Freshmen QBs--remember the coaching I think you have to look at the coaching matchup to explain it. Here is why. Carter came to TS and played against the Lou Tepper "turn around and look" drop linebacker defense. While LSU was #6 at the time, it was an illusion. The only game I went to that year was at ND and I could tell which ND reciever would get the ball on all of those 3rd & longs Booger kept putting the Irish in. Worst defensive performance I have ever seen in an LSU team. On the other hand, Leak came in against a top defense, but one that had some tendencies. LSU rarely came off the blitzes that day and Leak burned us enough to win. It reminded me of the 87 Gator Bowl, where Hodson repeatedly checked into passes designed to go right at the blitz that Joe Lee Dunn was calling. The similarity? Ed Zaunbrecher was the winning OC in both of those games. I wasn't a big fan of "Up the middle Ed", but he sure earned his pay in those games. Hopefully, if we have to play the Gators again, we can learn from that. It all comes down to coaching.
Carter, Craig and Leak were thrown in as starters because they HAD no one better. Each of those was a good athlete in their own right, and were fortunate enough to be better than the upper classmen on the roster. As a self-proclaimed-football-guru , I can certainly see how one would NOT give the starting job to a Freshman when you had a QB that was 8-1 as a starter entering the season. UGA, Auburn and Florida all risked going to the unknown and it paid off for them. We just didn't need to take that risk.
Randall had the unfortunate luck of being streaky. One game he would play like a star, and then the next, he would play as if he had never set foot on a football field. You have to give Randall his due though. He IS a good athlete and DOES possess skills....but his inconsistancies hold him back.
