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Omen...
It should have been an omen.
Early Saturday came word that former LSU players Michael Clayton, Josh Reed and Jarvis Green had all been released by their prospective NFL teams.
If they did the same in college, a few LSU players may have been on that list following the game against North Carolina Saturday night.
But those guys don't get the benefit of preseason football.
Natchez's Stevan Ridley had a good game except for the two fumbles. I know, that's like saying the Titanic was a great boat until it sank.
Ridley is one of the hardest workers on the team, and will work to correct those mistakes. His touchdown run that was negated by T-Bob Hebert's holding call was a thing of beauty.
Unfortunately, there were more things not of beauty in this contest.
Oh yeah, have you heard North Carolina had seven starters on defense out for the game? If you didn't then you need to fix the sound on your television.
Apparently, Brent Musburger did not realize that other players could replace those guys and it was not 11 against four the way they made it sound.
Not once was it mentioned that LSU was without Ryan Baker and just briefly about D'Angelo Peterson missing the game after twisting his ankle in a scrimmage. And you could include Will Blackwell in that number after he went out with a broken ankle on the first series.
LSU was also without Karnall Hatcher, who was listed as a co-starter before going down with a injury late last month and Chris Tolliver, the number four wide receiver on the team, out with an injury.
Sure, North Carolina was missing some All-Americans, and they would have made a difference. But, as the saying goes, it is what it is. And they still put the best linebacking corps in the nation on the field.
The Tar Heels obviously moved on.
LSU now needs to move on and tweak a number of things.
I was certainly glad to see the ball in the hands of Russell Shepard more and Reuben Randle being looked at more.
But Jordan Jefferson still had the deer in the headlights look at times and still needs to learn how to look off his receivers. He just about had Shepard decapitated on a pass over the middle by following him the entire way.
And while Patrick Peterson was all-everything returning kicks, I'm not so sure he can keep that up. And LSU sure needs him in the defensive backfield.
Believe it or not, there were bright spots. Drake Nevis is a beast. Sam Montgomery is going to be fun to watch over the next few years. Tyrann Mathieu showed a lot of potential. Josh Downs displayed his motoring skills with a sack. Redshirt freshmen Lamin Barrow and Michael Brockers will have their names called out quite a bit.
There were a lot of new names wearing the purple and gold Saturday night.
You just would not have known it from the guys doing the announcing. |
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