re: Anyone else kind of feel bad for LF

Patience is a virtue many 18 yr olds find hard to grasp, especially after the hype surrounding his HS career, signing, etc. I'd bet he is 110% at practice this week even with SHS. LF seems to be more mature than most 18 yr olds--his time and his success will come and he will make himself and all of us proud to call him a Tiger!

quote:

---

The pitch that Jennings threw past him?

---

and yet hit him in the hands... and most likely face if his hands were not in the way?

quote:

---

He seems like the type of kid who never wants to let anyone down; real good kid. All I can say is he has no reason to hang his head if he is. It was his first game and being logical I expected some growing pains at times during his first year. I can't wait to watch him grow and learn. He's going to be a beast as soon as he gets comfortable and breaks that first run.

---

This. Especially that 1st sentence.

Nobody has higher expectations for LF than he does for himself. He has the talent, ability, athleticism, size, and most importantly a humble attitude, hard work ethic, and great attitude.

So his 1st game didnt go as expected... so what? Im not really worried about him by looking at his stats. He really didnt have that much to work with when we gave him the ball. The 1 thing in his game that needs some work is his patience. In high school. it didnt matter where he ran because he was so dominant. He just needs to get a little bit more patient and let the holes open up for him. And when he does, hes going to kill it.

Even though it didnt go as expected, his talent was obvious IMO. I saw a true freshman with NFL size, speed, burst, physical running style, and quick feet out there. Just needs to be patient and let the holes open up for him. And I expect that to happen in a few weeks. Hes issues are actually pretty easy to fix. And it wasnt all his fault when he got the ball... the OL has some issues to work out as well.

This gif from the game shows all that.

And IMO... I actually kinda like that some people / other teams are already taking him lightly. Because when hes finally setlled in for us, it will be SEC time. And hes going to be a big part of our offense. Very similar to how Hill's 2012 season went. He was a freshman, though a year older than LF. But it still took him some time to acclimated to college football. He only had 13 carries through the 1st 6 games. Then he had 129 carries over the next 7.

I think LF will progress very similar to how Hill did. Once Hill figured it out, we fed him the ball because it was apparent he was our best and most talented RB. I think the same thing will be said for LF. Once the light goes off for him, hes gonna be too good to not give him the ball.

And after we play these cupcakes the next few weeks and LF gets a good bit of work, I expect him to be way more confident and have most of his mistakes corrected and ready to roll vs the SEC. TAMU is acting like hes not gonna do anything and they almost have disregarded him completely... mark my words, LF will go off vs TAMU and be the main reason why we beat them. The schools that are taking him lightly after his 1st freaking game in college football vs a legit opponent in Wisky are in for a rude awakening.

Look...
While he's been practicing against college players, this was his first time against a full-speed college team in a game, and in a freakingly loud stadium holding 75k people. (The dBmeter on my phone said 101dB late in the second half) While St Aug draws crowds, it's nothing like this.

You know the opposing players were in his ear every time he got tackled.

Jennings didn't help him one bit on the dropped pass.

He ran flat over tacklers at least 3 times.

It may have been said in the first two pages of this thread, but when your first college game is against 8 and 9 man fronts, its a bigger challenge than expected. We are working in an inexperienced QB so our offense is conservative and everyone knows it...The more AJ is able to throw in first down, the easier life will be for both 18 and 7...
He will be just fine....

Ok guys, he didn't come close to a 35 yard return average on the kickoffs, simply look at the stats, and he probably should have caught that pitch even though it wasn't perfect. Also an average of 4+ yards a carry isn't what any of us are hoping for. The screen passes were not his fault.

Having said all this, he seems like a high character young man. We won the game, and in my humble opinion, this maybe the best scenario that could have happened to him. Nobody else had much success either with our blocking schemes, except Kenny toward the end and they went with the "hot' hand. Look at Magee's numbers and he averaged 7.3 YPC last year.

He will continue to work hard and will excel in the next two games. No doubt many of you will be hyping him for the Heisman. As a lifetime fan, I implore you all to back off of that until we see what he does against State. Players are very media savvy these days. He will be a great RB for LSU, no need to put extra pressure on him.

A little humility to humble a person never hurts. Hopeful he uses the disappointment as fuel for his fire

I think he will gain more confidence in the next two games and will tear it up.

He's still going to be the stud we all expect.

Until then, Miles loves his usual depth at RB and the ability to have a rotation of fresh backs.