Scrimmage Aug 18th

[dawg80]

The pressure SHOULD be on Smith to step up and actually deliver this season. And, do that from game one. I say "SHOULD" because if the HC tells ya, just do the best you can but no way will you lose your starter's role...well then...there is no pressure to perform. Let me hasten to add, I don't know if that is really the case or not. Maybe Holtz keeps his thoughts away from the players, just coaching and encouraging them to get better, but in his mind, Holtz actually has some benchmarks he expects players to reach or....

Honestly, we have not yet seen such a situation here under Holtz. There has not been a case when we had a QB who SHOULD be performing at a high level, who didn't. After the first year, 2013, which was a cluster-eff, we have seen Sokol, Driskel, and Higgins all step up. Then last year we had a youngster at QB, who didn't stink it up, just left a LOT to be desired. As DW points out, that can be explained, with the whole youth thingy. Kind of.

If you watch CFB....and I bet you all do! you have seen true freshmen come in at QB and light it up! So...in today's reality, with high schools employing sophisticated passing offenses, kids are often ready to step in at the college level. At least, leaning on the youth thingy comes across as a lame excuse. You know it could be...just maybe....Smith is really not that good. It's possible. But, we'll see.

FOR THE RECORD....I am officially giving Smith thru the LSU game to "show me." I am on his bandwagon for now. I think he will show great improvement...he did look pretty good in the Frisco Bowl, which was his last performance. I expect to see our D kicking butt, and our QB doing a great job leading us to TDs.

I also expect to be 2-0 heading into that LSU game (Super Bowl....whatever Roman numeral you wish) and for us to have an opportunity to win that game. I don't think it's fair to EXPECT the Dawgs to win, as if there is no other possibility. With whatever faults they may have, LSU is still an SEC program stacked with NFL-caliber talent. And, it is a home game for them, which adds a minimum of 10 pts advantage to their ledger. The Dawgs will win, or not, in BR based on how many plays they are able to make that night.

[PawDawg]

He has potential to be a rock star.

[BhadDawg]

The pressure SHOULD be on Smith to step up and actually deliver this season. And, do that from game one. I say "SHOULD" because if the HC tells ya, just do the best you can but no way will you lose your starter's role...well then...there is no pressure to perform. Let me hasten to add, I don't know if that is really the case or not. Maybe Holtz keeps his thoughts away from the players, just coaching and encouraging them to get better, but in his mind, Holtz actually has some benchmarks he expects players to reach or....

Honestly, we have not yet seen such a situation here under Holtz. There has not been a case when we had a QB who SHOULD be performing at a high level, who didn't. After the first year, 2013, which was a cluster-eff, we have seen Sokol, Driskel, and Higgins all step up. Then last year we had a youngster at QB, who didn't stink it up, just left a LOT to be desired. As DW points out, that can be explained, with the whole youth thingy. Kind of.

If you watch CFB....and I bet you all do! you have seen true freshmen come in at QB and light it up! So...in today's reality, with high schools employing sophisticated passing offenses, kids are often ready to step in at the college level. At least, leaning on the youth thingy comes across as a lame excuse. You know it could be...just maybe....Smith is really not that good. It's possible. But, we'll see.

FOR THE RECORD....I am officially giving Smith thru the LSU game to "show me." I am on his bandwagon for now. I think he will show great improvement...he did look pretty good in the Frisco Bowl, which was his last performance. I expect to see our D kicking butt, and our QB doing a great job leading us to TDs.

I also expect to be 2-0 heading into that LSU game (Super Bowl....whatever Roman numeral you wish) and for us to have an opportunity to win that game. I don't think it's fair to EXPECT the Dawgs to win, as if there is no other possibility. With whatever faults they may have, LSU is still an SEC program stacked with NFL-caliber talent. And, it is a home game for them, which adds a minimum of 10 pts advantage to their ledger. The Dawgs will win, or not, in BR based on how many plays they are able to make that night.

80, I totally agree with both of your assessments (post), QB's get the feeling that what ever they do will not be good enough because they are not the "Chosen One".

What if that equates into Louisiana TECH developing the reputation of a place for good QB's to go to to die? We cannot develop the reputation of a program that does not let a QB step up and win the job, if you have wholesale transfers of QB's every year, the quality of the QB recruit will soon decline.

[johnnylightnin]

Abraham and Walker couldn’t win the #2 spot so they transferred. It’s not an indication of anything other than that.

[boxerdog]

Abraham and Walker couldn’t win the #2 spot so they transferred. It’s not an indication of anything other than that.

I've paid fairly close attention to Holtz's comments and how he has handled his quarterbacks. That said, I categorically reject the notion that any of them transferred because of Holtz. I think Wilson and Abraham transferred because of Smith. Sure, Holtz admitted he was impressed by Smith. Heck I think most of us were impressed by Smith! Guess who else was impressed by Smith? Wilson and Abraham! They were so impressed they got the heck out of dodge. Ironically, Abraham would have possibly won the right to play some last year and he certainly would have been in a competition to win the starting job this year. I don't think he believed he could beat J'Mar out of the job head-to-head. Worst case scenario, it would have been Abraham's job to lose his senior year. To me, that's not a bad place to be considering how well our senior qb's performed over the past few years.

Now, Walker didn't leave because of Smith or Holtz. I think he left because of Allen.

It's certainly possible that J'Mar shows little to no improvement this season. I don't think it's likely, but it is possible. Holtz thinks he's improved. We'll see.

[T1]

I think Abraham could have possibly beat out J'mar in time (based on his JUCO stats). He just didn't want to be at Tech. I read an article recently where he said he made a mistake signing with Tech. He's more like a Maureese Wren situation than a Elijah Walker situation.

[boxerdog]

I think Abraham could have possibly beat out J'mar in time (based on his JUCO stats). He just didn't want to be at Tech. I read an article recently where he said he made a mistake signing with Tech. He's more like a Maureese Wren situation than a Elijah Walker situation.

That's reasonable. He very well could have beat J'Mar out. I think he saw it as unlikely though. All the stuff about mistakes and whatever really boil down to competition to me. Wren probably thought he was going to be an instant starter. Once they put the pads on, he realized he wasn't better than the guys in front of him.