Hester returning punts. Two thoughts flashed through my head in seconds. He's too slow. He does remind me of Hokie Gajan, though . . . What have we got to lose? I do think that Holliday need to be given a shot while he's young and speedy, but there will also be times for steady and dependable and Hester just might be a candidate.
Whatever happened to the good returners we use to have or get? Obviously DD and Skyler are gone but there doesn't seem to be anyone to replace them? Isn't it up to the coaches to recruit and replace these? Soon the season will be half over and we still don't have anyone to fill these shoes. We found out just how important this position was against Florida. I just couldn't believe what I saw Saturday, seems like we had momentum before this and it just got worse afterwards. No offense, but it seems like better coaches would've had this solved by this point? At LSU, We've always had good kick returners but now it seems like we don't this year?
Catching a pass is totally different from catching Punts and Kickoffs. DandyDon said that Jai Eugene might lose his redshirt and take over at Nickel Back for Francis Daniels who got hurt. He has been impressive in practice. He was a great return man in High School. I want to see what he can do. I also still like the idea of Early catching punts along with Holliday.
Yes lets think back.... The X-Man was 2nd in KR's in the SEC before he went out with a broken collarbone as a true freshman, even with "what happened in Ga.". Take away that 1 yard return & he's leading at that time. Les Miles chose not to develope him last year as a returner & instead use Joe Adai as a blocker for Skyler. We all know how well that went :angryfire . Les Miles basically ran the X-Man out of football.
I know high school play definitely doesn't translate into college play, but Trindon Holliday averaged 27 YARDS PER RETURN in high school. We should be developing this dude now as best we can. We have enough crappy games to put him in and if he fumbles 10 times we'll probably still win. I don't care if he's not tall enough to ride the Ferris Wheel, put him in. The guy was the 4-time state champ in the 200 and I think 3-time state champ in the 100. You play your true freshman when you have nothing good going. I also believe Early could do it despite his fumle on the kickoff. He could be a great threat, but we don't use him enough. He returned them in high school and did it well. The guy was a 5 star recruit and we need to use him more. I believe Jimbo tried to get him more touches on Saturday and so I commend him for that. He actually gets yards after the catch. You don't see a lot of that these days with LSU. Oh yeah, and speaking of the fumble by Doucet, WHERE THE HELL WAS THE BLOCKING on that play? It's not like he was fielding it at the 10. HE was at his own three and the fumble happened quick. The Florida guy was there to hit him faster than any defender I've ever seen. They're just not doing their job on special teams. That guy shouldn't have been in there that quick. I've seen many people fumble before and pick up the ball. But I've never seen anyone get nailed that fast after picking the ball up.
Domnick Davis was an outstanding punt returner. I remember when he was injured, Josh Reed tried it. Every punt was an adventure or nightmare. Is'nt one of the DBs DD's half brother. Maybe it runs in the family. Another possibility is one of the freshmen WRs. I saw one of the Mitchells in a game and he never missed a pass. Once when Flynn threw a hot pass behind him he reached back like Clayton and pulled it in. I think he has the hands I don't know if he has the other intangibles.
