Jimbo on the QB saga

TE...I don't post very often but I got involved in this discussion a few weeks back and I agree with you now, as I did then. Comparing Mauck of 02 & 03 with Randall of 02 is apples and oranges. In 02, Mauck got fat against the cupcakes, while Randall got thrown to the lions. Everyone will bring up the 2002 Fla game, but I think that is overblown. Mauck's TD passes in that game were due to great individual efforts by Henderson. But to be fair, he did play a fine game so let's equate it to Randall's performance against USC. Randall in 02 did not have near the defense that we had this past year. Not knocking Mauck...I appreciate everything he did. I just don't think there is as much disparity between the two as others seem to. All the things that people badmouth Randall for, could very easily apply to Mauck. I've seen him make some bad decisions. I saw him have happy feet as well. He threw some bad ints. Several times I saw him run out of bounds for a sack when he could have thrown it into the stands. These shortcomings however, were overlooked because the end result was that we won the games this year as opposed to last. Bottom line question I would ask the Randall bashers is this: Which games in 2002 that we lost with Randall at QB, would we have won if Mauck had been the QB?

 

I hear a lot of references to athletic ability of our three prospective QB's. Athletic ability is great, experiance is nice also, but leadership ability and quick decision making are what matters.

In my opinion Randall does not have it. I read this thread and was close to changing my mind, but after looking back on past performances of Randall (2002 and 2003) I can't do it. Take your statistics and put em away. They won't change my mind and I'm sure that there are plenty of other fans out there that feel the same way.

 

IMO the QB race will be wide open but Randall does have the inside track. It's hard to ignore the fact that he has big game experience and years in the system. I agree with some earlier posts that it is insane to try and compare Maucks performance in early 02 with Randalls perforformance against much different competition later in the season. Randall was a young inexperienced QB coming back from a major injury against big time competition. He does not have the pedigree that the two young future stars seem to have but time in the system and experience in the SEC is HUGE!!!!! Saban and Fischer will start the QB that gives us the best chance to win on Saturdays no matter what his name or recruiting rank. Jimbo saying that Randall is the one to beat tells the young guys that they can't quit working yet and tells Randall that he has the staffs support until someone else proves they can do better. I would love to see one of the young guys become an overnight sensation but I don't believe we should forfeit the season if Randall is the starter in game one. If we had closed the door on Rohan Davey after his career started slowly like many fans want to do on Randall we would have missed out on one hell of a good QB. However it is is put up or shut up time for Randall, if he is not prepared to be a starter in the SEC by now he never will be. It should be a fun and interesting battle to watch this spring and fall!!!!!:geaux: :lsug:

 

TE is right in everyone of his comments. FightinTIGER and tigrman seem to think that Randall can't learn from his past failures like Mauch, who made an incredible amount of mental mistakes in 2002 and many in 2003, did. Also just like davey learned from an learned from his many mistakes previously. Randall was a sophomore in 2002 and he had a much better season than Mauck did. Of course many of these posters were the same ones who wanted one of the TRUE frosh to start this year instead of Mauck or Randall in order to give them experience for future years since 2004 was supposed to be our best chance for a great team. For guys to say we should play the 2 young guys in order to get them ready for next year is totallt insane. Do you put them in at times this year, yes you do. Do you let one of them start if they beat Randall out, yes you do. Do you bench Randall just to give the more talented guys more experience, no you don't.

If one of the frosh is as good as expected and wins the job great, if they don't win the job I hope it's because Marcus was outstanding in the preps for the season and not due to them being bad. And as an earlier poster said, if Jimbo and Nick have the faith in Marcus then we should too as they actually get to see the kids play, how provocative, they may actually know more than the rest of us.

 

And I love the posters that have an in with an assistant coach that tells them things that Nick doesn't let them talk to anyone else about. Name names and prove it if you are going to posts BS like that.

 

Was Mauck thrown to the wolves against the vols in the sec champ game?

 

I was at that game and Mauck played courageously andhis RUNNING it what hurt Tennesee as they had not prepared for a running QB at all, his passing was pretty atrocious in that game to tell you the truth. INO, the defense actually won the game as they really stepped up from the end of the 4th quarter on. But he did lead us to that victory and for that I will always love him for it.

 

I"ll agree with most of TE's sentiments about Randall. Players improve, especially at QB. Ro didn't excel in his first few starts but had the best single season a QB has ever had at LSU. Randall's 2003 mop-up performances should be ignored. The game is completely different when your team is up 50 pts. Randall ended 2002 very well (Ole Miss, Ark, Cotton Bowl before injury) and I feel confident he can have a year similar to the one Mauck had this year.

Now, that being said, I expect the starter for Oregon St. to be the QB that Jimbo and Nick feel will be the man for the entire year. I think that man will be Russell. Either way, I'll be a big fan of Randall, Flynn, & Russell as long as they're still on the roster, whatever role they may play.

I sure hope Randall doesn't read these message boards. I'm not naive enough to think there aren't any players that browse sometimes but hopefully most of them don't.

 

I believe Randall should be given all the chance at being the starter. He stuck to the team the entire year on the bench, and he def. deserves a shot. I won't be surprised if he has matured over the past year. Anyway, he still has to compete and prove himself in the spring and summer to be the starter, like any other QB's in the system. Don't write him off yet.

As for Flynn, I admire him for sticking to his commitment to LSU. It tells me he has confidence in himself, despite the higher profiles of Russell or Lane.

 

I'm just glad the coaches don't give up on players like some of the fans here are doing!

To suggest Randall can't/won't improve is a slap to him and our coaching staff. Fisher has made of living of taking average QBs and turning them into very good QBs ... not just at LSU, but at Auburn as well.

Russell or Flynn may beat Randall out for the job, but I don't think it'll be because Randall hasn't improved ... they are probably more talented than Randall. But, it takes more than pure talent to lead a team.

I just hope one of them steps up and becomes the obvious starter and leader of this team before the first game ... I don't think rotating/changing QBs midseason is a good thing!

I'm rooting for Randall to prove people wrong...