LSU churning out disappointing players
NFL evaluators wonder what's going wrong.
By Kent Babb
THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Published: 10:37 p.m. Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Word began spreading in the draft hall early in the afternoon. The Kansas City Chiefs were about to do it again.
It was a Saturday afternoon in April at New York's Radio City Music Hall. NFL draft day 2009. The Chiefs had the No. 3 overall pick. So many options. A can't-miss linebacker named Aaron Curry? A franchise offensive tackle, such as Eugene Monroe?
Late in the afternoon, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell approached the lectern and made the announcement.
"With the third pick in the 2009 NFL draft," Goodell said, "the Kansas City Chiefs select Tyson Jackson, defensive end from LSU."
The crowd gasped. Some booed. Jackson's name was a surprise, but other things were not. He filled a need on defense, and the college program that produced him was one the Chiefs seemed comfortable with. For three years in a row, the Chiefs made an LSU player their top draft pick.
Before Jackson, there was defensive lineman Glenn Dorsey at No. 5 overall in 2008. A year earlier, the Chiefs drafted wide receiver Dwayne Bowe at No. 23 overall.
Those players have something else in common: None has lived up to expectations or their draft slots. That trend is known now to the Chiefs' organization, but perhaps it should've seen it coming earlier.
LSU has produced 35 NFL draft picks since 2003, but there are many more stories of failure than success. Of those 35 players, nine of whom were first-round picks, only one has been selected for a Pro Bowl: Indianapolis running back Joseph Addai's appearance as a reserve in 2007. The handful of successes are overshadowed by players such as Oakland's JaMarcus Russell and Dorsey — who have shown little evidence that they'll live up to their draft-day hype.
"I don't think anybody has seen or heard from Glenn Dorsey," said former NFL coach Jon Gruden, who drafted former LSU receiver Michael Clayton to the Buccaneers in 2004.
LSU is known as one of the last decade's most successful college programs, winning national championships in 2003 and 2007 and helping elevate hungry and talented players into college superstars. But according to some outside the LSU bubble, NFL teams have learned the hard way that, at least lately, a draft pick who played for the Tigers isn't a sure thing.
"Word has been out there that the guys aren't working real hard," said Chris Landry, a former NFL scout who now works as a consultant for nearly a dozen teams. "It's been talked among scouting circles for a while. It's more: Buyer beware.
"It gives (LSU) a bad image. It gives it an attitude of just: 'What the hell is going on over there?'"
The signs were there. That's what LSU insiders and observers said. Dorsey paid less attention to conditioning after his junior season. Bowe's hands weren't improving. Russell's work habits were questionable from the start.
"JaMarcus was a bust waiting to happen," said Landry, who lives in Louisiana. "A lot of people have misevaluated LSU players."
Landry said the problems started when those players emerged as NFL prospects, and their work habits slipped. He said LSU's coaches failed to push those players, and as a result, they adopted poor approaches as acceptable.
"The program has slipped from a discipline and work-ethic standpoint," Landry said. "They're not nearly as demanding on them."
As other dominant college teams became factories for NFL superstars — Miami, Southern California and Texas produced a combined 97 draft picks and 19 Pro Bowlers since 2003 — LSU was churning out players who looked the part, passed the combine tests and had futures that looked bright. And then something goes wrong.
The theory going around is that the hunger dies once they get their first big NFL contract.
Of Louisiana's 4.4 million residents, 19.4 percent live in poverty. That's the second-highest percentage in the country. Some of those residents are children. Some play football. Coaches know how to motivate Louisiana's youngsters.
"Hey, you've got a chance" to reach the NFL, said Larry Dauterive, coach at East St. John High, 53 miles southwest of Baton Rouge. "We've got some there. You can get there. That's the carrot we dangle in front of them."
Per capita, Louisiana has more players in the NFL than any other. The best ones go to LSU. Marcus Spears was a can't-miss. So was LaRon Landry. Dorsey, too. Bowe, Russell, Dorsey and Spears are among those who've been criticized for their conditioning habits. Others have been chided for work-ethic concerns.
Perhaps when they get that big carrot, or contract, the motivation is gone for these players from poor economic backgrounds.
"A lot of people do fall victim to that: They think they've achieved everything," said John Murray, a sports psychologist in South Florida. "You lose your entire purpose when you don't have something to strive for."
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