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Tuesday, December 2, 2008
FOOTBALL 2008
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The time to have a new quarterback is not when almost everyone around him is also new — unless you’re all but resigned to having a rebuilding year.
No, the time to break in a new quarterback — or, in LSU’s case, two or three — is when the supporting cast is experienced, talented and deep.
Sophomore Andrew Hatch and redshirt freshman Jarrett Lee, veterans of all of one year on the LSU sideline, and 2008 high school graduate Jordan Jefferson are the quarterbacks available to coach Les Miles and offensive coordinator Gary Crowton, his quarterbacks coach.
Routine things bothered Ricky Jean-Francois last year as much as the simple, harsh reality that he couldn’t step on the football field for 12 games. “I hated it on Fridays when I didn’t get to get dressed up in my suit and get on the bus and leave with the rest of the team,” said Jean-Francois, a junior defensive tackle for LSU. “It was hard to see my teammates pull away in that bus and I wasn’t in it.” Jean-Francois made sure all the heartache and sacrifices were worth the price he had endured when the BCS title game rolled around. Stand anywhere close to the LSU practice field long enough and you’re bound to hear Demetrius Byrd. He might be chattering to fellow receivers about making sure routes are run crisply. Or he might be jawing with receivers coach D.J. McCarthy about whether he should have to drop for five quick push-ups if he does something wrong. Heck, Byrd might just be carrying on with himself. But he’s talking, seemingly all the time. When LSU’s baseball program was winning championship after championship back in the go-go ’90s, the team had a saying: Hold the rope. Across the railroad tracks and a couple of Demetrius Byrd fly patterns away from old Alex Box Stadium, LSU football’s version of the rope sits prominently in the front of the Tigers’ main meeting room. Auburn enters the 2008 season as the team to beat in the West because, as is the case in all even-numbered years, the Tigers from the Plains of Alabama hold the trump card that has loomed so large the last decade. The philosophy on this page the past few years has been to shuffle the teams at the top a bit, leave the teams at the bottom in place and identify the one compelling reason to choose one team as the favorite in an increasingly balanced division. It’s a strategy that usually fails miserably. Maybe it’s due. Enthusiasm. Optimism. Confidence. These are the abstracts now in place around Southern. Vince Lands explained himself the other day, and he made everything sound so clear. “I’ve tried to do as much as I can in the time I’ve had in it,” Lands said. There’s been little that’s gone according to Rickey Bustle’s rebuilding schedule at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. NEW ORLEANS — NCAA eligibility rules have done what virtually no Tulane opponent could do last year — take Matt Forté away from the Green Wave’s offense. Without a winning record, conference championship or bowl appearance, the University of Louisiana at Monroe found itself measuring its success from 2007 by the outcome of one game. For a program that failed to record a winning season for the 14th consecutive year, the Warhawks were the envy of most mid-major programs following their 21-14 victory over Alabama. Five victories in a season hardly constitutes a cause for applause. For Louisiana Tech’s Derek Dooley, it’s a reason for optimism heading into his second year of his rebuilding project. “We have a better understanding of what we were doing in all three phases of the game,” said Dooley. Get on Broadway or get on the highway. That was the choice football players at Grambling had last season. “‘Best man plays,’” senior wide receiver Nick Lewis said was the poignant message from last year that keeps ringing in his head. The 3-8 record wasn’t what made last season so excruciating for Southeastern Louisiana fans. It was how many of those games ended. Lions coach Mike Lucas has no argument with those who picked his team to repeat its seventh-place conference showing. However, he knows this isn’t the same team. “I do believe that we are closer than what people think,” Lucas said. Mid-October came and went last football season and things couldn’t have been much better for Nicholls State. The McNeese State media guide lists 13 starters returning from the team that won another Southland Conference championship last season, but that doesn’t tell the full story about who’s back on the ranch for the Cowboys of Lake Charles. Who would have thought it? The Louisiana College football program a model of consistency? With Dennis Dunn coming back for his third season as head coach and 15 starters returning — including 10 of 11 on defense — the Wildcats seem poised to finally break through with a winning record for the first time since football was restored in 2000. A year ago, fresh off the most successful run in franchise history, the New Orleans Saints were preparing to head into the new season as one of the favorites to represent the NFC in Super Bowl XLII. Reggie Bush didn’t get riled up hearing that he was a bust last season, a difficult year that saw him miss significant playing time because of injury for the first time in his football career. Dale Weiner of Catholic High and Rusty Price of Broadmoor share a few football distinctions. Weiner (1990) and Price (1992) have each made one appearance in a state title game. Want credible evidence this year’s talent pool in Louisiana is deeper than a year ago? Try Exhibit A. Calling a play from the huddle might be a simplified task for District 4-5A quarterbacks this season. Pick a league team, and there’s an experienced and potentially bruising ground attack waiting to happen. Tradition is no guarantee for success. When in doubt, go with what you know. Around and around and around they may go, just where the District 7-4A football race will stop no one seems to know. By winning four Class 3A state titles since 2001, District 8-3A has established itself as one of Louisiana’s best in any classification. Expect one of the best to also be one of the toughest in 2008. “Brutal” is the word Northeast High coach David Masterson uses to describe the six-team league traditionally led by defending state champion Parkview Baptist and Redemptorist. Lutcher has a rich football tradition that includes Class 3A state titles in 2003 and 2006. And with 14 returning starters from last year’s team which advanced to the quarterfinals, the Bulldogs are once again the favorites in District 9-3A. Teams in District 7-2A will meet different kinds of challenges the year after having two teams advance deep into the playoffs. St. John of Plaquemine and Donaldsonville were state quarterfinalists in 2007, and Livonia was a third playoff team, falling to St. James in the first round. Change is a key word for District 8-2A as rival schools try to unseat three-time defending champion Clinton. Class 1A football sometimes is about the numbers not catching up with you. You don’t have to remind first-year West St. John coach Robert Valdez about the Rams’ proud football history. The former Southern University lineman sees it every day in practice and hears about it everywhere around the small community of Edgard. |
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