LSU College Football Outlook for 2010

The LSU Tigers are in a rebuilding stage after losing to a team at Penn State in their bowl appearance to cap off a disappointing season by LSU’s recent standards. The folks at LSU certainly expected Les Miles and his Tigers to beat Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lions, but some defensive line injuries seemed to prevent that from happening, in my opinion. The signing of a guy like Cassius Marsh should be able to cure some of the concerns LSU fans have about the future of their defensive line. Les Miles knows that he has to recharge and make sure that some of those top tier recruits that he’s signed in the last few years really start to develop and develop quickly.

According to ESPN, LSU has signed the number four tight end prospect in the country in Travis Dickson from Mississippi State and the number twenty athlete in the country Ronnie Vinson. These are two big recruiting successes that stand out to me. LSU seems to be holding up pretty well to its home state on the recruiting front. They also seem to be pulling their share of athletes out of the state of Texas, which is always a positive sign of getting out of that football hotbed.

LSU has never been afraid to use its tight end or full back in unique formations, so they expect people like Dickson to be solid pass receivers and solid blockers. Les Miles likely sees an opportunity down the draft path and in the Southeastern Conference more generally with Urban Meyer having to take medical leave to recover from heart problems.

The question remains whether Jordan Jefferson is the answer at quarterback and whether or not LSU has done enough to develop the receivers they need to replace Early Ducet and even Dewayne Bowe. Jefferson has the offensive line to worry about, as several analysts wonder if they’re packing enough meat up front to give a guy like Jefferson time to throw. LSU fans want to see more meat on the offensive line and also know that the Tigers will even have trouble keeping up with running backs from a school like Auburn unless there’s a big improvement. If you have trouble with Auburn’s sprinters, you’ll certainly have trouble with Florida’s top athletes.