You'll have to unpack this for me.
Smith was uneven for two years but I'm not sure we had better behind him (unless you mean Abraham, but wouldn't he be gone by now, too?). And then (after improving each year, which oddly keeps being forgotten in the "Skip never develops a QB" discussion) he was really good in his sr. year. Yeah, sure, the suspension was bad. But on the field he played well. Way past "serviceable."
Do you think we didn't recruit younger (good-enough) QBs because of Smith? Or that Allen should have played more last season? Or that Anthony was inconsistent because of last year's QB play? How is that connected?
Smith was our best for 3 years...that is the point.
His lack of leadership showed every game on the sidelines, but never the way it did in his final season when he could not step away from the weed for a few days knowing that he was going to be tested.
So the way that "the QB dilemma goes back to Skippy Slippy Slope Holtz’s misshandling of the Rockstar" is that he should have recruited a better QB than Smith (and another one for 2020/2021 and forward)?
I mean, that's certainly true to the point that every non Trevor Lawrence/Justin Fields team should have recruited a better QB I guess.
It didn't matter who he had on the sidelines. Smith was anointed by Skip early and was the rockstar. He didn't allow him to be coached up, he didn't allow him to run the ball, and finally, he didn't babysit him in his final year to make sure he was clean when he needed to be.
You thought he improved? He didn't.
2016 Louisiana Tech 7 30 43 69.7 412 2 1 2017 Louisiana Tech 13 229 409 55.9 2,974 16 5 2018 Louisiana Tech 13 264 461 57.2 3,160 15 10 2019 Louisiana Tech 11 236 367 64.3 2,977 18 5
He was decent. Not even good. Zero leadership
I am with you for wishing him all the best. I am just not sure what he is looking for or what he expects.
In four years he caught 102 passes for 898 yards an 1 TD. Not bad, but with one year of eligibility left and being only 5'7", what options will he have available? Is he hoping to go to the lowest of lows in the Power 5? Are there any P5 schools looking for tiny WR with one year of playing time left? Maybe there are, but I wouldn't bet my future on it.
So that leaves G5, FCS and D2. So is he trying to move up to one of the better AAC or SBC teams? Again not sure they would be in the market for a player of his size, caliber and eligibility. So that leaves a lateral move in the G5 ranks or move down to FCS/D-2, either of those might be an option.
He is from the general Lafayette area, but ULL is loaded with WR's, as a matter of fact they already have a couple in the portal looking for a new team.
What I hope this doesn't mean is this kid still wants to play football, but five years of Skip has driven him to play that sixth year anywhere but Ruston. Or maybe he doesn't see an FBS QB on our roster. I hope someday we hear why he choose to leave.
Again I hope he finds what he is looking for. Just not sure what that is or if he will find something better than what he is leaving. Very puzzling when a guy who is getting playing time wants to leave without a clear path to something better.
Tech adds former Vandy CB Elijah Hamilton https://vucommodores.com/roster/elijah-hamilton/