Week 1 Practice report

The first week of practice is over, and already people are gushing over Terrence Tolliver, writing off Demetrius Byrd, declaring Richard Murphy the next Reggie Bush, hating on Ryan Perrilloux, wondering about the ambiguity of Ricky Jean-Francois situation, and worried about the offensive line.

People forget that Flynn barely lost out to Russell for the starting job.

It’s the first week, and in reality, nobody outside the coaching staff will really know what type of team LSU has until 60 minutes have been played at Mississippi state. That being said, this is a time to see how the new guys are performing, and see if the older guys have improved or if they’re on the decline. If it’s one thing I can say about LSU fans, it’s that they tend to always be in crisis mode instead of enjoy the team we have. It’s pathetic that no LSU fan would publicly acknowledge that Jamarcus Russell has what it takes to be a #1 pick until about two weeks before the NFL draft, or that the message board dorks are worried about fucking punt formations, or whether or not Matt Flynn can fill in for Jamarcu. It’s the same motherfuckers that thought Flynn was better than Jamarcus at the start of the last three seasons. Get out of crisis mode bitches, this ain’t Mississippi State. Let’s get excited. Here is a clip of practice from week 1:

So far in the first week, it looks like Joseph Barksdale has been switched to the offensive line, the running backs are all looking good, in particular Keiland Williams and Charles Scott — not much of a surprise there. Supermidget Trindon Holiday has been moved to WR, and Richard Murphy looks like he’s got some sick moves, and will be spending time at both Running Back and Wide Receiver. Terrence Tolliver has been the standout rookie, running crisp routes and catching everything thrown to him. I was hoping that Demetrius Byrd would show some signs of life early on, but he has yet to make an impact.

The offensive players have nicknamed OC Gary Crowton, “The Wizard” — given his past offenses, I expect to see Holiday used in the offense more and matched up against slower defensive players. Given his 3.9 speed, everyone, by default, is slower. Since it is a new offense, and since tecmo bowl’s playbook that had 4 plays is more complex than Jimbo Fisher’s offense, I expect it to take a while for our guys to learn the new play books.

On defense, it looks like Chad Jones is going to officially be a Tiger, as he is practicing and has yet to sign with the Houston Astros. That’s good because the only real question on the Tiger defense is in the safety position, and it’s not even much of a question as Craig Steltz will be crucifying WR’s and QB’s for the rest of the season.

On the whole, things are looking good this week — the Tigers will be scrimmaging this afternoon, with Ryan Perrilloux and Jarrett Lee as the two quarterbacks, giving Matt Flynn some rest and preventing him from injury. This is ultra-important as all bets are off if Flynn gets hurt this season.

Here are my pre-season SEC Rankings:

1. LSU: Great coaching staff, unstoppable defense and solid running backs.
1. Alabama: Could this be Saban’s year? Probably not, but still can’t count him out.

1. Arkansas: Darren McFadden will single handedly win every game this season.

1. Auburn: Will Cox and Lester show up?
1. Florida: How bad was Chris Leak? We’ll know this season, won’t we?

1. Georgia: Matthew Stafford, Caleb King — this is a young impressive squad.

1. Kentucky: Rafael Little and Andre Woodson –Kentucky will kick the shit out of Lousiville this season.

1. Missisippi State: They will be a lunchpail team this season, don’t be surprised if they actually turn the corner.

1. Ole Miss: One can never count out the orgeron. He may line up at DT if Powe doesn’t show up.

1. South Carolina: TOBCU would have beat Florida last year if it weren’t for luck and Meyer’s lax player disciple policies.

1. Tennessee: Phil Fulmer is a fantastic recruiter, and a fantastic coach. It’s funny that people are calling for his resignation, the guy won a National Championship and two SEC titles, and plays every tough team close.

1. Vanderbilt: Bobby Johnson is an alchemist, creating gold out of nothing.