition, there would be depth to where there is almost no chance of needing a first year QB to play.
LSU is building quality depth at receiver with a few that have NFL potential. Jefferson, Chase, and Marshall could be extremely good. I really hope Marshall and Chase start to show signs of making the leap Landry and Beckham made after their freshman seasons. Tight end is a position LSU has yet to figure out.
The running back position was solid this year, but incapable of making something out of nothing or turning good runs into great runs. If LSU is able to sign the players that are committed and Chris Curry progresses, LSU could have the type of running backs we expect at LSU.
The offensive line is the one position that desperately needs to improve, but we have yet to see evidence that it will. Injuries and inexperience led to this being the most disappointing position this year. Cushenberry, Charles, Lewis, and Deculus should be back next year. Cushenberry was incredible to watch this year. The way he leapt off the ground after a play and ran after the ball to help up a ball carrier showed great athleticism.
Everyone else needs to make a huge leap in their development for LSU to make a push toward the playoff. The good news is that if a freshman is able to come in and push for playing time it will be because they are a special player and not because LSU is desperate. Names to look for in the future include Dare Rosenthal, Kardell Thomas, and Cole Smith.
The defense will be interesting to watch in the bowl game. Due to targeting, injuries, and the draft, we will see players that wouldn’t have played otherwise. Two years ago, against Louisville, Devin White showed out and gave a glimpse of the type of player was going to become. Hopefully, a slew of players will have similar performances.
While LSU does not lose many players off this year’s defense, they will lose the playmakers except for Delpit. That means a number of players will have been in the system for a year or two and will need to elevate their play.
All things considered, LSU’s defense underperformed this year considering there were two top 10 picks that played all year long. I will be concerned about the defense next year if we don’t see 4-5 players elevate their level of play in the bowl game.
Finally, as good as the special teams were this year, the return game was bad. Hopefully, a few different players are given a chance in the bowl game to show they can make explosive plays in the return game.
Overall, I can’t understand why all LSU fans are not ecstatic about the Fiesta Bowl. Preseason rankings don’t matter anymore, so winning or losing the bowl game is not significant like it was in the past. LSU proved that this year. LSU is getting more days to practice and develop players for next year. The team will definitely be excited to play in the game, and we get an opportunity to get a glimpse of next year’s team. Sounds like fun to me.
HEY REF
Seems there are two big stories right now in the world of sports. The biggest, outside of Louisiana, continues to be “are the four teams that were picked to play for a national championship actually the four best”? Doesn’t matter who you ask everyone has an opinion and we all are very much aware of what opinions are like. This writer continues to be against any system that rewards only the schools, coaches and conferences without any financial rewards for the ones that make all of this possible; THE PLAYERS!
I know some will say “But Hey Ref the players get a free education”. If you believe that I know where you can buy some ocean front property in Arizona. There’s a fallacy in this country that players receive a “FREE EDUCATION”. I’ve written about the injustice and fairy-tale story of the “FREE” education too many times but I continue to hear people debate the issue year after year. To begin with all players under the NCAA banner must sign away basically everything if they expect to suit up for an NCAA affiliated college.
That should not be a surprise to anyone that’s read any of my previous columns on this subject. I’ve read of many players from poor families under scholarship that can’t afford the textbooks needed for the classes they attend. Don’t be fooled into thinking a player that’s attending an NCAA branded university has only to lift a finger to get their daily expenses taken care of under the scholarship lie! I know there can’t be many so called fans of collegiate sports that aren’t aware of the rules preventing any player from receiving “gifts”.
I can’t write the words I’d like to when a MEGA-BILLION DOLLAR INSTATUTION such as the NCAA puts a university on probation because some of its athletes received a Subway sandwich or something as ludicrous as that because that just stinks and it’s very obvious something is very wrong with that system. One such case I heard about many moons ago went something like this; a restaurant owner would invite a few top players from his alma mater to dine on a certain day and time. Then someone would “leak” this information to a couple of customers that would then pass along that info and as if by magic his restaurant would become very crowded at that specific day and time. Was it so wrong in allowing fans and players to mingle? According to the NCAA unless they get a “cut” it’s very wrong!
The “unsuspecting” players would then have their dinners, deserts and beverages compted. It was a great way to make some cash for the eatery and also give fans an evening with some of their favorite players plus fill some player’s empty bellies. I mean who got hurt here? Seemed like a win-win for all involved but those that refuse to “share” found a way to put a stop to it. Not only that but if my memory helps me here the players had to pay for all the food they ate.
What other business fines those that make everything possible for them and many thousands of other people by taking away a free meal or two? Only one, the NCAA! To show you how unfair this business is run just take a peek at its president, Mark Emmert the ex-LSU top dog. Take a gander at his small salary and beni-package.
According to USA Today in 2016 his base salary was given a small bump of $500,000 or as I like to say HALF A MILLION DOLLARS to just a wee bit more than $2.4 MILLION annually. I guess he deserves it, I mean do you understand how tough it is being wined and dined at all those exclusive restaurants around the country? Then having to sit in first class each and every time he boards an airplane?
And let’s not forget his COMPENSATION at nearly…
Are you ready for this? The NCAA President has a compensation package of just under $1.9 MILLION YEARLY! So his small yearly intake of the NCAA pie is around $4.5 MILLION A YEAR! Not a decade, that’s per year. So, when he and his henchmen penalize a school and one of its players because he accepting a $7.99 foot long meal deal it doesn’t sit very well with me and it shouldn’t anyone else.
It should be cause to re-do the injustice that is the money grubbers at NCAA headquarters. But as long as they have TV Networks that are selling their souls for the right to televise a game nothing is going to change. So, you may ask, what can be done to reverse this? As long as our country refuses to focus on this sad situation of modern day slavery it’ll keep going on because we love football. We’ll do anything to be sitting in that stadium come Jan. 1… …
But what does get America upset? Well that’s a very easy answer; trying to keep thousands of illegal immigrants from just waltzing into our country without first making sure we aren’t letting in child molesters, rapists and/or murderers. Don’t say it won’t happen because we all know history repeats itself and sure as the sun will rise in the east we will make the same mistake again. Just take a simple glance not too far back in this country’s history when a small island’s dictator; Fidel Castro emptied his jails and sent murders, rapists, thieves and child molesters to this land of opportunity.
I guess nothing will change unless enough of those NCAA Football fans lose their jobs to illegal immigration and won’t be able to buy any more of those coveted season tickets, well maybe that’ll cause a change. So, to answer the question if the right four teams have been picked I guess it really doesn’t matter unless the team you support isn’t one of the four. And that pesky second question; As America and Americans go, unless it affects people directly nothing matters anymore.
Till next week…
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