Good thing Maason Smith announced he was leaving

Hope that makes you feel better

quote:

---

Hope that makes you feel better

---

Much! Thanks.

He’s right you know.

I wanted him to stay and develop and be healthy, but on the other hand, a complete house cleaning on defense isn't a bad thing. At this point, how many starters are we going to be bringing back?

You always want your defensive tackles to comeback. Always. It’s bodies to start, and There is a reason he was playing….

quote:

---

In all honesty, with NIL availability now, what is the reason for wanting to leave early?

---

True, but they’re still “student athletes”.

I can imagine it’s like having two jobs

Any criticism of these "amateurs" went out the window with NIL. College athletes are paid professionals.

This is one of those situations in which he is making a bad decision for himself and for LSU.

As fans, we always want guys to come back but you know that some just have to go (Malik for example). Then there are close calls because they may have hit their ceiling (Wingo).

Here, this decision is Trev Faulk / Malachi Dupree level stupid. Maason could be a first round pick. Despite his poor performance this season, I truly believe it was due to the lingering effects of his injury. If he came back and elevated his game to anywhere close to his potential, he's looking at round 1 - somewhere between $13 and $21 million guaranteed.

Instead, he's likely getting ~$5 million, only $1.2 million guaranteed - and that assumes round three! It drops off significantly thereafter.

This really is the worst draft decision I have seen a kid make since Malachi thought his bowl game performance was going to cover his underachieving all season.

I was disappointed in him last season but I'm going to let this thing die down in my mind. I wish him well.