I think it says a lot about KW that Charles Scott and jacob Hester were ahead of him on the depth chart. Neither of those had the athletic gifts that KW possessed, yet both started ahead of him. Why? Athletic talent is nothing if you don't use it right...
MLU beats the hell out of me. I think every player has a certain skill set, and that skill set should be exploited properly and i don't feel that Keiland's skill set was exploited properly. I feel Hester's was over exploited, as was Charles Scott's. Keiland is a guy who is better on toss plays, off tackle, and catching the ball out of the backfield. He isn't an iso play back, or a dive play back. LT, i really hate to say this, but i think there is some validity to that statement.
Won’t disagree completely, but I do think that a good portion of player failure to live up to expectations rests on the players themselves. If they don’t listen to the coaches or work to improve their skill sets it isn’t all the coaches faults.
Unfortunately the one thing the coaches can't measure when they recruit these kids is if they are going to have the heart to drive themselves. All the skill set in the world won't matter if these kids don't drive themselves to excel. I would love to have 85 Jacob Hesters, noone could beat us if we did. The one thing we have been lucky with over the past decade is having a couple of players that have that “It factor” in their character. Unlike some other schools who may have 2-3 players that have “it skill sets”, like a Percy Harvin, Tim Tebow, Reggie Bush, Colt Mc Coy, Sam Bradford, Darren McFadden, etc, we haven’t had that many of them on the team, but have had players with heart and drive to just never give up. Players that make a difference because they won’t be denied success, the Jacob Hester, Matt Flynn, Glen Dorsey, Joe Addai, Jamarcus Russell, Dwayne Bowe, etc . Not absolutely the best players in the land, but they had the Heart of a Tiger would not be denied success. Over the past 2 seasons, that player really hasn’t stepped up. Not just leaders on the team, but leaders that won’t accept anything less than success, out of themselves or their team mates.
Those people for some reason forget to see a guy like Jacob Hester or Charles Scott who are both athletically forgettable, yet have very good college careers. That in itself kinda throws the "LSU is not coaching up" theory on it's head and out the window. Not that I subscribe to that theory anyway. Sub-par players need to be "coached up", whatever the hell that means. It's one of those buzzwords that people like to toss around in an effort to seem "football smart" because they heard Bill Walsh say it once. BTW, I don't know if it's been posted, but Chad Jones claims that the Saints have shown interest. They also worked out Al Woods.
Give me Jacob Hester or Glen Dorsey any day. You can't teach heart. I don't think KW has a "heart" problem, I think his problem was that there were too many good players at his position. He played very well, especially catching the ball out of the backfield and has skill. Will be interesting to see where he lands, how he does, and whether the Saints have done their homework close to home. I certainly wouldn't be at all dissatisfied with Toby G. from Stanford if they went that route either, although KW and TG are different backs. Both are good! : )
Was reading that LSU has had 32 first round draft picks in it's history. Oddly Tennessee is leading with 40. Florida follows with 39 and Bama at 34. Florida should take the lead this year. Speaking of Tennessee, New Orleans has drafted more Tennessee players (10) than LSU (8). Tulane has 8 as well. LSU has had 4 consecutive seasons that a receiver has been drafted, longest current draft streak for one position by one team (tied with Florida). With Brandon LaFell should be 5.
