I’m so excited about LSU’s upcoming season, I have no where to go but down, but I have to ask why the lateral moves? This from Rivals.com which picks LSU to win the Sugarbowl but fall short of the national title. Why would coordinators take the same positions at other schools with less successful programs? I usually get nervous when executives of a company start unloading their stock.
New in 2007: Head coach Les Miles hired Gary Crowton from Oregon to take over as offensive coordinator for Jimbo Fisher, who left to take the same position at Florida State. Former Bowling Green offensive coordinator Greg Studrawa is the new offensive line coach now that Stacy Searels has taken the same position at Georgia. Former UCLA assistant D.J. McCarthy was hired as the wide receivers coach to replace Todd Monken, who took over the same position with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars.
Though reluctant as ever to give too many props to the Advocate, I’ve always liked their sports coverage. This is a story about Karney and his battering ram-like blocking skills. He’s also apparently good friends with Lorenzo Neal, who you may remember before being celebrated in San Diego was running down linebackers in the Superdome.
Strong Safety Ron Harper, rookie Usama Young, Jason David and safety Kevin Kaesviharn are giving CB Fred Thomas and others some needed heat as the Saints look to shore up their defensive secondary with youth and speed.Â
Harper, who tore his ACL against Tampa Bay in October, missed half the season. But Payton says he’s 100 percent healthy and could challenge free safety Josh Bullocks for playing time. Former Cincinnati safety Kevin Kaesviharn, acquired by free agency, is fighting his way onto the roster too.
The speedy Usama Young, 6′9″, 190 pounds coming off a minor injury is working his way into the professional-level drills during this first week of training camp. The Saints third-round pick can run the 40-yard dash in 4.39 seconds and has a 43 inch vertical leap. He intercepted Jamie Martin on Sunday stepping in front of Devery Henderson for the pick.
“It was good to see him back in the mix,” Saints Coach Sean Payton said. “It was good to see him at full speed.”
— Apparently, the Saints are auditioning a lot of players at kickoff returner. Aaron Stecker, Lance Moore, Copper, Henderson, Robert Meachem, Tramain Hall, Antonio Pittman and Pierre Thomas all took turns in the rotation during Sunday’s practices.
In my very limited opinion, I just hate to see the loss of Michael Lewis on the depth chart. Maybe he was still injured, but the guy was money kickoff and punt returns.
– I’d also like to recognize one of the Saints great adversaries, Coach Bill Walsh, the father of the west coast offense, who died this morning of leukemia.
Sean Payton has shown that the best player will win the spot, which makes this year’s battles for wide receiver enticing. I’d like to see Devery Henderson answer the call of competition by securing the No. 2 spot behind Marques Colston. He needs to complement his blazing speed with softer hands. Robert Meachem will also be a factor, along with Terrance Copper, David Patten and Eric Johnson.
Lest we forget that Reggie Bush had the most receptions last year.
The Saints have two practices every day for the next six days, leading up to the Aug. 5 preseason opener in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“That’s probably the biggest difference from last year. We’re going to have a preseason game rather than have a team scrimmage. That’s why we’ll be going in full pads right with the first two practices,” Payton said. “I like the fact we’ll be taking the team to the Hall of Fame. It’ll be good for our players to see the great history of our league.”
Another difference? Twenty-one of the team’s 22 starters return this year.
The team may conduct more practices at the 62,000-seat Veterans Memorial Stadium, near Millsaps’ campus.
Practices are open and free; parking is $5. I wish I could go, but encourage anyone with some time and interest to get up to Jackson.
Too many to mention — but the guy has enough balls to call the plays in the game that worked in practice. Payton doesn’t take shit. And he plays the best players. He has no qualms about sitting someone in a slump. Payton’s a great play caller, great coach, and fierce competitor.
You can get on the discussion and throw a few darts at Brooks at Yahoo NFL Rumors. I almost did myself. But I feel bad for the guy. He’s a great athlete and could be a decent backup. It’s not his fault that Haslett couldn’t see him for what he was.
The players had a quick workout today and are slated to hit the field hard tomorrow when the training camp kicks off Friday.
Sean Payton has been quoted by several newspapers commenting on how different this year is. The casting calls of 2006 to field a team are almost unnecessary this year, with a full complement of veterans returning a quarterback whose 100 percent healthy, a running back two years from knee surgery and first draft pick signed and ready for camp.
The first preseason game against Pittsburgh is a week from Saturday at 7 p.m. central time. To get ready for the season, check out WWL — you can stream it on the Internet — to get your ear conditioned for the down home mush-mouth Jibber Jabber of Hokie Gajan, Kenny Wilkerson and Bobby Hebert and some of the other long-time stalwarts.
Payton gave a press conference today on the overall health of the team.
“(DT) Brian Young is two weeks off of his fractured foot. His progress is coming along well and that’s encouraging. He’s in a walking boot right now. For him, it’s a four to six week and possibly a six to eight week injury.”
“(LB) Usama Young has a left quad strain. He didn’t run this morning. Hopefully in his case we anticipate him possibly being able to practice on Sunday morning.”
“Will Smith ran this morning and his hamstring was a little tight, so we held him out of the afternoon workout. I was encouraged with the workout this morning. It was probably the best that I’ve seen that test run. These guys all finished. By and large everybody made their times. That was encouraging.”
The Saints opened training camp in Jackson, Miss. with the only hanging question answered: top pick Robert Meachem’s status as a Saints player. The Tennessee wide receiver signed onto a 5 year deal with $6 million in guaranteed money. The entire deal is worth $11.3 million. The other six payers drafted by the Saints were signed last month. The Saints open camp with everyone taken care of, no holdouts and a lot of good will and expectations for the season. So strange to say. Apparently,  it’s the first time since at least 2002 that its top pick has reported on time to camp. Meachem said he wanted to show up early and show his teammates that he wants to contribute. The Saints are one of three teams now with everyone signed.Â
The tigers are going to absolutely destroy this year! Check out this article in the Advocate. Of the 12, five players made the first team: senior defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, senior linebacker Ali Highsmith, senior cornerback Chevis Jackson, senior wide receiver Early Doucet and senior offensive lineman Will Arnold. I cannot wait until college football season. I smell a national championship. And according to “Dandy” Don Lee’s blog, QB phenom Ryan Perilloux is making all the right moves to get his act cleaned up and reinstated.
Now to the Saints Saints DT Brian Young has a fracture in his foot and will miss the start of training camp. I don’t like the sound of that. He’s been a great starter for the last couple of seasons. At 30 and close to 300 pounds, I would think it would take him more than training camp to mend.
and finally… Michael Vick courtesy of the Times-Picayune.
The NFC South just got a little easier. After weeks of speculation and the sports guys slandering investigators, Michael Vick has been indicted on dog fighting charges, that include sponsoring dog fights and owning not only the kennel company but the property on which they occurred. Arthur Blank probably wishes he still had Matt Schaub. Sucker. I like Vick, and think he’s an amazing athlete. But this has been brewing for a while, and came on the heels of him fighting with an airport security screener over a water bottle that had a compartment to stash pot. Of course, the investigation has to play out. But in the meantime, having the Falcons’ star player under indictment will be a major distraction.
