Welcome to the Bayou Bengal Briefing, SEC Country’s daily morning column covering LSU football, with LSU beat writer Nick Suss. Today, we discuss underwear all-stars, weight-room warriors, surprises on the hardwood and more. Enjoy!
News flash: Leonard Fournette is a big dude
In news that shouldn’t have surprised anybody, Leonard Fournette weighed in as the heaviest running back at the NFL combine on Wednesday at 240 pounds. Sure, that’s heavier than his listed playing weight from last season, but for Fournette, it’s not a bad thing. He’s a bruising back and he uses size to his advantage.
But the weigh-in got me thinking: Where does Fournette rank among other former LSU running backs at the combine? And what’ll he need to do to be the best LSU running back in combine history?
Well, dating back to 2000, LSU has sent 13 running backs to the combine, 10 of whom went on to be drafted. Here are the top marks Fournette is chasing this week:
Drill
Player (Year)
Time/Reps
40-yard dash
Joseph Addai (2006)
4.40
Vertical Leap
Addai/Michael Ford (06/13)
38.5
Bench Reps
Michael Ford (2013)
25
Broad Jump
Michael Ford (2013)
130
3-Cone
Stevan Ridley (2011)
6.78
Shuttle
Rondell Mealey (2000)
4.15
When I spoke to Steve Palazzolo from Pro Football Focus last week, he told me that the most important drills for Fournette this week will be the 3-cone and shuttle, meaning Ridley and Mealey are the backs Fournette should aspire to be most like.
Of course, the LSU football team sends more than just running backs to the combine. In case you’re wondering, here are the best marks any LSU alum has achieved at the combine in those six events since 2000.
Drill
Player (Year)
Time/Reps
40-yard dash
Patrick Peterson (2011)
4.31
Vertical Leap
Trindon Holliday (2010)
42.0
Bench Press
Drake Nevis (2011)
31
Broad Jump
Eric Reid (2013)
134
3-Cone
Trindon Holliday (2010)
6.54
Shuttle
Odell Beckham Jr. (2014)
3.94
Well. That’s a pretty impressive list, isn’t it? Don’t be shocked if you see Fournette’s name on there somewhere by this time next week. But if you don’t, it’s really not a knock on him. Those are some great marks.
Recapping the Lent challenge
In Bayou Bengal Briefing on Wednesday, I asked you what you think LSU should give up for Lent. Here are some of your best, and my favorite, answers:
Hank Price thinks LSU should stop locking people out of Tiger Stadium during the offseason. Instead, he wants there to be tours and security guards to prevent vandalism. I’m all for this idea, Hank. It’s pretty brilliant.
Stella Nelson thinks LSU should replace the grass in Tiger Stadium with turf to prevent future coaches from consuming it like Les Miles did. That’s a good idea, Stella, but I don’t think you need to do that. There’s a reason practically no one else eats grass. I think that was more of a Les thing than a Tiger Stadium thing.
About 75 percent of you commented either “Johnny Jones” or “Joe Alleva.” As I said in Briefing on Wednesday, Jones is going to happen. And Alleva isn’t. Sorry to burst those bubbles so bluntly.
My favorite comment came from Ryan Terribile, who suggested LSU should give up “the toss dive.” Which he’s so right about. When you toss the ball to a player who’s running up the middle, you slow his forward momentum and make him start and stop his acceleration. As opposed to when you hand the ball off, which creates a fluid accelerative path for the ballcarrier. I don’t need to bring up the Florida game from last season to explain to you why forward momentum matters so much. But I guess I just did.
Thanks to all of you who played along in the challenge this week. Keep your eyes peeled for more things like this in the future. And make sure you’re liking us on Facebook over at LSU Insiders. That’s where most of my challenges go down.
ICYMI
In the two weeks between now and spring practice, LSU football news is going to be slow. But that doesn’t mean it’ll be nonexistent. Here are some of top stories on Wednesday that you might’ve missed:
You had LSU football questions. Our Sam Spiegelman had answers. On Matt Canada, Arden Key, recruiting and more.
LSU has been in frequent communication with a pledge from another SEC school.
Spring football might be a couple of weeks away, but The Advocate already has its primer ready to get you ready for everything you need to know.
A former LSU wideout was inducted as a member of an NFL team’s Hall of Fame.
One of LSU’s commits got a scholarship offer from, uh-oh, Alabama.
The Falcons are high on Deion Jones. As they should be.
Paul Mainieri and members of the LSU baseball team met with the media Wednesday to preview its trip to Houston this weekend.
Can you blame him?
Malachi Dupre wants his own island.
After adidas announced Tuesday that it plans to give a private island to anyone who can break Chris Johnson’s 40-yard dash record wearing adidas sneakers, the former LSU football player inked a deal with the apparel company.
Speed right, island ready.@MalachiDupre is ready for the league.#Uncaged #teamadidas pic.twitter.com/8T46zOoLjv
— adidas Football US (@adidasFballUS) March 1, 2017
Is Dupre going to break Johnson’s record of a 4.24-second 40-yard dash? Probably not. Actually, almost definitely not. But is he going to look good trying?
Well, that depends on your opinion on bright clothing. Maybe that’s a good look to you. But I’ll defer to SEC Country’s Alex Hickey for his opinion on the matter.
To be filed under "looks I cannot pull off" https://t.co/1sGtve1Hwq
— Alex Hickey (@bigahickey) March 2, 2017
LSU football workout warriors
After a brief break for Mardi Gras, the LSU football team returned to the weight room Wednesday. And, as always, strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt came in clutch with a tweet about the day’s winners.
The Tigers are back at it! #Spring2017 pic.twitter.com/QuPQqaVkde
— Tommy Moffitt (@TommyMoffitt) March 2, 2017
As former LSU running back Jacob Hester remarked, it seems like Derrius Guice works his way onto the board just about every day. Which is encouraging for LSU. Especially since seven times out of 10, quarterback Danny Etling is right there beside him.
That said, the most important name on the board today is Andre Anthony. With Arden Key away from the program, Anthony is one of the main options to replace the pass-rush specialist this spring. And the knock on Anthony, aside from his lack of experience, is he’s a little bit too skinny. So, if he’s getting after it in the weight room, LSU might have found itself a serviceable replacement.
You can say almost all of the same things about wide receiver Stephen Sullivan. LSU is pretty thin at wide receiver this year with both Dupre and Travin Dural moving on to the NFL. Sullivan is one of the underclassmen who has a chance to step up and play in 2017. But to do this, he’ll need to prove he’s more than just a tall, fast guy. One way to do that is to build up a little bit of size and establish yourself as a possession threat over the middle.
If he can do that without sacrificing speed, he might be a dangerous threat.
Where the pros play …
The LSU football team announced the date for its 2017 Pro Day on Wednesday, confirming previous media reports that the event will take place on April 5.
LSU hasn’t released an official list of who will participate in the festivities, but it’s safe to assume LSU will have as many as 14 or 15 players on the list. The 10 players invited to the NFL combine this week are locks to participate, barring injury. But you can also add guys such as defensive end Lewis Neal, cornerback Dwayne Thomas, guard Josh Boutte, tight end Colin Jeter and, depending on his health, safety Rickey Jefferson to that list.
There’s no guarantee all of these guys will get drafted. Heck, there’s no guarantee all 10 of the combine invitees get drafted. But this’ll be a showcase of the best LSU has to offer. And because of how high profile Fournette, Adams and Tre’Davious White are, it’s likely that every NFL team will be in attendance.
So, mark your calendars. It should be a fun day. And a nice distraction from whatever else you have going on in your life in April.
Holy cow! It happened
In I-promise-I’m-not-joking news, the LSU men’s basketball team actually won a game Wednesday. Need proof? There’s this. And this. And this. Also this.
Yep. LSU’s 15-game losing streak is no more.
If you’ve ever heard of the term “peaking at the right time,” this seems to be a solid example. Of course, a peak for the LSU basketball team isn’t that tall of a peak. But over its last two games, the squad has seemed to figure out how to limit turnovers; the Tigers have turned the ball over fewer than 10 times in each of their last two games, something they’ve only done one other time in conference play.
And when the Tigers don’t turn the ball over, they win. That other SEC game with single-digit turnovers was LSU’s win against Missouri on Jan. 4, its only other SEC win.
Heading into the SEC Tournament, it’s encouraging that LSU is playing its best basketball. This shouldn’t end up mattering. LSU at its best still is worse than half of the teams in the SEC on an off night. But that’s not taking away anything from the way the Tigers are performing right now.
This is as good as the team’s looked all season. Just in time for us to not get to watch it anymore. Good timing.
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