What'd you learn on Saturday, LSU and Kentucky?

Yeah, I think the ultimate lesson here is that we learned that, uh, LSU's probably not an elite team this year.

And, you know, I think that we have to shift our expectations for this team.

This team is a team with a lot of flaws.

This is a team that struggles to get push running the ball consistently.

Um, it's a team that turns the ball over a lot, and this is a team that really can't get off the field at end-of-half situations.

So really I think kinda we need to shift our expectations.

... for this team.

So how, how would you describe, uh, first of all the quarterback situation?

situation?Yeah, Leavitt's the only quarterback in college football to turn the ball over in every game.

It's been a rollercoaster of ups and downs.

He played pretty well about, against Clemson, but you could kinda see some accuracy issues where you're like, "Man, that could rear its ugly head eventually." Well, it didn't take long to.

Louisiana Tech, you see three interceptions, and then he went to Ole Miss where it, it looked like he played very scared for most of that game.

He kinda got happy feet and would not stay in the pocket.

Coach has worked on him really hard on that, and for the most part, the next two weeks, he did.

Uh, they may or may not be able to lose again and make the playoffs, but what do you, what do you feel is realistic the rest of the way?

Uh, do you think Sam Leavitt is a better quarterback than he was when he left Oxford?

I definitely think they're working on things with him a lot about being a true quarterback, not an athlete.

I mean, the fact of the matter is the way he played against Louisiana Tech and, and, and in first half of Oxford especially was dreadful.

Um, I mean, he was freaking out.

I think, I think the, the LA Tech game he had some interceptions.

Some of them weren't even his fault if you look at them.

Um, and it got in his head and then he just became very nervous to read the field.

Um, concerned or just a one-night deal?

lesser

competition he got real timid against Ole Miss and he got happy feet and he really wasn't reading the field well and he missed a lot of open receivers and frankly had a lot of accuracy issues a lot of that came from he's you know not sitting in the pocket he's not reading the field well he's running around it's like he's trying to be a hero with the ball right as it snapped now willie coles probably you know had a little bit to do with that we all know how disruptive interior pass rush pressure can be for a quarterback um but still you would like to see him calm down a little bit keep his eyes down look a little bit less to just try to run and do something with his feet a little bit more to Keep your eyes downfield.

We saw a little bit of that in the beginning of the Texas A&M game.

He sailed Jackson Harris out of bounds on a play he was open on by like four or five yards.

But after that throw.

It was darn near flawless.

Now, a bit of it came from he was hobbled.

And that kid was in the deep end of the pool most of the night.

Yep.

I mean, I think he had, you know, something like 150 yards out of Wisconsin, right? Um, and, uh, you know, he, he really just kind of made a name for himself.

I think another part of that is the running game was not as productive as you wanted it to be early in spring.

I mean, they had troubles running the ball in between the tackles, uh, in, in all their scrimmages, really.

In fact, I checked stats in, in the two scrimmages where we got 100-plus plays, they averaged about 3.8 yards per carry.

That's after you fluff it up with a couple quarterback runs and, you know, outside plays here and there.

So they really didn't do anything consistently.

He's not the most physically imposing guy in the world, but apparently he can go get it.

They could have impact this year.

Absolutely, they can.

And Deuce Gerelds absolutely looked the part, as did Rich Anderson.

Deuce Gerelds, he, he looked better than he was recruited.

I mean, he was top fifty recruit, so we expected him to be good, but he was very explosive.

Uh, um, and he-- both of those kids are gonna have opportunities at defensive tackle to contribute, not, like, garbage time snaps, but actual, real, quality snaps.

If you look at the defensive tackle position for LSU, you've got guys, you know, Malik Blaquin, Stephonylin Green, guys, Sean Washington, Dominic McKinley, who's a five-star but hadn't really been dominant on field in his time there.

Wow.