February 13, 2020
LSU, SAINTS AND MUCH MORE
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DSAA MEETING 2 time LSU national championship player and 2 time major league baseball World Series winner Ryan Theriot will be the guest speaker at the Denham Springs Athletics Association meeting this Monday night, February 17, 6:30 pm, at Big Mike’s Sports Bar and Grill, Aspen Square, Denham Springs. The public is invited. It is free of charge.
DSHS HALL OF FAME NOMINATIONS: The Denham Springs High School Athletic Hall of Fame is accepting nominations for the tenth class of inductees through March 31. Hall of Fame nomination guidelines for the Class of 2020 are available to the public on the DSHS website at www.denhamspringshs.org or by picking up a copy at the school office. For more information, contact Jim Spring at jimspring53@hotmail.com or (225) 588 0366
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
I tried to completely enjoy and soak in the 2019 LSU football team and the season as the ride was happening. But just like a fabulous vacation in nature, you can’t quite soak it all in and looking back brings new appreciation.
So as I continue to soak in the greatness of the football season, I feel it is important to highlight the fact that the NFL Draft Combine has invited 16 LSU football players to attend. The next closest team has 11, and the 16 represents 5% of the Draft Combine participants.
I should also note that Alabama has only 10 invites, but it really should be 14 as at least four players that would have been picked in the first 2 rounds chose to return to Alabama for their senior season.
As for LSU, entering the year, Delpit, Chaisson, Fulton, and a few others were locks to be invited. Consequently, we all should recognize that players like Sullivan, Lewis, Moss, Queen, and Edwards-Helaire, along with the coaches should be commended for their development this year.
As we have just completed another recruiting cycle, it is a great reminder that Moss, Edwards-Helaire, Lewis, Cushenberry, Jefferson, and Burrow are all going to the NFL Draft Combine and none of them were considered 4 or 5 star players. Again, the work of those players and the coaching LSU provided must be recognized and enjoyed.
As we turn our attention to baseball, the potential for another magical season in the same sports calendar is in front of us and the LSU baseball team. LSU does not have the preseason ranking to indicate this possibility, but the football team, once again, showed that preseason rankings are as valid as recruiting rankings. There are simply too many variables to account for when making these rankings. For the record, LSU was number one in some polls entering last year.
Is LSU’s new hitting coach going to have a “Joe Brady” effect? How will injuries impact LSU and other CWS contenders? Which players will have breakout seasons? I will not pretend to have the answers to these questions. I should also note that LSU has more questions than other teams ranked above them at this time, so I understand their ranking. LSU is behind 5-6 other SEC teams at this time, but around #10 overall. I suppose preseason rankings should be called “which teams have the least question ranking?”
While I don’t have the answers (nobody does), let’s take a gander at questions entering the season.
Is Eddie Smith, LSU’s new hitting coach, going to have a “Joe Brady” type impact on the team? I don’t believe LSU’s offense will set NCAA records this year. I also don’t believe LSU has the #1 pick in the MLB draft on the roster. Of course, I didn’t think the football team had either in August. Therefore, what we should be asking is whether the talent in there for this lineup to produce runs against the best pitchers in the country.
LSU absolutely has the talent. Even better, LSU has great competition and depth at almost every position. Jumping back to the football team, we should realize that LSU is losing 16 players that will most likely be drafted. Yet, the football team will return Stingley, Chase, Stevens, Shelvin, and many other great players that will certainly be drafted in the future. That competition is often what prepares a team for the gauntlet the football team faced this year.
While there are position battles that will play out over the course of the season, LSU has a core of players that will anchor the lineup. These players may not have had great season last year, but they have the ability and could break out this year. Cabrera, Beloso, Garza, and newcomer Zack Mathis are the leaders of that pack.
Nobody knows who the other breakout players will be this year. DiGiacomo could use his speed to be the next Andrew Stevenson. Freshmen Cade Doughty, Hayden Travinski, or Mo Hampton could be the next Aaron Hill, Brad Cresse, or Mikie Mahtook. Naturally, all of them could struggle. But, like the football team, they will have already been tested in the off season and they will all be pushed by internal competition that should help LSU remain fresh over a long season.
Defensively, LSU probably won’t be elite, but should be plenty good enough. Mainieri will prioritize that. I am most confident in the defense because of what LSU has at catcher. Garza solidified the position when he was healthy last year and freshman Alex Milazzo from Zachary is going to be outstanding.
I hope I am not wearing out the football and baseball comparison, but it is just too relevant. Especially when I make the following statements. People are comparing the offenses of baseball and football because they both featured new coaches. The reality, though, is that the real comparison and expectation should be between the offense of the football team and the pitching of the baseball team. The pitching staff could be as dominant as the offense was in football.
In 2018, Chase, Marshall, Burrow, Deculus, and others were getting their first exposure to college football. Moss was injured, Ed Ingram was in legal limbo, and Marshall was not 100%. In 2019, it all came together. If the pitching staff can stay healthy, there is no reason this couldn’t be the best staff in Mainieri’s tenure (I don’t know enough about college baseball to go beyond that).
Henry and Marceaux could be as effective as any Friday night starter LSU has had under Mainieri save for Nola and Gausman. Meanwhile Labas, if he stays healthy, will almost certainly be the best Sunday starter LSU has had under Mainieri. Eric Walker is a midweek starter at this point which is something LSU has not had in recent memory. How great would it be to have a strike throwing machine like Walker get LSU off to good starts in midweek games when the other team is throwing one of their best?
We have learned in recent years that winning in the SEC is usually contingent on who you have to get outs at the end of close games. LSU will start the year with veterans Beck, Hilliard, Vietmeier, and Fontenot to go along with Jaden Hill who might have the best arm on the staff.
This year LSU has three left handers on the staff. They are a huge question mark, but at least there are left handed options this year. Another question mark is Nick Storz. He is a junior that has never been healthy, but could have a great impact on this pitching staff just like Thad Moss did at tight end.
Of course, the offense could struggle. In recent years LSU has had better speed than they do this year. But, LSU has not taken advantage of that speed as they don’t steal many bases. This year LSU should have more power in the bats, but that means they will need to string hits together to score.
The pitching could be amazing, or the arm soreness and injury issue could creep up again. The ability is there and I always enjoy watching a team that grows over the course of the year and I am looking forward to seeing if that will happen.
HEY REF
I know, I know! One of the so called “Golden Rules” goes something like “If you can’t say anything good then don’t say anything at all”. Right about now my grandmother would be looking to find a belt so she could insure I wouldn’t print what I’m about to print. As all football fans are well aware of this past weekend we saw the relaunch of WWE’s owner Vince McMahon’s XFL. Spring football has sprung across America via Fox, CBS, ABC and ESPN. And me being one that wants to stay on top of things for all of his faithful readers I did take a peek at all four games that were broadcast. I chose to devote at least one quarter from each game so I could get a feel of what this new version of a previously failed league had to offer.
What follows is why my grandmother would be very upset with me since I must be truthful and admit I didn’t find a single reason that would make me want to tune in again. The XFL has but eight teams in two divisions; East and West. (Wonder why they didn’t choose North and South?) Each team will play ten games; five home and five away. That’s about as far as I wanted to know and I haven’t a clue how they’ll run playoff games. The championship game is scheduled for April 26 in Houston that is if the league is still operating then. But the big question is will any of their players wear a ring that signified they’re part of a roster in the XFL.
We all know everything relies on financing. Most players will receive about $55,000.00 A YEAR or roughly $1,040.00 per game while a minimum salary in the NFL is $510, 000.00. Star quarterbacks and a few other players will be paid $500,000.00, so you can see why I question if the league would still be operating. I just don’t see the guys that’ll be taking a beating each game to sit around long enough if the “pretty boys” are paid ten times what they’ll pocket. When I read the payroll numbers I just couldn’t believe these franchises actually put together enough players, coaches, trainers, etc. Like the man said “Show me ‘da money”!
So what happens if a player in the XFL turns out to be another Tom Brady or Drew Brees? XFL Commissioner, Oliver Luck, is quoted saying “once a player passes his physical and signs a contract then he’s under contract with us”. Continuing Luck said “We won’t release that player to the NFL until after our season”. Luck told the Tampa Bay Times that the XFL has already turned down the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers request to talk with Dallas Renegades quarterback Landry Jones. Jones had been a Steeler but opted to play in Dallas where he sustained a knee injury and will be out from 4 – 6 weeks.
This is what every player will face when it’s time to sign on the dotted line so to speak. Do they wait and hope for an invite from an NFL team or does he play in the XFL to stay current and on the NFL’s radar? And the injury bug is just waiting to end your career so there’s a lot to consider when these new football leagues come a calling.
But to me the games looked a lot like a High School JV game. The XFL in its quest to gain viewers and fans have come up with some rule changes that football doesn’t need. One rule says a receiver must have at least one foot in bounds after catching a pass (like in H. S. and college) where the NFL rules dictate two feet. The XFL also employees a BALL SPOTTER; whose only job is to hurry up and get a ball spotted for the next down so the offense in theory can run more plays and hence score more points.
The XFL thinks having a ball spotted faster will produce more points when in actuality it’ll cause more mistakes by the offense. Common sense says that just because the ball is spotted quicker the flip side of the coin is after just three or four faster snaps the players become tired. Tired players open themselves up to more injuries and mistakes.
The XFL is a far cry from being an actual PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE! There have been attempts at providing professional football year round and all have failed. And so will this latest try simply because their rule makers have prostituted the game of football. The fans needed to make this latest attempt a success want football and not a three ring circus.
If anybody out there wants to start a spring football league they should look at the business model developed by Lamar Hunt. He and a few close friends took the NFL model and played within its chosen rules. It proved to be a “no-brainer”! The NFL knew and understood their game is the best. But when some smart business men started to refine the game and produced a product close to one matching the NFL model they saw the writing on the wall. Those two leagues merged and became what the NFL is today.
If the XFL is serious then it should study how Mr. Hunt and friends brought the NFL to the table. This concept of combining a few screwed up ways of playing a game loved by an entire country is sure to fail since fans like myself don’t want to watch a game that as it sits now should be under a circus tent for all to see.
Till next week…
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