The Russell Shepard story

quote:

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If Russell Shepard was on any other team besides LSU he would blow up this year.

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Some guy posted that in the midst of an SEC rant about "who are the top 5 offensive players" going to be next year.

I wanted to open this consideration up to the LSU fans, and move it away from the rabble on the SEC rant going on and on about Richardson.

So.. The guy above makes the oft-stated claim that LSU coaches are not taking advantage of the five star guy,
Russell Shepard.

Here is my take on it.
Dont be so judgemental and harsh on the LSU staff. They have his best interest at heart. I have a couple of observations.
1) They dont want another case of Jarrett Lee, you see? Jarrett got messed up, and they just could not stand another good player getting his head messed up as a freshman. Do you have hope Jarrett Lee will effectively pass into the flat if he is playing more than one play in mop up duty?
He got to where he could not make a pass in the flat or into a draw play. He was DONE. He did NOT HAVE TOUCH on short passes. No nuance, no deft.(<is that a word? LOL!) It went to the other guys.

Maybe he will never have a chance, because we hear good things about Garrett. If Garrett passes Lee in Spring or summer, then if QB JJ sprains an ankle Garrett gets the shot, and maybe this is Lou Gerhig coming in for Wally Pipp. We hope. Anyway, some hope. I am for the best player at the time. I am not married to any of them. a long winded way to say, dont be so sure YOU could get so much from the player, given the facts. You dont know the facts. Neither of us do, I warrant.
Based on the recruiting we all read about, it is my SURMISE, that the player wanted to try out for QB, mostly.
He wanted to play, most of all, he said he will play any position to get to play.

So, we are confused, I think, by those two ideas. On the one hand, he wanted to play QB. and on the other he wanted to show he was first of all a football player and wants to get on the field.

Then we will see that this SPRING. He moves on to slot, I bet. Its up to him, to a great degree. If he has seen the light, and in his heart he knows he cant pass like a D1 QB, no less an SEC QB, then on to slot. My guess is that if he could pass as well as a D1 QB, we would have seen SOME passing.

I saw a game in which Shepard was PLANTED. After that, no more carries, in that game. I think they were making sure that his body was still CONNECTED to his aura. Maybe he went into the Light, I dont know. Maybe there's a book there, ask him.

On this play I am referring to, he was met at the line and he kind of jumped into the air, and he was planted, whack!! into the ground, like a sack of potatoes.

I saw no mightier tackle vs LSU last season. It was because he was jumping through the hole and got met in the air. I have seen Peterson do it for the VIkings.

My guess is that he is going to move outside, where he wont have to deal with DTs and all that traffic underfoot.
That was awful to behold. Better stay low lad. Stay low.

Last thing, consider what Les Miles said. He said, we dont have enough snaps, enough practice time, for us to have Russell run the team from QB, because his style is so different from the others, that we would have to have a line which knew BOTH ways of playing/blocking, and so Miles decided not to REALLY include Russell at QB, due to Russell's limitations which would have required different blocking schemes. Miles was very specific.
He said, what happens if we learn the way to play with Russell Shepard at QB and he is injured? The line could not adjust to JJ or JL.

Therefore, IN MY OPINION Shepard is going to move to another position.

Most important, what conversations would YOU have had, as the head coach? How would YOU have approached this topic during recruiting, during practice in the summer, and during the season?

Thanks.
PS. See if you can stick to the topics in the post rather than finding ways to attack or describe me personally. I am curious to see how you would deal with it. Its a classic problem.
The Ole Ball Coach deals with it by having the right to pull guys, and put them back in every 22 minutes. That would rattle me.
I have a lot more to say about it, but I would like to air this topic, rather than just look at the negatiger crap on the subject,
as we all know... the supposition is that elsewhere, he would have been Reggie Bush, selling chocolates, by now.
I think you are selling the staff short. You are imagining.
If you have been to a practice where you saw him passing, please do relate it to us. I think that is an interesting element to this, is that some people who read this are going to know the facts. I am not that person. I dont think it helps the team for you to post suppositions like that, if you consider yourself an LSU fan. Its way negative and possibly baseless. Since you are skating on ice made up from your suppositions, be a blessing, not a weapon for the other teams in the conference.
I saw a lot of this one during the last weeks of recruiting and I think it was stupid and could not possibly help the team you claim to follow, and could possibly harm, as was pointed out.
The retort was "AS IF.. AS IF some kid in Memphis, is going to read your post.

Well, Mr Science, it is possible. People read this stuff.
Sometimes, people curious about the culture they are about to embrace. And be embraced by.
Imagine you are the Tennessee hostesses. Be good hosts.
You know, the girls from Kiffin, who meet and greet and maybe,
well, we wonder. I have that kind of prurient interest.
One hopes in a way. I do. Imagine. There was a great movie about Big State football recruiting with MILF verging on cougar age, in the role of seductress.
Do you think such words are without impact in the ONE?
Ah that's it grasshoppers. Imagine you are one with the recruits.
The Force is with you.
Happy day. Otto