I’ve plugged ’em before, and I’ll plug ’em again. Saturday Down South is doing the Lord’s work. Great coverage of the SEC in SEC territory, where football season never truly ends.
Last week, John Crist put out one hell of a piece on LSU’s Pro Day, and how the talent on display demonstrates how the Tigers have underperformed and been out-coached.
If you didn’t know any better, you might have thought that LSU was the defending national champion with the talent on display Wednesday at Pro Day.
Running back Leonard Fournette was built like a Greek god at a lean-and-mean 228 pounds. Safety Jamal Adams burned up the 40-yard dash with a time of 4.33 seconds. Linemen on both sides of the ball went through drills like skill-position players.
Nevertheless, the Tigers haven’t so much as won double-digit games the last three years, let alone been in the hunt for a national title. Somehow, this team was blanked by Arkansas in 2014, pasted by those same Razorbacks in 2015 — the Hogs were unranked each time — and scored a grand total of 37 points in four losses this past season.
In a colossal, dumbass move, I actually picked LSU to win the National Championship last season because of all of this talent. Really, it’s absurd – Fournette, Adams, Tre’Davious White, Malachi Dupre, Davon Godchaux, Kendell Beckwith, and roughly half a dozen other NFL draft prospects.
And, the team goes 8-4…a team that talented goes 8-4. Well, we all know fans make memes about SEC teams that go 8-4. 8-4 got Mark Richt fired from Georgia, and it ended up getting Les Miles fired, too.
The man who assembled all these freaks, Les Miles, remains unemployed. His successor, Ed Orgeron, inherited an embarrassment of riches.
“Today was a tremendous day for LSU football and the LSU brand,” Orgeron said, according to NOLA.com. “We are proud of the 18 young men that worked out. All of them did a tremendous job. Austin Thomas, our general manager, did a tremendous job of organizing the whole day. Talking to a lot of the NFL guys, this has been the best Pro Day of the whole season, so we’re happy about that.”
There were 125 NFL personnel on hand for the proceedings at the indoor practice facility, including five head coaches. Baylor has been a powerhouse recently and also held Pro Day on Wednesday, yet no head coaches were in attendance.
I hate to put the onus here on Coach O, but that meme was just too funny to pass up. He did an admirable job motivating his players and finishing the season strong enough to warrant getting rid of that interim tag.
Let’s be real here. As far as coaching actual football goes, Miles was an absolute wild card. The man ate blades of grass before every game for crying out loud. His press conferences would leave your mind in a pretzel. It’s hard to fathom how this man was so successful for so long.
Perhaps he sold his soul to the devil? I don’t know
The Bayou Bengals have put enough cornerbacks and safeties into the pros the last few years to be in the conversation for “DBU.” But even Patrick Peterson, a six-time Pro Bowl corner, lasted until No. 5.
Not only has LSU filled Sunday secondaries with cover men, but two of the most productive receivers in today’s game — Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry — played collegiately in Baton Rouge. Both a part of the 2014 draft, they’ve made five Pro Bowls between them in only three years and done so in spectacular fashion.
Okay, John. We get it. There’s been some amazing talent to come out of Baton Rouge over the last decade. Not just amazing, but elite. And, this article hasn’t even mentioned a man by the name of Zach Mettenberger. That’s right, folks – Mett Show cut his teeth down at LSU.
All of this talent, two of the greatest wide receivers in the NFL today, and Miles still could not piece together any sort of semblance of a passing game. Nothing. Teams just started stacking the box, and as supremely talented as he is, Fournette could not carry the load on his own.
But, despite seeing this, Miles just stuck to the running game – which is, as we all know, a terrible thing to do. Sometimes, things don’t work. If they don’t work, you should probably try something else.
When the game involves passing the ball every once in a while, you might want to consider building your team in a manner that makes throwing the ball a viable option. This has been a common theme in football since, oh, I don’t know, the 1930s?
Indeed, it was another “tremendous day” for the Bayou Bengals. Unfortunately, too many of them happen during the offseason.
That closing thought was just a damn backbreaker. I mean, totally off the top rope. But, that’s LSU – where you can go undefeated and still lose to Alabama in the National Championship. How disappointing have the Tigers been recently? Laughably disappointing – so, let’s all take a moment to point and laugh. That’s the SoBro way.
Roll Tide.
Stoney Keeley is the editor of the SoBros Network and covers the WWE for WrestlingNews.co. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley, @WrestlingNewsCo
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