I laugh every time I hear the "best" players are not playing because the rant is upset that some freshman is not getting enough playing time. Shep has his chances to get more playing time and he had trouble lining up correctly and holding on to the ball. In addition, he got dumped on his head a couple of times because he is undersized with an aggressive running style. He is a great talent but needs time to mature and learn the offense better so you don't have to hold your breath every time he comes on the field.

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Posted by d2

Member since Jan 2009

448 posts

Posted on 1/12/10 at 11:29 am to XbengalTiger

quote:
I laugh every time I hear the "best" players are not playing because the rant is upset that some freshman is not getting enough playing time. Shep has his chances to get more playing time and he had trouble lining up correctly and holding on to the ball. In addition, he got dumped on his head a couple of times because he is undersized with an aggressive running style. He is a great talent but needs time to mature and learn the offense better so you don't have to hold your breath every time he comes on the field.

I agree that he needs to mature but with us being so horrible on offense I would trade immaturity for explosive ability. With everyone on the planet knowing RS was going to run the ball he had by far the highest YPC @ 6.2 (2nd on the team was the other misused back KW @ 5.3) and he had the longest offensive play from scrimmage @ 69 yds. Now just imagine if the defense had any doubt if he would throw it or not, the YPC would likely go up and it would open up opportunities for other players. He did get dumped on his head etc (so did Percy Harvin)BTW he got up, but he is also the most explosive player we have and for us to be successful we have to find ways to get playmakers involved. Also, I think our inability to blow teams out affects the development of our young talent. There is never a good time to get these guys reps b/c we are not putting away the cupcakes on our schedule, when was the last time LSU actually was able to make wholesale substitutions b/c we had a game wrapped up early (I really can't remember the last time that happened).