Marcus Randall: Is it just me?

Discussion in 'The Tiger's Den' started by max, Jan 18, 2004.

  1. MLUTiger

    MLUTiger Secular Humanist

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    I trust that the best QB will win out in competition. I haven't seen any Jim Haslett-type favoritism from Saban yet, so I don't expect any now.

    As far as who's hyped and not and how that translates into being a good QB: Booty was the best player in the nation as well as Brock Berlin and both hardly tore up the competition, although Booty was named 1st Team SEC due to a shortage of QB talent. Rohan Davey and even Matt Mauck were neither highly recruited or regarded and they led the Tigers to arguably their most successful seasons ever.

    That being said, I feel that Randall will come out and prove everyone wrong. He's spent the last two years riding Mauck's coattails, rooming with him, breaking down film together, etc. He has every physical tool a QB needs to be successful in the SEC. All that time with Mauck has hopefully rubbed off on Marcus in a positive way, but of one of the freshmen step up and win it, I won't have any worries either as that will mean we'll be set for the next 3 years.

    Either way, I think the LSU running game is good enough to carry the biggest share of the offensive burden for most of the season.
     
  2. CottonBowl'66

    CottonBowl'66 Founding Member

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    I do not agree with your analysis. Randall played very well the first half against Texas in the Cotton Bowl, and his long run in that game was a highlight. If Randall was in another program, in a different situation, he might make someone a first class workhorse tailback.

    He is that good an athlete. He is strong and has good quickness and speed.

    While Randall may not have been a five star recruit (like the lead-footed, still unpolished, weak armed Brock Berlin was), he was the first prime example that Nick Saban's methods of choosing recruits by how much of an NFL prospect (and not by what recruiting gurus say) they may be four years later pay off.

    Randall still has a chance to be that NFL prospect. He is strong, has good arm strength, and has running ability. In my opinion the biggest weakness he has is a very poor touch on deep passes. I can still remember an LSU WR (Henderson?) running wide open past the Texas secondary in the second half and Randall missing him by a mile.

    He has thrown other deep passes just as poorly. I might remind people that in the SEC championship game against Tennessee, Mauck missed a wide open deep receiver by a mile on at least one occasion, which would have been a sure TD.

    Until the Florida game in 2002, I thought Matt Mauck showed very little indication that he would ever be a polished QB. Until then, it was a case of a subpar QB playing on a very good team, and the team winning despite the QB, instead of because of the QB.

    It will not surprise me if an improved Marcus Randall is the starting QB next year. With the defense we can expect LSU to field next year, Saban may cut back on the passing, start running more, and taking advantage of having a true RB at QB.

    If Randall improves his passing ability as much as Mauck did at this time last year, we may be playing for another NC with him at QB. Jimbo Fisher has worked wonders with others and he may yet with Randall.
     
  3. M.O.M

    M.O.M Founding Member

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    Marcus can improve, dont you believe?

    He just needs to make better decisions. He needs to work on his short game accuracy. We do not need a rifle armed QB to win championships. Look at Matt Mauck. Look at Tom Brady. Look at Jake Delhomme.
     
  4. BMoney

    BMoney Founding Member

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    Enough with the Randall bashing. He's still a Tiger like the rest of us.

    Marcus Randall was thrown to the wolves in a very difficult situation last year. Considering the circumstances, he did as well as could be expected. Like someone else said, through 5 games last year, Matt Mauck didn't show us much of anything. He had a very good game against Florida, then bam! Season over. Marcus Randall had 7 games last year against very tough competition. He didn't get to play against any ULL's or Citadel's to increase his confidence. He was thrown in the fire 2 games into the SEC schedule. He played very well in 3 1/2 of those games (South Carolina, Kentucky, Arkansas, and the first half against Texas) as well as coming in against Ole Miss to lead us to the win. He didn't play very well in the other games.

    I think things would be different if he had the opportunity to work with the first team more and some easier games under his belt. Regardless of who wins the QB derby next year, I'm glad that we'll have 1 QB with some experience on our roster. I would love to see Russell or Flynn win the job. To me, that would mean the coaching staff thinks that guy is good enough to lead us to victory, despite the fact that we have a senior QB with experience vying for the job. If either of the freshman wins the job great, if Randall wins it, I still think we're in capable hands.

    How can anyone blame Randall for not scoring any points in the second half against LaTech? Coach Saban himself said he didn't want to score any more points. That leads to much different playcalling, which was evidenced by the fact that Randall turned around and handed off to Barrington Edwards (who of course was running behind the 2nd and 3rd string o-line) for the majority of the second half. Yet, that's somehow Randall's fault.

    Give the guy a chance.
     
  5. tigrman

    tigrman Founding Member

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    I'll keep my opinion of Randall's QB prowess to myself simply because it's been done to death.

    BUT if any of you guys think we can take a one dimensional football team into the SEC and win football games I would like to refer to the AU board.
     
  6. MiketheTiger69

    MiketheTiger69 Founding Member

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    I think we can have a tremendous potential upside with Randall at Qb. If the guy can get his passing down, and remember it aint just the Qb involved in making a successful pass play, then his ability to run the option gives us another dimension to the running game. I like the idea of adding one more weapon to an already potent attack.






    GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!!!





    LSU, 2003, THE BEST IN THE NATION AND THE SEC!!!!!



    :geaux: :helmet: :lsug: :helmet: :geaux:
     
  7. timmyt

    timmyt Founding Member

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    I say Its Randall's job to lose. If one of the RS's beats him out so be it. As it stands now we have 1 QB with "any" experience at all. I hear the term Phenom used when describing Russell and Flynn, No doubt in "HS" they were all that and a bag of chips but this aint HS this is "Big Time"colege football and expect them to come in and beat out a guy that has been in the system as long a Randall a guy that has SEC experience and won games in the SEC is unrealistic to me. Can it happen? sure it can, its just unlikley for it to happen. I will still say this, if they were better than Randall one of them would have been # 2 this year. Just my opinion, I want to win and i dont care who the QB is . I think saban will make the right choice and if not will let him know about it soon enough,lol
     
  8. max

    max Founding Member

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    I was one of the people pushing for Vincent to get a chance to start at the beginning of this past season. Just like people are pushing for Randall because they had seen him play and he had experience, people were pushing for Addai and Carey. Vincent was like Russell and Flynn to people inconceivable that he could beat them out. If they both hadn't got hurt, he may not have gotten the chance. Now, I doubt anyone would challenge that Vincent is our best RB. I hope all three get the opportunity with significant playing time against Houston, Troy State, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt.
    Prediction: Randall will start the first few games of the season. Randall's eratic play will cost us one of the early tough games. By the Mississippi State game or earlier there will be a bigger quarterback controversy than there is currently.
     
  9. TigerPrideLSU

    TigerPrideLSU Founding Member

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    I still think that either JaMarcus Russell or Matt Flynn will be starting QB this coming up season. It's always good to have experience, although JaMarcus or Matt have never played a down of college football, but they seem to have better skills than Marcus Randall. It will definitely be an exciting season. I think honestly if LSU beats Auburn, UGA, Florida, and Arkansas on the road, we can repeat as national champions. That is, if we win the rest of our games, which I think we will.
     
  10. tigrman

    tigrman Founding Member

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    Hell, is that all? I'm buying my orange bowl tickets now! :D :D
     

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