JayB, I'll have to say that Saban, Tubberville and their staffs are a lot more qualified to judge talent than you and any of us are and if they thought enough of him, along with many other coaches from around the country, I say he is talented enough to play D-1 football.How many of those many athletes you're talking about seeing were offered by great programs like Watson was. Now, there was definitely a difference of opinion on where he should play and the mian reason he chose AU was because they were going to give him a shot at RB while LSU was going to use him as a receiver, he said. Was that because of LSU's depth with so many great young RB's or because Saban thought he would be best suited at receiver or because Saban and his staff thought he would not be a great RB in college, well, we just don't know.
Saban liked transferring rb's to wr. He seems to very good at picking out who had the good hands and it seemed to work really well (Reed, Henderson, and wasn't Skyler Green a rb out of highschool). Anyway, I think Saban saw the same potential in Watson. However, we are very deep at receiver now and at running back, and I think Watson thought that he had a better shot at playing at AU.
Skyler Green was a qb coming out of high school. He may have played some at the RB position, maybe somebody else knows for sure.
He was an option QB, but knew from the start that he wanted to play receiver... Liked the way LSU used Josh Reed and wanted to play the slot like Reed. Reed was switched to receiver by Dinardo (Josh Booty requested that the staff look at Reed at receiver after numerous injuries) and Henderson wanted to stay at RB while Dinardo was here and Saban's staff talked him into trying receiver.
I can't believe that prick Tuberville wouldn't let this kid come home and play for LSU by invoking the not within the same conference BS. Wouldn't it be in the kids best interest to go to the best football school closest to home? Saban let Clausen go to Tennessee. Why wouldn't TT let Jerald come home. Because he is an f'n coward and doesn't care about his kids best interests.
I think Tubs did Jerald a favor by not letting him go to an SEC school. He can prove himself at SLU and not have to sit out a year, then if an SEC school comes calling it won't be any of Tuberville's business.
Lemme rephrase myself... the kid has talent, no doubt. I've seen him play since jr high. Even way back then he had trouble running over guys (or breaking tackles)... He had speed and would break it loose and NO ONE could catch him... NO ONE. When he was used in short yardage situations, he was not effective at all. Matter of fact, he was hardly ever used in those situations, Raphael Valentine was. I'm an ardent supporter of Central Catholic football and I am not cutting Jerald down. But, I've never PERSONALLY seen him do anything great enough to be a good D1A back. I'm thinkin that Tubby or Saban would want to convert him to a receiver... he has the speed. I hope I'm wrong, maybe with the right coaches and guidance he could become really good. But, you are absolutely correct sir, I have NO idea what to look for in talent. I judge by what I see on the field.
