Just curious if anyone has an opinion on what the RB situation will be next year? Seems pretty status-quo, but will there be any changes? Seems like it will once again be Broussard with Addai stepping in to give him a breather, and JV coming in every now and then, but with a new coach, who know? Also, if Broussard has a big year, will he take off early? If we lose Carey, Addai, and Broussard.. That leaves us with JV and some youngsters... any thoughts?
Does anyone know Miles style as far as creating a star player? It seemed that Saban liked to spread the ball around to our talented back field. I'm not sure of Miles's syle, but it seems possible that we would rarely see anyone except the star running back (Broussard would be my guess). With as much talent as we have back there, I would hate for this to be the case. Many people, myself included, are expecting the reimergence of Justin Vincent next year. I'm hopefull that they can better utilize Addai in specially designed plays. It's way to early to think about people leaving early.
Les said that the depth chart will stay the same from last year, but he also said he would like a closer look at Vincent, and he liked his work ethic (ex: busting butt on special teams all year after winning 2 MVP awards.)
Okay, see, there is no running back "situation" at LSU ! You got it ? NOTE: "Situations" aren't all bad, usually mean you are loaded with talent ... like ... well ... LSU at running back !
It's hard to argue with that way our RB's were used this past season, so I would be satisfied if that continued (albeit I would like to see a rejuvenated JV return to his '03 form). I think Broussard will be #1. Addai has the ability to play both RB and WR and I think he'll split time at those spots, and I think Addai, even though he may not be "the starter" will have formations specifically with Addai in mind. So in a sense, I think Addai is the most valuable RB on our depth chart. JV, like you said, could very remain a "here-and-there" player. I would like a "touches" breakdown per game to be somewhere along: Broussard 18-20 carries Addai 10-15 touches (rushes + passes thrown to) JV 5-10 touches By "big year" I imagine you mean 1,400+ rushing yards--because it's pretty standard now-a-days to have a RB rush for 1,200 yards in an 11-game (12 w/Bowl and 13 w/conference title game and bowl) season. If Broussard rushes for 1,200 or fewer, then he really hasn't seperated himself, IMO, from RB's who will complete their SR. seasons in '05 and enter the draft, and should stay on for his Sr. year. However, should Broussard HAVE a big year, and leave for the NFL, and we lose Addai and Carey to graduation, you're still talking about a backfield with JV as the starter (and until this past season, who would have argued about that?) and RJ Jackson (very much like Addai), Antonio Robinson and Trindon Holloday. Now, we haven't seen what Jackson and A-Rob are all about yet, but I think both of them have very promising careers ahead of them at LSU. Bottom line is that I think our depth at running back is too great to allow for any one RB to have a dominant year. I don't think any of the "big 3" (Broussard, Addai and JV) will be drastically ahead of the others by season's end. One of them will rush for 1,000 --most likely Broussard. and the other 2 will both add between 550-700 yards apiece. If I were to handicap the stats for our RB's (also using the stats from RB's in Miles offense the past few years as a barometer) I would say that: Broussard rushes for 1,100 yards (Tatum Bell and Verand Morency both rushed for around 1,300 yards as the #1 guy respecitively in '03 and '04) JV after working his way back-up the ladder after starting '05 playing sparingly at first finishes up strong and rushes for 650 yards. Addai, seeing a lot of time split out wide in certain formations finishes with 600 yards rushing but adds another 250-300 yards receiving.
I just hate to see him pull a Toefield and cut out on the tigers... but its all early speculation... If he does stick around for his senior year, the guy will be scary.
I think Broussard should get 60-70 % of the carries, with Addai getting the second most...JV needs to be moved to the slot reciever to get him on the field ala Josh Reed...I love JV, but the first 5-6 steps he takes are too lateral, and I think we need more of a straight up the field runner like Broussard as out primary back. Could you imagine JV getting the ball out of the slot and having room to slash and haul up the field on one play and Broussard going off tackle or around the end on the next, and Addai workhorseing himself out into the flat...Defenses would have a hard time adjusting to the variable running styles and diverse line-of-site angles offered by these 3 studs..... Anyone agree with JV moving to slot receiver to get him on the field more? I am also of the opinion that Hester will be real hard to keep off the field, with his "Sammy Gajan" (combine Sammy Martin and Hokie Gajan) style of agressive, hard and quick running..Hester will surprise many and be a big part of the offense in 05 as we work our way to Pasa-get-down-dena! Geaux Tigers !!
Lord knows they will be trying different things out in the offseason again to try and get all 3 major backs some work and probably also adding some stuff designed for Hester out of the FB slot. I doubt if Les has ever had this much talent to work with at the RB position before so I don't think we can look at history as an indicator of how he is gonna use these guys.
Green is our slot guy... You just cant take JV out of the backfield.. if Broussard leaves after this season, then JV will be the man.. if not, then he will take Addai's spot at #2, and you have a Davis/Toefield backfield on steriods.
