SEC Preview: LSU Tigers
July 24th, 2008 by Chris Pendley
After one national title, two straight years in BCS bowls, and three 11-2 finishes in a row, it’ll be tough for LSU to repeat the level of success they’ve had over the last few years. What’ll make matters difficult is losing 10 starters on both sides of the ball, including QB Matt Flynn, RB Jacob Hester, and arguably five of their top six guys on defense (Glenn Dorsey, Ali Highsmith, Jonathan Zenon, Chevis Jackson, and Craig Steltz). Still, Les Miles has done an excellent job keeping a high level of talent in Baton Rouge, and he’ll look to continue the trend of spending most – if not all – of the season inside the top 10.
Speaking of Miles, he’s back for his 4th year as LSU’s head coach (currently sporting a 34-6 record at LSU, including 3-0 in bowls). OC Gary Crowton enters his 2nd year at LSU. After losing DC Bo Pelini to Nebraska, Doug Mallory and Bradley Dale Peveto will co-DC. Mallory was the DB coach, Peveto was the LB coach. (Bottom line: there shouldn’t be that much of a difference in philosophies on either side of the ball this season.
After losing JaMarcus Russell in ’06, Matt Flynn in ’07, and Ryan Perriloux to the future Florida Correctional Facility system, the QB situation at LSU is a little up in the air (to put it mildly). Either Jarrett Lee or Andrew Hatch will take the snaps under center; one is a redshirt freshman and the other is a transfer from Harvard. Neither should be in a fantasy lineup until we see some signs of production in the offense.
The completely unspectacular Jacob Hester put up 1,100 yards and 12 TDs last year, but in his absence there should still be a solid stable of running backs for LSU’s offense. Keiland Williams and Charles Scott bring similar size, age, and maturity to the system, but Williams has fared better than Scott for the last couple of years in total yardage and TDs. There isn’t a ton of difference between the two, but Williams should be the focal point of the ground game, and that’s worth paying attention to.
Of course, there’s also another guy in the backfield in Trindon Holliday, who is one of – if not the – fastest guy in college football with a 4.27 40. Still, until Crowton starts designing plays to use Holliday’s speed both in running and passing formations, Holliday will just be a fantasy tease. While we only have a limited sample size on how Crowton will design the running game at LSU, it seems he values strength over breakaway speed. This means Williams should be in for an excellent fantasy season, even if Scott and Holliday have better yards per carry.
At the wideout spots, LSU once again employs a balanced attack, which can be a good thing in real life but completely maddening in fantasy. Brandon LaFell and Demetrius Byrd should be the top receivers again. Byrd is probably the deep threat of the two, but there’s not a ton of difference between the two guys in terms of fantasy production. Unless the passing game goes bonkers, they might only be useful as WR3s. That being said, expect TE Richard Dickson to be a little more useful this season than last year, even though 375 with 5 TDs isn’t bad from the TE spot. Dickson is probably the most useful fantasy guy out of this lot.
On defense, LSU isn’t nearly as bad as you’d expect. Aside from Dorsey, all the starters return on the D-line, and that’s not even counting Ricky Jean-Francois, who spent most of last year on the bench thanks to a most-of-season suspension. Where the weaknesses are in this D are in the secondary, where only Curtis Taylor returns – and the losses are talented. That being said, it’s fair to expect the front seven to be strong enough to make this a fantasy-viable unit, it won’t be the giant wrecking crew it was last year. What’ll help the fantasy viability is Holliday showing up on the KR squad – he had a KR TD last season.
K Colt David should be an excellent kicking option, although expecting 63 extra points this season might be a fool’s errand. He should make a fair amount of that back with the additional FG attempts.
Summary
LSU should once again field an excellent real-life team, but due to the large amount of platoons the Tigers carry, their fantasy effectiveness will be severely diminished. That being said, the offense is excellent enough that a couple passable fantasy options should emerge, and the D/ST is still fantastic.
Related posts:
