Speaker 1: Welcome in Friday edition of Off the Bench, Taylor Sharpier
with you one more time, filling in for Jacob Hester
and Tababa bear Landra vill Rial Cassie's bizzally on audio
and video.
Speaker 2: Guys, it has been a heck of a week.
Speaker 1: We got three more hours to go and we are
working for the weekend here on a Friday morning. Before
we get this thing started, let's go around the room, Alandra,
how we feel in this morning?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 4: Feeling good? Ready to kick off the weekend?
Speaker 1: You and me both, Cassie, you are you played hooky
from work yesterday, so you must be well arrested, right?
Speaker 3: I did well, I'm not. I'm not that well rested
because I was up late last night working on a
school project, which is why I had to take off.
Speaker 2: Oh, Matt told me you just skipped no.
Speaker 3: Working on a school project. Almost done graduating May, but
still gotta just rend it out before then.
Speaker 1: So this was your not your advertising class, right, it
was your advertising.
Speaker 3: My advertising class. We were we were filming some commercials.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, you filmed a lot of commerd Cassie has
done so much free labor for these mega businesses.
Speaker 2: It's it's incredible. Well if they have, they is any
of them users? I know you did one, We've we
pitched them.
Speaker 3: So last year we did like an advertising campaign for
relief windows and like we actually pitched it like to
the owners of relief windows. Like that was pretty cool.
But like I don't think any of them used any
of our stuff, which, like I guess it's not technically
free labor if they don't use it. But we still
did all the work.
Speaker 1: That might be worse though they just Meanjors wasn't good
enough to be used, right, guys, I do know aright
this morning as well, A little tired went to the
gas station this morning, look trying to get my usual
morning snack, and I'm just berated by the lady behind
the counter, Like she tries to tell me that like
I'm too old to be drinking doctor pepper, and then like.
Speaker 2: She starts going off about Catholicism.
Speaker 1: I'm like, lady, can I just get my doctor Pepper
and my snickers and going about my day? It was
just it was the strangest thing. What a thing to
get upset about.
Speaker 5: But can everybody relaxed, right, right?
Speaker 2: Like what are we doing? Is doctor Pepper's for everyone?
Speaker 3: What are we doing. Why are we putting age limits
on doctor pepper a.
Speaker 2: Landra gave it up.
Speaker 3: That's what I gave up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because she already looked younger. I mean, look like
it's been three days.
Speaker 3: That's so true.
Speaker 4: I asked my sister if I looked like I was aging.
She said, a spec. I was like, all right, I
mean we go. She was talking about something else though,
but like it came after she was talking referencing something else.
She was like a spec And then she said that
after I sent the message, So it looked like she
was saying that to me. And I was like, well,
let me book my botox appointment. She was like, no,
that's not what I've met twenty seven. Man, I'm in
my late twenties now. I don't know how I feel
about that.
Speaker 1: Cassie was telling me this morning. She's like I was yesterday,
was like picking up cameras up and down. She's like,
I'm so sore and.
Speaker 3: Ias are sore. I shouldn't be that sore.
Speaker 1: I told Elandra, like I had to play golf and
we were dancing at the wedding on Saturday, Like I
had to wait till Wednesday to go to the gym.
That was Saturday. I got like, I'm twenty eight years old.
I should not be hurting this money too.
Speaker 3: I should not be so of just picking up cameras.
Speaker 1: You're fine, twenty two, you got you got a couple
more years before you really start feeling it. Okay, guys, look,
jam pack show today a lot to discuss. Big news
drop for LSU. We're certainly going to get into that.
Let's get the show started like we do every day. Okay,
So every day this week I have done a position
breakdown going into spring practice which will begin tomorrow. Yesterday,
I'm putting the show together and I couldn't decide, like
do I want to go OH line? Do I want
to go D line? Something told me to go D line.
And it's one of those things that worked out perfectly.
Because reports are that LSU has found their next defensive
line coach. Multiple reports came out yesterday after afternoon. It
looks like former LSU Tiger and Buffalo Bill's Great Kyle
Williams will be named lshoes next defensive line coach. He
reportedly came into bet Rouge on Wednesday, interviewed for the job,
was offered it yesterday and he accepted a little bit
of a weird hire, a little bit of an unorthodox
hire for Brian Kelly and his staff because you've seen
Kelly go after the cream of the crop, right, the
guys who have been there done that, the guys who
were established coaches. Kind of the opposite for Kyle Williams.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Kyle was a great player here. He wound up being
an All American at Lshue. He was a fifth round
pick at Buffalo in two thousand and six, and you
guys know the rest of it. I mean, he played
his entire thirteen career year career in Buffalo. He made
six Pro Bowls. He was a second team All Pro
in twenty ten. The guys one of the best defensive
linemen to ever come through this school. He's never coached
in college in any capacity, so a little bit of
a weird hire. Actually, since twenty twenty is been the
defensive coordinator at RUST in high school, so he's stepping
up a level of competition. Obviously, this will be his
first collegiate coaching position. So it's a little bit odd because, okay, look,
you're not going to replace Bo Davis. The reason it
sucks so bad when he lost Bo Davis. The reason
he was the highest paid D line coach in the
country is because he was the best D line coach
in the country. You're not going to replace him, whether
it's as an on field coach or recruiter. Bo Davis
was the whole package. I'm not really worried so much about. Oh, well,
Kyle Williams says never done it on this level, He's
never recruited, even though that is certainly a concern. If
you wanted to hire a guy who's a technician, who
knows how to coach of this position, who has played
this position at the highest possible level, there's not too
many guys out there I would trust teaching a young
group of guys how to play the defensive line position.
Then Kyle Williams a guy who's been an All Pro,
who is an All American, who played over a decade
in the NFL.
Speaker 2: So, while the on field coaching experience isn't the.
Speaker 1: Experience at the position, you're not gonna find anybody more
qualified from a technical standpoint teaching guys how to do
it the way he did it.
Speaker 2: Also, what this does is this brings in.
Speaker 1: A homegrown guy a little bit of a younger guy
in terms of coaches that can hopefully keep the defensive
tackle group together.
Speaker 2: We've talked about it a few times.
Speaker 1: The biggest loss for Bo Davis immediate as far as
the immediate future goes, is you have to retain all
the guys you work so hard to get on campus.
Mod bro Dominic, McKinley. You still have shown Washington the
three freshmen you brought in. Can you keep those guys
here in bat Roote if they can develop a quick
relationship with a younger guy like Kyle Williams, who's from
this school, who had a lot of success here, who's
lived in Louisiana most of his life, that's going to
be important for the depth of this position.
Speaker 2: Look, there is talent in this group.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's start with the defensive tackles first, or the
interior if you will, because I think that's where Kyle
Williams is going to spend pretty much all of his time.
You have Jacoby and Guillery back from injury. He's a
sixty year guy. He's been there, done that. So much
hype coming around him last year and second game of
the year he has a season Indian injury. I mentioned
a mod Bro numerous times on this show, and how
good he's looked as a freshman. This is huge for
a mod Bro because Kyle Williams, I mentioned, was the
defensive line coach at rustin mod Bro played at ruston
he has already played under Kyle Williams before. That connection's
already there. You want to retain these guys, give them
a little bit of familiarity. I'm sure a mod Bro
is over the moon about this decision with Dominic McKinley.
Speaker 2: While he didn't.
Speaker 1: Play under Kyle Williams here in Louisiana, he is a
very familiar with who this guy is. That is important
because those are your two best young pieces in all
likely as good as Jacoby and Gillery. I think is
going to be important as he is depth wise, experience wise.
You only got him for one year. Hopefully you have
a mob Bro and Dominic McKinley this year and next year.
That's important of retaining these guys because you saw the
flashes last year as freshman. You lose Goopiez, you lose
JVR Sugs, but look what you added to that room again,
A bunch of young guys that can hopefully connect with
Kyle Williams Zion Williams six four, three hundred and thirty pounds.
He's going to be a nose that one technique. Brandon
Brown comes in. He's two hundred and ninety one pounds.
He can actually play inside or on the edge if needed.
Same thing with Walter mathis a guy that's about two
eighty five two ninety. You can get his weight up
or down depending on where you want him to play.
He's a guy that can play inside or outside, and
then you bring inside here Mitchell, the Texas transfer. He's
six y five, he's three hundred and forty pounds. He
is a massive human being. If Kyle Williams can keep
that group together. Look, sure, you lose Goo Piez. He
was an every down starter for you a year ago.
Lose JVR Suggs. We've talked about a number of times
on this show. While the number of snaps might not
be there, when JVR Suggs was on the field, he
was an impact guy and he was probably your best
interior pass rusher a year ago. So you lose Suggs
and Paiez, but you get back Guillory, a mod bro Dominic,
McKinley and the three talented freshmen I just mentioned. Oh,
there's not a ton of on field experience. There is
a heck of a lot of talent in that defensive
line group now as far as defensive end goes, and
it'll be interesting to see the working dynamic between Kyle
Williams and Kevin Peeples, who I think is one of
your best coaches on your staff.
Speaker 2: Look from a.
Speaker 1: Year ago, you louse Winson and Jones. So while Kevin
Peeples has been here, he's in the same position as
Kyle Williams. You have to replace a lot of new guys,
so you louse Winson and Jones are two starters. You
also lose the Shawn Womack to the transfer portal. He's
a guy that, for whatever reason, could not seem to
get on the field consistently. He seeked out other opportunities,
but he was a five star who came in. He's
a guy that you would have liked to have kept
for nothing else other than depth of purposes. You were
excellent in the transfer portal here. I set up here
yesterday and talked about the defensive back group and how
good you were in the transfer portal, the only place
you were probably better is the defensive end, the edge,
the pass rusher, whatever you want to call it. The
first guys to Jack Pieburn, three year player at Florida,
played in twenty nine games.
Speaker 2: Last year was certainly his best year. He played in
twelve games.
Speaker 1: He had sixty tackles, four tackles for a loss, only
one sack.
Speaker 2: He did have an interception in though.
Speaker 1: Now that one sack, that's kind don't look at that
too much because Florida took him off the field in
third down situations. You're at an interview with him right
after he decided to come to LSU. He said, look,
I want to improve my ability as a pass rusher.
I want to be on the field in third and
long situations, getting after the quarterback. It's why I left Florida.
It's why I wanted to come here. I wanted the
opportunity to do it. So, yes, well, he only had
one sack last year at Florida. He wasn't on the
field in passing situations a ton, so that number might
be a little miss leading. And then you also bring
in Patrick Payton, the Florida State transfer. This is a
guy who's six foot five. He's very quick off the edge,
and he was super productive. He was in Florida State
for four years, but in twenty twenty one he only
played in one games, we'll call it three. In twenty
twenty two, thirty one tackles, six tackles for a lost
five sacks. In his red shirt freshman year, played in
thirteen games. Twenty twenty three, that was the big year
for Florida State. They went undefeated regular season, played in
all fourteen games, forty four tackles, fifteen tackles for a
loss in seven sacks. And think about how talented that
defense was. That's a defense that had Jed Verse, that
had Braden Fisk, and he was able to step up
play that many games and make that type of impact.
That's the kind of pass rusher that you're getting in
Patrick Pate. Last year, no different, twelve games, thirty five tackles,
eleven tackles for a lost four sacks. So this is
the guy coming in super productive in college. One hundred
and ten tackles, two tackles for lost, sixteen sacks in
three seasons at Florida State.
Speaker 2: The guy is a player.
Speaker 1: I expect we're gonna hear his name a lot here
in spring practice and then the last guy is Jamari
Butler comes over from Nebraska. He's a little bit bigger
than both Jack Pieburn and Patrick Payton. He's six foot five,
two hundred and forty five pounds. Can he take over
that saveon Jenes Roll? Now, we'd have to put on
a little bit of weight to do it, because Savian
was suffering around like two seventy five to eighty three
years at Nebraska. Twenty twenty two to twelve games, two
tackles for the loss, twenty twenty three thirty four tackles,
five and a half sacks, and then last year's seven
tackles for a lost two sacks. So he comes in
seven and a half sacks three seasons at Nebraska. Mentioned
a little bit of a bigger guy. He can be
a run stuffer for you as well. There is a
ton of talent in this room, and I just mentioned
the front line guys. As far as the defensive end
position goes, you still return Gabriel relev who we saw
flashes of a year ago as a true freshman.
Speaker 2: He's back. He's going to be in the mix.
Speaker 1: Look, I get it, everyone's going to talk about Pyber
and Peyton and Butler, because they're the transfers that everyone's
excited about. They're the new phases. Gabriel Reliford's a player.
You are so many people at the Senior Bowl say hey,
Gabriel Eliford, watch out for him. As far as the
LSU guys, they were there. Savion Jones mentioned it, Brayden
Swinston mentioned it about like who's next up for LSU.
They both mentioned Gabriel Relevan. You also bring in freshman
Damian Shanklin. He's a guy who's six foot four, he's
two hundred and forty pounds. He was a four star
coming out of high school. Kevin Peoples should have a
field day with this group, even a guy like Jack
Pieburn who wants to rush the passer but doesn't have
a ton of experience doing it.
Speaker 2: Just look at Brayden Swinson.
Speaker 1: Braiden Swinson had like five and a half sacks over
like a two year span. You bring in Kevin Peoples,
he had eight and a half last year, and then
look at the jump Savion Jones made from before Kevin
People's got there to after.
Speaker 2: Peoples is an excellent coach. He knows this group.
Speaker 1: If you can bring in a technician next to him,
like a Kyle Williams that could form a really good
group as good as Bo Davis was.
Speaker 2: I'm excited about this.
Speaker 1: Do I have concerns absolutely, because Kyle Williams has never
coached on the college love. But again I'll go back
to as far as someone from a fundamental a technique standpoint,
someone who knows the position, knows how to play it,
You're gonna be hard pressed to find somebody better at
that than Kyle Williams. All right, look, we're going to
take a quick time out when we get back. Interesting
right up at Louisianasports dot Net about the strength of
schedule released for all SEZ teams heading into twenty twenty five.
We'll get into wear LSU ranks. We'll kind of break
down their schedule, give you my thoughts on now that's
coming up. On the other side, you're on off the bench,
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Speaker 1: Welcome back in Friday edition of Off the Bench Taylor
Shepherd with us sitting in for Jacob Pester and t
Bob Abar Tease them a little bit there going into break.
The twenty twenty five SMP Plus rankings have come out
for the twenty twenty five season. This was actually last week.
Bill Conley of ESPN put these out look. Those are
a little confusing. They're solely based on Conley's analytics and metrics,
So essentially what he does is predicts strength of schedule
based on the projected winning percentage an average top top
top five team could expect against your specific schedule. Also,
every SEZ team is listening in his top twenty five
on strength of schedule. No surprise there Missouri last which
fielded for Hunt Palmer a couple of weeks ago. I
don't know who Eli Drinquitz has paid off to get
such an easy schedule. He had by far the easiest
schedule in twenty twenty four and he has so once again,
think about what we said all last year about Missouri.
Speaker 2: Is this team actually good?
Speaker 1: And here's why, because they played they were, They were
beating the crap out of teams, but they weren't any good.
They played three ranked opponents last year. Missouri lost all
three of them and honestly should have lost to Vanderbilt.
If Vanderbilt kicker doesn't miss a forty two yard field
goal and send that to force the game into overtime,
Missouri wins Vanderbilt wins it in regulation.
Speaker 2: So that's interesting to.
Speaker 1: See that their schedule is so bad in the SEC
two years in a row. For what it's worth, is
Oklahoma number one, Florida two, Arkansas three, Vanderbilt five, Mississippi
State six, South Carolina seven, Kentucky eight, LSU down at nine.
So he believes that LSU has the ninth toughest strength
of schedule in the entire country. Let's kind of look
at their schedule a little bit, kind of get our
thoughts on it. Obviously, you open the season with Clemson
in South Carolina on August thirtieth. That's the big one,
right that might actually be your season defining game, even
though it's Week one of the college football season, because
of how talented you were projected to be on paper
and how talented Clemson is as well. Look, I think LSU, potentially,
depending on how certain dominoes fall, where the chips lay
and all that, has a chance to be a really
good football team this year. The Clemson's going to be
a really good football team as well. Kid Clubnick returns
as the starting quarterback. Going into last season, everyone wanted
to see, Hey, can Kaid club Nick protect the football
a little bit more. He did that thirty six touchdown passes,
only six interceptions, close to seventy percent completion percentage.
Speaker 2: He was excellent a year ago.
Speaker 1: Also, he returns all three of his leading receivers from
last year. Now, Clemson's offense loses Phil MafA, but you
couldn't really run the ball last year anyways, because your
offensive line just wasn't good at run blocking, very similar
to LSU's offensive line for most of the season. So
while you lose Phil MafA, he wasn't a huge impact
for you last year anyways. In your offense was still effective.
So first we're gonna do is Let's say LSU beats Clumps. Okay,
it doesn't really matter what scores. Let's say Lshue goes
on the road beats Clumps. So you're sitting there at
one and eight and you come home against Louisiana Tech.
That's going to be a win. Week three of the season,
you host the Florida Gators. It came out yesterday the
DJ Lagway is suffering a little bit of an arm issue.
You can't throw the ball. He's going to miss the majority,
if not all, of spring practice. If that lingers into
the season, you're in Baton Rouge. You lost to Florida
in the swamp last year, which is a game I
think you should have won. Anyways, I like your chances there,
So then you're sitting at three in it. Let's give
you a win against Florida. You come home again Southeastern
and that's going to be a win. So you're at
four and oh, going to Ole Miss on September twenty seventh.
Ole Miss was a tight game a year ago, but
I'm gonna give the advantage to LSU strictly because they
lose Jackson Dart they have to replace it now. Austin
Simmons is the projected starter out there at Oxford. By
all accounts, he's a talented quarterback, but we just haven't
seen him be that starting quarterback at ole Miss. I
gotta go with with who I trust with who I
know has been there, done that. That's Garrett Nusmack. He's
the returning starter. So you're five and oh. Right now,
I think you beat South Carolina, even though that's going
to be a dogfight once again, because you were able
to go in and their house last year beat them
on the road. They come back to Baton Rouge, you're
six and oh, I think you beat Vanderbilt. That puts
you at seven. Oh, Texas, A and M is at home.
That is another game. And in the first half of
that game you absolutely dominated. Something flipped late in the
second quarter. The second half, A and M comes out,
blows the doors off of you, and then that started
lsho's three game skid last year with A and M,
Alabama and Florida.
Speaker 2: Can you fix that problem?
Speaker 1: Though you know Marcel Reed is likely going to be
the guy all season long, there is no excuse of, well,
they changed quarterbacks in the middle of the game. We
really didn't expect to see him. We weren't prepared for it.
You got all year to prepare for that guy. Now
I expect them to do that. I expect them to
do a much better job to give them a win there.
Now you're eight and oh, you go to Alabama, I'll
give you a loss. We'll give it a lost to Alabama,
even though they're breaking in a new quarterback, Bryant. Denny's
a tough place to play, even though LSU has fared
well there in the regular season. So that puts you
at nine and one or eight and one. I think
you're gonna beat Arkansas. I don't think they're gonna be
any good. You're gonna beat Western Kentucky. You're ten and one.
Then you got to go on the road at Oklahoma.
So if you beat Clemson, there's a chance you can
almost win out the rest of the year. Drop one
of Ole Miss or Alabama. I think those are your
two toughest games because they are both on the road.
What happens if you lose to Clemson. Let's say you
lose that first game. I still think you beat Tech.
I still think you beat Florida, You'll take Southeastern. So
you're three and one at that point, So you lose
your first game of the year. All you have to do, though,
is run the table win all the other games you're
supposed to win.
Speaker 2: Now, I get it.
Speaker 1: That's easier said than done. DJ Lagway is going to
be really good, but that's n baton rouge. Marcel Reed's
probably going to be good. That game is n baton rouge.
I'm giving you the advantage over both of those teams
because you're at home. You play so well in Tiger Stadium.
All you gotta do, even when they lost to Clemson,
is split one of ole Miss and Alabama. That puts
you at ten and two in the regular season. A
ten and two SEC team is in all likelihood going
to get into the College Football playoffs. You get into
the playoff, anything can happen. So while look, there's certainly
tough games. South Carolina at home, by no means is
going to be a cakewalk. A and M at home
is going to be a tough game. Florida at home
is going to be a tough game, especially if DJ
Lagway is fully healthy. By then, you got ole Miss
on the road, you got Alabama on the road, you
got Clemson on the road. I just listened six games
you could potentially lose. But if you take care of
business at home and win one of if so, if
you take care of business at home and win one
of the three on the road, Clemson, Ole Miss, Alabama,
you're sitting at ten and two. Especially if you beat
Alabama or ole Miss, then you only have one SEC loss,
You're still in a really good spot. You look at
the scheduling, yes, it certainly looks tough, but most of
your tough games are at home. Even with Old Miss
on the road, Alabama on the road, they're both breaking
in new quarterbacks. I'm assuming it is going to be
Austin Simmons at Old Miss not all accounts.
Speaker 2: He's talented.
Speaker 1: We haven't really seen it yet in Alabama. Is it
going to be Ty Simpson? Is it going to be
Keeland Russell? We don't really know. These are all things
that are still very much up in the air. And
again A and M at home, Arkansas at home, Oklahoma
on the road. But they're kind of a mess right now.
I mean, they bring in John Mattier, which he did
a lot of good things at Washington State. Playing in
a two team conference in the Pac twelve is a
lot different than playing in the SEC. And Brent Vnables
is on dan Ice there. Anyways, I think they're going
to have a good defense, but is it going to
be as good as a defense as was last year. You
lose Danny Stutsman and Billy Bowman, those were your two
best defensive players from a year ago. You lose Jackson Arnold.
How many weapons are you going to have on the outside.
LSU stole your leading receiver in Bower Sharp last year
and your most talented receiver that didn't get to play
in Nick Anderson. They were both going to be in
Tiger uniforms.
Speaker 2: They ship.
Speaker 1: Weapons, are honestly going to be around John Mattier. You
put up big numbers in a wide open offense, and
here's the problem. Oklahoma is trying to run that spread offense.
But in the SEC, I get it, it's a past
happy league. Now you still have to be able to
run the football. They were not able to do that
all season last year and that's really what kept them
out of ball games and what got them behind early on.
I don't see how they've made a big improvement in
that area this year. Like LSU's chances there so yes,
While Bill Conley has them as number nine toughest schedule
in his SMP plus rankings, I like LSU schedule. I
actually think it's pretty manageable. Clemson could define your season
week one, but it doesn't have to. Even if you
lose to Clemson, you take care of business everywhere else,
win all your home games, beat Oklahoma on the road
last game in the season. Your season really comes down
to two games at Ole Miss at Alabama. Kenny split them.
If you lose to Clemson, you have to split those games.
If you beat Clemson, you probably lose both of them.
So while on paper, yes, this is a really tough schedule,
things fall nicely for you. Some of your tougher games
with returning quarterbacks like Florida, like South Carolina, like Texas,
A and m are all at home, will missing Alabama
on the road. But they're both breaking in new quarterbacks.
How are they going to look? They also both lose
a lot on the offensive side of the ball, and
Alabama didn't have a ton of weapons on offense last
year to begin with. It'll be interesting to watch. I
think LSU does have a tough schedule, but honestly, as
far as the tough schedule in the SEC he goes,
this one might be more manageable than a lot of
people may think. We're going to take a quick time out.
When we get back, we'll do a quick segment on
LSU baseball. They take on North Alabama this weekend. We
had a laundris thoughts as well. Look as the three
game series, you're not gonna learn a ton about the
Tigers as far as the opponent they play. But I
think there's a lot of things the LSU Tigers need
to fix. We'll get into that. On the other side,
here on Off the Bench.
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dot com. Welcome back to more sports talk, mother stuff
mixed in Off the Bench with Hester and t Bob.
Speaker 1: All right, welcome back in Friday edition of Off the
Bench Taylor Trumper with Earlandrevill, Rial Cassi's Bizzali here as well.
We are filling in for Jake and t Bob one
more time. They will both be back on Monday. Well,
their scheduled to be back on Monday. I got confidence
my guy Jay Kesher will be back.
Speaker 2: T Bob, I don't know.
Speaker 1: He's got a little bit of a track record to
kind of extend that vacation an extra day.
Speaker 2: We'll see.
Speaker 1: I hope both of them, though, will be back in
the fold on Monday. Okay, ls Shoo Baseball playing what
is essentially their final full dress rehearsal before SEC play
gets started. As far as a weekend series goes, Tigers
are going to take one North Alabama in a three
game series this weekend. North Alabama is not a very
good baseball team. They are three and eight overall through
in the middle of a five game losing streak, and
they are zero to six away from their home ballpark.
LSU should have no problem in this series. You absolutely
should sweep this series. You absolutely have to sweep this
series this weekend. It is not about LSU's opponents. It's
about Lshue and cleaning up the things that you need
to fix.
Speaker 2: What can we expect this weekend.
Speaker 1: What I want to see personally is clean up the errors,
whether it's throwing errors, whether it's misrunning balls in the outfield.
You saw it on Tuesday night. They kind of all
came to a head. In the same game. LSU was
able to weather the storm. They were a lot better
in the Wednesday game against North Dakota State.
Speaker 2: They cleaned it up.
Speaker 1: It was a point eighty, but still anytime you see
that against the bad team, LSU clearly just looked like
they weren't focused on Tuesday night. You got to be
focused this weekend because this is your last out of
conference weekend series.
Speaker 2: And I get it.
Speaker 1: You're playing Missouri week one in the SEC. They're not
that good, but that's still an SEC opponent. You're still
going up a level in competition from North Alabama and
North Dakota State. I want you to stop giving batters
free passes.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: There's been a little bit of back and forth on this.
Some have said, man, this as a hole started out
so strong. The first eight games, and then the last
few they've kind of fell off, and then those will say, well,
they didn't fall off, it's the midweek guys that you're
not going to count on. I understand that to an extent,
but look at Wednesday night. William Schmidez absolutely an arm
you're going to count on in the weekend. Sure, Lsu
was great. They didn't give up a ton of runs.
He manages just fine. He still gave up six free
passes to batters, whether it was hit by pitches, whether
it was Waltz. You have to clean that up because
teams like North Dakota State are not going to beat
you when you do that, because they're not talented enough.
When you get into SEC play and you play these
top teams in the country, that loses you games. That
is the difference between winning and losing games. By that point.
The catcher battle as well. Cater Embattie has a lot
of talent. We've seen the flashes. Even though his batting
average isn't great, We've seen him with some pop on
the bat. He actually hit the home run Tuesday night.
That kind of spark you and get things started for
you offensively against North Dakota State, but he's been bad
behind the play. I mean he's been super inconsistent. There's
no other way to put it. I mean, he's a
young guy, he's a freshman. He'll likely get better there,
But what is that going to look like? Is it
going to be Hernandez for a three game series? Even
though Blaze Priester is not hitting, his defense actually looked
pretty good on Wednesday night. Does he get some run
because a lot like giving up the free passes to batters?
How did things get started for North Dakota State on
Tuesday night? Kate Aaronbidi dropped the third strike, It put
the batter aboard. Then he throws the wild throw to
first base, that batter goes to second and then it
kind of all unraveled from there. You saw the throwing
air from Steven Milam, Jake Brown, misrad a fly ball
in the outfield, Stanfield let one go over his head
in centerfield. It kind of all combined. One error turned
into like five or six. Then you're looking at a
seven to one deficit after three innits. That loses you
games against good teams. Because North Dakota State they didn't
do anything. I mean, they scored nine runs and six
hits on that game, and they're pitching staff had a
plus eleven er eight. Nobody you play in the SEC
is going to have that. They're all going to be
better than that. If you dig yourself in that deep
of a hole in SEC play, you're going to lose games.
You have to make sure that doesn't happen to you
this weekend. You have to treat this like an SEC
series again, even though the opponent's not great, it's all
about you. It's all about the mistakes you make or
don't make. The last thing I'm looking at, does right
field and DH become more clear? Because you know, there
was about four or five guys we mentioned before the
season started, Hey can they play right field?
Speaker 2: Can they play DH? What's the combination going to be?
Speaker 1: It's kind of come down to three guys, Jake Brown,
Josh Pearson, and Ashton Larson.
Speaker 2: And honestly, the last few games, Ashton.
Speaker 1: Larson kind of seems like the odd man out, which
coming into the season, I didn't expect that at all.
I mean, we were sitting here on Monday morning, the
day after the first weekend series saying, man, we were
really surprised that Ashen Larson didn't get that opening day's
start because by all accounts he looked really good in
the fall. He set some bad at bats recently, and
Jake Brown and Josh Pearson kind of seemed they passed
them up for the moment. You're still going to need
Ashton lars and Ashton Larsen is still going to have
a place on this team. But that's kind of what
I'm watching. I want the errors cleaned up. I want
pitchers to stop giving batters these free passes. I don't
care if they're good teams are bad teams, you can't
do that. We need the catchers to be a little
cleaner behind the plate, and right field and d H
Are there going to be guys that lock down those spots?
Are you still going to see a rotation? I know
that's kind of a lot, But again, it's not about
the opponent this weekend. It's more about you can you
fine tune everything before you get into SEZ. But because
once you hit Missouri, sure they may not even be great,
but there's still SEZ competition. It doesn't slow down, it
only gets tougher from there. You still got a long
season atty. That's kind of what I'm looking at as
all elandra as far as like this weekend for you again,
North Alabama. I don't care whether you're playing North Alabama,
whether you're playing Cathol High School. It doesn't really matter
who your opponent is this weekend. What do you want
to see from the Tigers?
Speaker 4: I don't really know what else I can add to
you just said I but if I want to get
like specific, I want to see Anthony Ansen not get
behind like he has been the past. I mean he
he does good. Yeah, yeah, so he's done good in
those spots, but let's not get behind, Like, let's just
have a clean game and behind the plate. We need
to clean that up real real, real soon, real soon,
because it's like.
Speaker 2: That's the that is the biggest question mark on this
team right now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, because it's like you said, like we're just giving
up these free bases and you can't just give them
runs like that when you have the pass balls, or
like you can't put them in running position for the
or a scoring position for them. So just don't like
it's just like small mistakes that turn into critical mistakes
when the game is closed, like it was on Tuesday night.
Speaker 3: For however long it was.
Speaker 4: But that and then I agree with you with Ryfield,
But I think if it were me, I would want
Josh Pearson there just because like he has proved time
and time and time again to be the most clutch players.
Speaker 2: Every day player for you. Yes, at this point, I
really do.
Speaker 4: And he has the clutch gene, like we talk about
it all the time, Like he anytime you need him
to show up, he does. Like I've never been in
a position where like we were behind or we needed
to tie up the game and Josh Pearson came up
to bat and I was worried. Ye, Like I'm like, oh,
we're good. So yes, I kind of just agree with
everything that you said. But if I wanted to get
into specifics, I want a clean game from Anthony. Iinson,
don't get behind in the count, don't give up the
free bases, and yeah.
Speaker 1: Well to going back to what we were talking about,
because like I've heard a lot of people say, Okay,
well the free passes, you know, that's that's that's the
Tuesday game of the guys who aren't going to pitch
on you for you on the weekend. First off, kind
of whar has been really good up to that point,
he's a guy that I thought you could rely on
in the weekend up until last night. But I mean
Jayden Newt DJ Primo, Like, these are guys that have
been on this team. You're going to count on DJ
Primo in all likelihood at some point in your weekend,
in your weekend games. These are not just guys that
oh the freshmen throw out there, like sure Chandler Dorsey.
It was his first time seeing him, and he actually
he looked settle things out. Yeah, he was actually your
best pitcher on Tuesday Night. To Elandra's point about Anthony Ionson, yes,
because you know what, we all kind of gave our
big takeaways in this room, and all of us had
a different takeaway as far as week one of the
series goes, and mine was it was Anthony Ionson because
he was able to get out of a jam. You
don't always have your best stuff. We've seen it about
two or three times now, Anthony Ionson getting in a jam.
Now he settles things down like the last three innings.
It's kind of his first two and a half to
three innings. That's really a concern. To Allandra's point, you
can't do that because you're not always going to play
in North Alabama, North Dakota State, you know, Omaha, anybody
else they've already played so far this season. When SEZ
play comes around, you get people on bay that's an issue.
And as far as Josh Pearson goes, she's right, I'm right. Whoever,
like we both agree that he has to be an
everyday player, Yeah, because it's not one or two times
that Josh Pearson comes through much to her point, and
it's been for three years now.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean even as a freshman, that's how he got
into the lineup because a freshman he was only hitting
like two thirty five, two forty, but it was the
clutch at bats.
Speaker 2: I mean, he was key in that national championship season.
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't think about that, but like
when the SEC tournament came around, when the NCAA tournament,
Omaha came around, Like, Josh Pearson was a guy you
were relying on and you've done that ever since.
Speaker 2: I agree with you.
Speaker 1: I think whether look, whether it's Jake Brown, Ashton Larson,
whoever takes the dhrol, Josh Pearson has to be in there.
I think he has solidified his spot so far. I
know that every year people are like, oh, we got
to replace Josh Pearson. He just is his batting average
isn't isn't good enough. First off, he's sitting like three
hundred this year, so his batting average is actually pretty good,
but it's the clutch moments. You cannot sacrifice that for
maybe a guy who's going to hit to sixty two seventy.
Speaker 2: I mean you have to have him.
Speaker 1: Plus he's actually a pretty good outfielder as well, Like
he didn't make a ton of out there either.
Speaker 2: We saw Jake Brown say.
Speaker 4: Like he he's clutching the outfield too, Like he's clutched
offensively and offensively it's.
Speaker 2: Great catches at LSU in his career and.
Speaker 3: Like this is like little things.
Speaker 4: And sure maybe his batting average isn't great, but he
takes good at bats, like he will get into that
pitch count.
Speaker 1: He's not a guy that's just gonna go up there
three four pitches at bats and he's going to six, seven,
eight pitches.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that's not going to get recognized because of
the batting average. But and it's a small thing, but
it's important in baseball. So it's Josh Pearson absolutely is
like one of my favorite Tigers that have played at LSU.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1: All right, Look that was a was a pretty good
baseball segment there. Welcome back in Friday edition of Off
the Bench, closing out our number one on a Friday.
Travis Kelcey and Jason Kelsey. Obviously we know they have
the New Heights Podcast and it's one of those that
kind of hits a lot of topics. Well, they got
to talking about the NFL Combine and and apparently Travis
kelce really likes Mason Taylor. So, according to sports Keta,
on the New Heights Podcast, Jason Kelcey asked Travis about,
you know, certain prospects in this draft that he liked,
and Travis Kelcey apparently said, Mason Taylor is just a
fluid athlete. He's not even twenty one yet. So this
is a guy that had a good amount of success
at LSU, played in the SEC. And on top of that,
he's only going to get better as he gets older.
He's only going to develop more strength and more athleticism
the longer he plays the game. If there's someone out there, look,
whatever your opinion, if Travis Kelcey is, doesn't really matter
there's someone out there who knows the tight end position.
Speaker 2: It's Hill.
Speaker 1: He's one of the best to ever do it in
this game. And of course he likes Mason Taylor, right.
I mean, he meant so much to the LSU offensive
season ago. You can look at Mason Taylor's numbers and
be like, wow, he was really productive. I mean thirteen
hundred yards and six touchdowns over three seasons, one hundred
and twenty nine catches. I mean, he basically holds every
tight end for LSU. It's more than just that. Throw
the stats out the window, throw the records out the window.
Speaker 2: Doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: How many times did Garrett Nelsemeyer go to Mason Taylor
and big means. Think about the ole Miss game. He
went to him twice on fourth down to tie the
game at the end of regulation, and then they had
to have a third down in overtime. He converted on
that as well. You saw it time and time again.
Speaker 2: This season.
Speaker 1: He went to him early in the Vanderbilt game when
that game was still tight to get them rolling. There
we all know about freshman year Mason Taylor. They run
the two point conversion play. Jayden Daniels rolls to his right,
hits Mason Taylor out in the flats. I was a
play that was designed for Mason Taylor, a true freshman,
to take down Top ten Alabama. That's how good of
a player this guy is. That's how much his coaching
staff trusted him his time here. It also makes sense
why LSU had to fight so hard on the transfer
portal to get tight ends because Mason Taylor is not
going to be easy to replace. Well, do LSU add it?
Bower Sharp from ocal Oahoma. If you haven't every down
tight end, this guy's it. He was a leading receiver
for the Sooners a year ago. Now, Oklahoma didn't have
a good offense, but Bower Sharp is a bright spot.
Speaker 2: You had it.
Speaker 1: Donovan Green from Texas A and M A big body
tight end. He's likely you're blocking tight end this season
and we know all about trade. Is Green freak athlete.
I mean he's six to seven, he's two hundred and
forty five pounds. We saw what he did late in
the year, we saw what he did in.
Speaker 2: The bowl game.
Speaker 1: I mean he is just poised for a big season.
There's a guy I'm excited about on this offense outside
of Garrett Know's my other year. It's trade is green
because I can't wait to see how they use him.
I still think he'll line up more out wide than
as a traditional tight end spot, because that's why you
brought in Bower Sharp. You needed a traditional hand in
your dirt edge of the line of scrimmage tight end.
That's Bower Shark. I mean, he was very good. He
was one of the top tight ends in the transfer
portal for a reason. Wherever Mason Taylor gets drafted, and
right now it looks like he's going to go second round,
third round, somewhere in there, somebody's gonna get a heck
of a player. He's been around football his entire life
because who his dad is, of course, Hall of Fame
defensive end Jason Taylor. He came to LSU, and keep
in mind, he was actually not even an early and rolye.
As a freshman, he came to LSU in the fall,
had about three weeks to learn the offense, and he
was your everyday tight end from the moment he stepped
foot on campus. You went to him in big moments
over a three year span, and he made big plays
for you over those three years.
Speaker 2: He also never dropped the ball.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously he has a few drops, but I mean,
you know, you know what I mean, it seemed like
he rarely dropped the football.
Speaker 2: He always made the play when you need. He's also somebody.
Speaker 1: Who's very aware of that first down line. I mean,
go back and watch the tape of Mason Taylor. He's
got the catches, the ball gets upfield, He's like, I
got to get to the first down line? Do I
stick out the ball here? Do I lean this way?
Mason Taylor is a little bit better after the catch
than a lot of people realize. And I mean, who
better to compliment him than a guy like Travis Kelsey.
Who what do you think of the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes,
Travis Kelsey, whatever, Travis Kelsey is one of the best
tight ends to ever play in the NFL. That is
high praise right there. I think, whoever grabs Mason Taylor
to get an absolute steal in this draft, all right,
that's going to wrap up our number one in our
number two. The NFL free agency and trades and whatnot
is going wild. Here's why the Saints need to jump
at this opportunity. I think also, an NFC South rival
is linked to a very very popular corner in free agency.
Why that could be trouble for the Saints. Then at
eight thirty, Bill Bender of the Sporting News is gonna
hop one. He put out a great article projecting the
entire sixty eighteen field from March Madness will break that
down as well, and then we're gonna have some fun
here in our number three again, hour number two coming up,
we'll have Saints at the top of the hour. We'll
talk to Bill Bender at eight thirty. That's all coming up.
Since stay tuned for more Off the Bench. You're on
one of four five ESPN
Speaker 5: Off the Bench.