July is coming to a close, and that means football practice and a new school year are upon us. LSU reports to fall camp on Tuesday and will practice for the first time on Wednesday. This has been a longer summer than usual with the shortened baseball season, but it’s about over.
Let’s get to your questions.
Who will have a better MLB career, Tommy Tanks or Dylan Crews?
Dylan got an earlier start, but Tommy White has been fantastic since his call up this month. He’s 14-for-44 (.318) over 11 games with the Athletics. Crews had a bumpy first couple of seasons and started in AAA this year. In his last five games, he’s 8-for-18 (.444) with a pair of doubles and a pair of homers. He’s still been a below average player this year over 57 games, but I’m not betting against Crews.
I hope they’re both stars, but I’ll take Crews on what is all of a sudden a really exciting young Nationals offense led by CJ Abrams.
What if LSU left the SEC and played as Independent like Notre Dame? How many top 12 finishes in 10-year span & how many titles?
I appreciate the sentiment while understanding that any answer I give is complete conjecture. It’s not out of line to suggest Notre Dame’s schedule is pathetic for its place in college football. Pick any SEC contender. I’ll take Alabama and Texas and line up their top four games this fall with Notre Dame’s.
Alabama: Georgia, at Tennessee, Texas A&M and at LSU.
Texas: Ohio State, at Tennessee, Ole Miss and at Texas A&M (Horns play at LSU, too)
Notre Dame: Wisconsin, at BYU, Miami, SMU
Notre Dame gets a free ticket to the College Football Playoff this year based on the schedule they put together. They can beat Miami by two scores or lose by 25, and as long as they handle BYU and a pitiful Wisconsin program, they’re in. I resent that. It’s the only sport I can think of where one team plays be a completely different set of rules. LSU would make the playoff this year with Notre Dame’s schedule and almost certainly would be a more frequent playoff qualifier by playing two or three important games a year and surrounding those games with Purdue, Boston College and Navy.
I won’t put a number on it, but it’s a fair question in this format. I’m glad the committee left 10-2 Notre Dame out last year. Their actual record was 1-2, and a team with a losing record shouldn’t play for a title.
Where is Easton Royal signing, LSU or Texas?
I think you’ve got the right two options. Florida made a push, but I don’t think it will be enough. LSU is going to get Royal to campus for a game or two this year. If Lane Kiffin and Charlie Weis can prove their offense is humming in year one, I think Royal signs with LSU. An 8-4 with a dud like last year’s A&M game while Royal is in attendance, I think Texas wins out.
It’s optimism season. I think Royal stays home at LSU.
What’s the latest on Logan Schmidt?
I expect a decision from the big southpaw any day now. Like last week, this is not a negotiation. The Guardians couldn’t offer more than the $1.7 million, and LSU is not drastically altering any sort of financial commitment. It’s simply one year of minimal development in JUCO and another crack at the MLB Draft without a late agent change versus betting on three years of development and a Kade Anderson/Gage Jump-type launching point to the professional career.
That’s the decision.
I know LSU has put its best foot forward here and given the entire Schmidt camp something to think about. The traditional college route is at least being considered when it really wasn’t three weeks ago. Ultimately, I’m going to take the chalk and guess (key word) that Schmidt sticks to his plan of not playing three years of college baseball. I’m well aware that my bet is against Jay Johnson which is usually a dumb bet.
Who is the backup quarterback?
Husan Longstreet.
I think both players were neck and neck early in the spring while everyone but Winnie Watkins was drinking from a fire hose with offensive installation. As spring moved on, Longstreet cut down on the interceptions and was more productive with the first team.
He’s more gifted, though both players have some similar traits, and I think his play put him over the edge. However, we do know that Kiffin and Weis aren’t afraid to sit a former four-star QB in Austin Simmons in favor of a kid from Ferris State. That decision worked pretty well last season, so don’t count Landen Clark out of the race entering fall.
But Longstreet is the guy right now.
