"If he [Terrance Toliver] continues to work hard and learn the nuances of our offense and learns...

"If he [Terrance Toliver] continues to work hard and learn the nuances of our offense and learns how to read coverages on the run, the sky is unlimited for him," LSU receivers coach D.J. McCarthy said. "What people don’t understand is that he’s still so young and we’ve barely scratched his potential because he played in a run-oriented offense in high school."

Waiting for his turn. I don't get why so many LSU fans are so critical of him. Yes, he made some mistakes. Guess what? He was a true freshman. True freshman have a steep learning curve. This guy has the goods, and if the QB play is solid he could be a great weapon for us this year as a sophomore.

10 months ago Richard Pittman Comment 7 comments 0 recs |

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I think the issue here...

Is that he was the #1 WR recruit in the counrty last year, and he didn’t put up the numbers that guys like Arrelious Benn or Michael Crabtree did. Granted our offense will never give WR’s stats like Crabtree’s, but at this point it looks like those two guys are out performing Tolliver. Yes we’ve got more quality guys infront of TT, but he needs to do a better job of getting prepared mentally.

by LSU Jonno on Aug 26, 2008 8:05 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Crabtree is not a fair comparison. He was a redshirt freshman who had been in the system for a year.

The fact of the matter is that it is very rare for a true freshman wideout to be an impact player. The last LSU wide receiver to make an impact as a TF was Michael Clayton. Bowe didn’t. Davis didn’t. Doucet didn’t. Let Toliver go through the process all young receivers go through.

Richard Pittman

by Richard Pittman on Aug 26, 2008 10:11 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

Doucet was #1 coming out of high school and we didnt see much of him until almost his junior year. The existing talent level on the team at WR that Michael Clayton came into was much lower than TT.

I think its kind of a good thing when the best high school receiver’s ( or players in general) in the country can’t come in a be the #1 or #2 guy. It says more about the 1st tier quality of players we have on the team than it does about the recruits. TT is going to be awesome… I think ridiculously good.

He does needs to put on about 10 pounds though.

by nepomo on Aug 26, 2008 11:14 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Didn't know Crabtree was a RS, thought he was a true Fresh.

I think TT mainly got his 5 star ranking due to his potential rather than his imediate impact ability and that is what is getting confused. TT was a little too light last year, and I read an article recently that said he was in a running based offense.

For instance, would you rather TT or Benn last year? I think there is a pretty obvious answer there. Not so obvious is, would you rather TT as a senior or Benn, or Julio Jones as a senior. I think TT will be great, but he didn’t have the imediate impact that Benn had or Julio Jones will have. I think that’s where the dissapointment comes from.

by LSU Jonno on Aug 26, 2008 12:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Benn = Deangelo Benton?.. Im assuming so.

I would agree with that, and think you bring up a good point.

Are the ratings based on anticipated performance by the end of their college career or current performance against their high school peers or anticipated performance against college players as they come right out of high school? Rivals is a bit vague in their explanation. For instance they say for a 5.8 – 6.0 prospect is “deemed to have pro potential and ability to make an impact on college team”.

TT may have been dominant against high school dbs and most likely will against college dbs, but as you mentioned, the question is when. I oftentimes make the assumption that if the guys is a 6.1 5 star (the best possible rating for the non rivals people) then he is so much better than high schooler’s that he will be better than most college players as well ,as we are starting to see with Patrick Peterson. But I think that’s some fuzzy thinking on my part.

I think we can assume that all players coming out of high school are still developing. Virtually no player is going to be the same size and strength when he graduates as when he enrolls. That being said some boys are going to become men and some men are just going to become stronger and bigger men. If you get what Im trying to say. Its amazing to see how some of these 265 pound offensive lineman recruits become 320 pound monsters. Others, like running backs, typically bulk up a little and get pretty cut, but more or less stay the same as when they arrived. The 6-5, 265 pound o-line recruit may be a 5 star player (ie Matt Patchan from last year), but chances are that a WR like Julio Jones (6-4, 215, 5 star ) will have more of an impact his freshman year than Matt will. If Julio gets much bigger he’s going to get slower. If Matt doesnt get bigger he’s going to get thrown around. Its almost like there should be another scale for how far the player is in his physical development.

For instance, Chancey Aghayere, the guy came out of high school at 6-4, 244. Is he going to get to 255 and is currently, lets say, 95% developed or is he going to get to 275-280 and is currently 85% developed. That may seem like splitting hairs, but the difference between gaining 10 pounds and gaining 30-35 pounds is a lot. Probably about a year.

And yes, id rather have benton and/or Julio than TT as freshman.

by nepomo on Aug 26, 2008 5:49 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Benn = Arrelious Benn

Arrelious Benn on Scout. #2 WR behind TT.

Arrelious Benn on ESPN, nice stats from last year.

I think TT got the nod as #1 WR because of physical height and potential. I’m not poopooing TT, I’m a fan. I’m just trying to point out how some poeple could be critical of him, when compared to his peers such as Benn last year, and probably Julio this year. Once TT fills out (mentally and physically), he’ll dominate.

by LSU Jonno on Aug 26, 2008 7:29 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs