re: Will Anthony Johnson start as a freshman?

quote:

---

I think the fact that he got in early will be a huge boost for him. Strength is so important for DL so the extra time at LSUs weight room will help him tremendously.

That being said an 18 yr old is going to be physically behind a 21 yr old so I think him starting over highly talented more physically mature players is unlikely. He will definitely play a good bit IMO.

---

Anthony Johnson & Mickey Johnson are already on par with the rest of the team from an S&C standpoint.

Neither of those players faces a challenge in terms of becoming ready for the college game from a strength & conditioning standpoint.

They have to learn technique. That's it. If they can perfect it, then they are ready.

Mickey Johnson can bench press 500 pounds. That isn't a 40 yard dash time from Fayetteville, either. He can and has done that in meets & on YouTube, regularly.

We have a good number of players on our team who can bench 400. But, 500 pounds? That's a rarity on our entire squad.

This kid can do it and he hasn't hit campus yet. People who are talking about him not being strong enough to compete are simply uninformed. If he can grasp technique-no small feat-there's absolutely zero reason he can't contribute much earlier than the typical freshman as a result.

For the sake of clarification, contributing much earlier than the typical freshman as a result does NOT = starting as a Freshman.