re: Was quarterback development ever an issue?

Other than the one season with Mettenberger when LSU's defense necessitated doing away with the risk-averse approach, Les never put his QB's in a position to succeed. His approach to the QB position and offense in general was "just don't frick things up" instead of actually putting them in position to be explosive.

Les would rather eek out a win vs. a 20 point underdog than run the risk his QB could throw an INT by going over the middle of the field in the redzone. He went into every game hoping to "just enough" on offense to win rather than allowing the offense to potentially be great. Only when he was forced to throw caution to the wind did you get glimpses of what the offense could do.

2008 forever ruined him. From that point on he would rather have a terribly below-avg offense than ever run the risk of pick-6's again. The problem was he failed to realize a big part of the interceptions was Lee's proclivity to become absolutely panic-stricken in the face of even slight pressure