Brett Ludwiczak
Guest
No, LSU isn’t better at producing wide receivers than Ohio State football
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
Don’t let some silly point system make you think otherwise, just use some common sense.
Hopefully you spent your 4th of July doing better things than trying to process an asinine column that argues LSU is better at producing wide receivers than Ohio State. Then again, it’s not like we haven’t had to deal with clown material from the author. Just remember back to 2021 when it seemed like every Sunday we were raging about the ridiculous rankings that Young gave us as we worked our way through the college football season.
It doesn’t take long to find the first mistake from Young, as he says Michael Jenkins was a fourth round pick in 2004, when he was actually drafted in the first round with the 29th overall pick by the Atlanta Falcons. At least Young didn’t screw up the other Buckeye wide receiver drafted in 2004, as he correctly mentioned that Drew Carter was selected in the fifth round.
Not acknowledging Jenkins as a first round pick skews his point system, which gives schools 15 points for producing a first round pick. Not that it was enough to put Ohio State ahead of LSU, but it is sets the table for how bad this all is.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24771991/72546679.jpg "Sugar Bowl X")
There are some receivers on this list that were great at the college level, but their talents didn’t translate at the professional level. Take Josh Reed, who won the Biletnikoff Award and was a second round pick of the Buffalo Bills in the 2003 NFL Draft. As a Bills fan, I watched Reed in the NFL, and he just wasn’t very good. He never caught more than 60 passes, accumulated more than 600 yards receiving in a season, and he only caught 10 career touchdowns. I am well aware that the Bills didn’t have good quarterbacks during that stretch, but Reed was always a player we were expecting more from.
An LSU wide receiver that I totally forgot about was Buster Davis, who was drafted with the 30th overall pick by the Chargers in the 2007 NFL Draft. Then again, it is easy to forget about Davis since he did nothing in the NFL. In 25 games, Davis caught just 51 catches for 558 yards, with two of those catches resulting in touchdowns. At least Dwayne Bowe lived up to the hype when he was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs earlier in the first round of the same draft.
Another suspect first round pick out of LSU was Michael Clayton, who was taken 15th overall in the 2004 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Clayton was outstanding in college, catching 182 passes for 2,582 yards, and 21 touchdowns in three years with the Tigers. Clayton barely surpassed those numbers in the NFL, hauling in 223 passes for 2,955 yards and 10 touchdowns. Clayton had a strong rookie season with Tampa Bay, catching 80 passes for 1,193 yards and seven touchdowns. Following his first campaign at the professional level, Clayton didn’t do much of anything.
Not that Ohio State doesn’t have their own questionable first round picks. Anthony Gonzalez was selected with the last pick of the first round in the 2007 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. While the former Buckeye was working his way towards becoming a trusted target of Peyton Manning, injuries slowed the momentum and Gonzalez caught just five passes after his first two years in the NFL. Ted Ginn Jr. was taken earlier in the same draft as Gonzalez and was mocked for his lack of production early in his career, but Ginn went on to play in nearly 200 games, and played in a couple Super Bowls.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24771993/71950374.jpg "Cincinnati Bearcats v Ohio State Buckeyes")
So where am I going with all this? I just feel like LSU has more forgettable wide receivers that they’re getting credit for than Ohio State does. Do you remember Malachi Dupre? Skyler Green? James Wright? If you do, you need to go and stand over there with the sickos. By comparison, there aren’t nearly as many receivers from Ohio State that don’t end up doing anything in the NFL. Noah Brown was a seventh round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, and he is still a contributing member of the receiving corps of the Dallas Cowboys.
I certainly will give LSU credit for producing two of the best wide receivers in the NFL right now in Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase. Ohio State is right there, though. Terry McLaurin has been great for a bad Washington team. Garrett Wilson’s stock will only go up as he has a real quarterback throwing the football to him this year, and we should see Chris Olave get even better this year now that Derek Carr is the quarterback in New Orleans.
All that, and we haven’t even mentioned Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who is a great fit in Seattle, or Marvin Harrison Jr., who is primed to be Ohio State’s first Biletnikoff Award winner since 1995, and will likely be the best receiver out of all those mentioned here.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and I’ve been told a few times that my opinions are terrible. Still, I just don’t get the love for LSU here, even with the point system that is used. The Tigers have put a few more receivers in the NFL, but they also have had more receivers that didn’t do much of anything at the professional level. While some will argue LSU is better at producing wide receivers, I’ll argue that Ohio State is better at producing receivers that are ready to contribute in the pros.
Continue reading...
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
Don’t let some silly point system make you think otherwise, just use some common sense.
Hopefully you spent your 4th of July doing better things than trying to process an asinine column that argues LSU is better at producing wide receivers than Ohio State. Then again, it’s not like we haven’t had to deal with clown material from the author. Just remember back to 2021 when it seemed like every Sunday we were raging about the ridiculous rankings that Young gave us as we worked our way through the college football season.
It doesn’t take long to find the first mistake from Young, as he says Michael Jenkins was a fourth round pick in 2004, when he was actually drafted in the first round with the 29th overall pick by the Atlanta Falcons. At least Young didn’t screw up the other Buckeye wide receiver drafted in 2004, as he correctly mentioned that Drew Carter was selected in the fifth round.
Not acknowledging Jenkins as a first round pick skews his point system, which gives schools 15 points for producing a first round pick. Not that it was enough to put Ohio State ahead of LSU, but it is sets the table for how bad this all is.
There are some receivers on this list that were great at the college level, but their talents didn’t translate at the professional level. Take Josh Reed, who won the Biletnikoff Award and was a second round pick of the Buffalo Bills in the 2003 NFL Draft. As a Bills fan, I watched Reed in the NFL, and he just wasn’t very good. He never caught more than 60 passes, accumulated more than 600 yards receiving in a season, and he only caught 10 career touchdowns. I am well aware that the Bills didn’t have good quarterbacks during that stretch, but Reed was always a player we were expecting more from.
An LSU wide receiver that I totally forgot about was Buster Davis, who was drafted with the 30th overall pick by the Chargers in the 2007 NFL Draft. Then again, it is easy to forget about Davis since he did nothing in the NFL. In 25 games, Davis caught just 51 catches for 558 yards, with two of those catches resulting in touchdowns. At least Dwayne Bowe lived up to the hype when he was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs earlier in the first round of the same draft.
Another suspect first round pick out of LSU was Michael Clayton, who was taken 15th overall in the 2004 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Clayton was outstanding in college, catching 182 passes for 2,582 yards, and 21 touchdowns in three years with the Tigers. Clayton barely surpassed those numbers in the NFL, hauling in 223 passes for 2,955 yards and 10 touchdowns. Clayton had a strong rookie season with Tampa Bay, catching 80 passes for 1,193 yards and seven touchdowns. Following his first campaign at the professional level, Clayton didn’t do much of anything.
Not that Ohio State doesn’t have their own questionable first round picks. Anthony Gonzalez was selected with the last pick of the first round in the 2007 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. While the former Buckeye was working his way towards becoming a trusted target of Peyton Manning, injuries slowed the momentum and Gonzalez caught just five passes after his first two years in the NFL. Ted Ginn Jr. was taken earlier in the same draft as Gonzalez and was mocked for his lack of production early in his career, but Ginn went on to play in nearly 200 games, and played in a couple Super Bowls.
So where am I going with all this? I just feel like LSU has more forgettable wide receivers that they’re getting credit for than Ohio State does. Do you remember Malachi Dupre? Skyler Green? James Wright? If you do, you need to go and stand over there with the sickos. By comparison, there aren’t nearly as many receivers from Ohio State that don’t end up doing anything in the NFL. Noah Brown was a seventh round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, and he is still a contributing member of the receiving corps of the Dallas Cowboys.
I certainly will give LSU credit for producing two of the best wide receivers in the NFL right now in Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase. Ohio State is right there, though. Terry McLaurin has been great for a bad Washington team. Garrett Wilson’s stock will only go up as he has a real quarterback throwing the football to him this year, and we should see Chris Olave get even better this year now that Derek Carr is the quarterback in New Orleans.
All that, and we haven’t even mentioned Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who is a great fit in Seattle, or Marvin Harrison Jr., who is primed to be Ohio State’s first Biletnikoff Award winner since 1995, and will likely be the best receiver out of all those mentioned here.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and I’ve been told a few times that my opinions are terrible. Still, I just don’t get the love for LSU here, even with the point system that is used. The Tigers have put a few more receivers in the NFL, but they also have had more receivers that didn’t do much of anything at the professional level. While some will argue LSU is better at producing wide receivers, I’ll argue that Ohio State is better at producing receivers that are ready to contribute in the pros.
Continue reading...