There is hope regarding early departures but it might not be good.

Well looking at the possibilities of early departures to the NFL my advice to LSU fans brace yourself because this is looking to be another year of crushing our hopes.

I can't give enough thanks and praise to players like Collins, Magee & Hilliard that all three could have left last year and been drafted but stayed to finish their education and help LSU's football team. I tip my hat to you guys I can't wish enough success for you in your next endeavors. Those types of players at LSU are becoming harder and harder to find.

This years slate of early departures could really hurt more than I feel people are realizing especially if you combine them with the seniors that are obviously gone.

Impactful seniors - Collins, Hilliard, Magee, Neighbors, Porter, Rasco, Martin, Washington & Fanaika - 7 are starters and 2 first off the bench backups

Possible early departures - Hunter, Hawkins, V. Alexander, Mills, Collins, Kwon A and Dural.

along with the probability that R. Robinson will be gone this could be another year where the holes are too much to fill to actually vie for a championship next year.

If the O-line does lose Hawkins and V Alexander then all bets are off, having to replace all but one starting offensive lineman with the first 2 lineman coming off the bench gone also. This will hurt the most, we are so dependent on the strength of our O-line that Grimes will earn every bit of his pay next year.

Having both our D-ends leave will hurt big also both Rasco and Hunter have played exceptional this year.

And having Kwon - the leader on defense - leave just reminds me of when Minter left it took a year to find another player to replace his leadership and that was Kwon. And I feel Mills has been a big part of leading the defense also, so even though we have great guys coming in and great backups his leadership will be missed.

I don't have a good feeling about retaining most of these early departure candidates especially with our recent track record of losing players early to the NFL. Something tells me that V. Alexander and Hawkins are gone along with K. Alexander, Hunter, Mills & Collins. So losing only 6 underclassmen "I feel Dural stays" might sound really good after the past 2 years but if you combine those 6 with the 7 starting seniors that is 13 starters from this years team and that is going to HURT no matter what people think.

The biggest losses could be V. Alexander, Hawkins, Hunter and Kwon A. Those will be more impactful than people realize.

Will we still have a good team, absolutely but it is extremely hard to compete in the SEC west much less the SEC when you lose 13 starters from your lineup.