re: Remember the QB battle between Nall, Booty, and Davey?

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In 1999, Nall had to battle Josh Booty and Rohan Davey for the quarterback position. Nall was named the starter for the season opener but was benched at halftime with LSU leading. He was sacked once for 8 yards and he threw two interceptions in 15 attempts (completing 6 of 15 for 79 yards). Nall made only one other brief appearance at quarterback for LSU in 1999 as he got some late mopup duty the next week. Nall did not play quarterback for the rest of the season.


Ouch at the bolded.

Didn't they move him to WR at some point because of injuries

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If I remember correctly that was the season LSU had to convert RB's to wr's because as good a recruiter as DiNardo was, the roster was imbalanced and lacked receivers. Booty, Davey and Nall played in the game. All threw to invisible receivers.

I do - all the fans and most of the media expected Booty to dominate and that it was a forgone conclusion and would really hear of nothing else.

I don't think the Josh Booty hype could be overstated.

Back then if you were a member of the Gridiron Club you could attend practice and I had a job at the time that allowed me to attend on a fairly regular basis.

I thought at the time Booty was actually third of the 3 in the reps I say, but that was not a very popular opinion when I voiced it.

Pretty sure that happened under DiNardo and Saban.
Hell, Booty sealed his fate with the audible vs UAB. Could you imagine a QB shaking off Sagan’s call now?

I think Rohan played the most and had a really bad game and Booty started the next week.

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I forgot about Nall

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ASH trash.

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Hell, Booty sealed his fate with the audible vs UAB.

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He then, 6 weeks later, led LSU to its first victory over Bama in Tiger Stadium in 32 years.

:letthatsinkin:

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Just b/c you have the stronger arm doesn't mean you'll be the better QB.

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Reminds me of a quote I heard in early 90’s on Jamie Howard. Forget who said it but it was “Nobody doubts that he has the arm to throw it through a barn door but he can’t throw it through DB’s”.

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Who was the OC wanting the job?

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Rich Rodriguez
He was the OC/QB Coach at Tulane.

"Rodriguez was part of Tulane's success, including their 12–0 season in Rodriguez's last season at Tulane, mainly for his spread offense with quarterback Shaun King."

Rod was on WWL radio many times campaigning for the OC job at LSU.

After Dinardo was fired, he was asked why he didn't hire Rod.
He said, because I would have to learn a new offense.

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Then transferred to Northwestern State

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And lost to Montana 45-14 in the playoffs

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And Craig Nall won it. That was a total shock and he didn’t last long as a starter. That was the last time there was a true 3 way battle that I can remember.

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Something about this race in the past that’s worth noting today- none of those guys was really ready to take that job at the beginning of the 99 season. I know it’s apples to oranges- terrible staff on its way out, mismanagement, different era of college football, etc. However, there’s still a lesson here.

Given some time and better coaching, all of three of these guys eventually became pretty good college QBs. Not perfect, but better. Nall played well enough at NWST to get a backup gig in the NFL. Booty won 6 games after Rohan got hurt in 2000. Rohan went on to become one of the most popular Tiger QBs of all time. But it took time.

Rohan is probably the best example of this. He became a dynamic leader on the field, but he wasn’t even close to ready to do that when he started vs Auburn in 99. Don’t expect any of our 3 potential starters to tear it up and be super-consistent out of the gate this year, either. Be patient. Hopefully one or more of them will get there, but it will probably take half the season or more before that happens.