SEC Network really building up Leonard Fournette

NationalTitles16 said:

Never said or implied that.

To further explain, some of those are probably among the top 5 or so. Some of those are not. Young men do play other positions, they just don't get the same hype. Some of those not getting the hype - because they play other positions - are among the top 5. Just my 2 cents.

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Totally fair. I misunderstood. Thanks for clarifying your point.

mulletover said:

Barring injury Clemsons DW wins the Heisman this year. It was 1998 - 1999 since a RB won the trophy in consecutive years. Since 2000 a QB has won the trophy 13 out of 16 times. Watson is already a media darling and he has the talent to back it up.

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Counterpoint: Preseason favorites have not faired well over the last decade or so. Even when they perform at a high level, they can't outpace the expectations. It is easier to win a Heisman as a breakout player than it is to win it as a guy who was in the running the prior season. I think Leonard Fournette is in a great position if his team can reach a championship level. He wasn't a finalist last year. It is arguable that his team let him down in November which derailed his absurd productivity. If he can get a full season of high production, he could immediately unseat Henry as the leading single-season rusher and rushing TD holder in the SEC.

rgw said:

Counterpoint: Preseason favorites have not faired well over the last decade or so. Even when they perform at a high level, they can't outpace the expectations. It is easier to win a Heisman as a breakout player than it is to win it as a guy who was in the running the prior season. I think Leonard Fournette is in a great position if his team can reach a championship level. He wasn't a finalist last year. It is arguable that his team let him down in November which derailed his absurd productivity. If he can get a full season of high production, he could immediately unseat Henry as the leading single-season rusher and rushing TD holder in the SEC.

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If Clemson doesn't make it to the playoff people may hold that against DeShaun Watson.

Counterpoint to my own counterpoint: LF will not be a traditional "breakout player" so he might have similar weights strapped to his Heisman run as Watson.

At either rate, if you want to have a chance to actually pick the Heisman right today:

Go look through all the camp reports for the top half or so of each P5 conference. Try to identify a guy who is going to be a breakout player for them and try to project whether you think that team will end up being a contender.

TideEngineer08 said:

To be fair to LF, his OL was absolutely no match for Alabama's front 7. But I do recall more than one occasion that one of our DBs tackled him in the open field. That's not a good look for an RB.

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our front 7 was fantastic, but Bama wasn't the only team to put a dent on LF Heisman run. the media does a good job of selecting pieces to get their agenda across. I don't know if Bama put a mental scar in his head but after our game, Ole Miss and Arkansas had their way with him too. you can say it was his OL that fail him or the fact they went up against the best three front 7 on LSU schedule. But I do know that all this Heisman talk is very silly other than to give fodder to the masses. the season hasn't even begun yet, but the media has a short memory and are usually the ones to blame for the Heisman hype on the usual suspects like Fournette /Watson /McCaffery.

the year Ingram , Newton, Henry all won the Heisman ( all won the NC too), NO ONE even mention them on the Heisman watch list. so it wouldn't surprise me again that the 2016 Heisman winner could be somebody none of us ever heard of...

They are going to promote players, and LF is a good candidate. That is what they do to keep us interested, just like the publications that have attempted to predict every score of every game of the season lol. It's all part of the season, but we know the variables and that people we never heard of will step up (Ridley), others we have will play great, and some that we thought great will fade. And there is always a team rated around 25 that will end up in the top 5 or higher.

TUSKaloosa said:

The only problem I see in this is Les Miles. The guy cannot put 3 logical sentences together so it would be a struggle for him to rally a community when he has trouble rallying 85 young men. JMO of course.

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BamaMoon said:

Fair point TUSK. I'm doubtful too.

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I don't think he'll need to do any rallying. Football is I'm the blood down there similar to here. I think the people will naturally put heart and soul into it from the git. That is, unless they drop a game early (prior to/including Bama), and then that community will rally for CLM to be fired.

sanjosecrimson said:

our front 7 was fantastic, but Bama wasn't the only team to put a dent on LF Heisman run. the media does a good job of selecting pieces to get their agenda across. I don't know if Bama put a mental scar in his head but after our game, Ole Miss and Arkansas had their way with him too.

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yes, the Alabama front 7 was awesome, but it wasn't just limited to 7 players. Remember when LSU was in a timeout and Alabama had 17 players on the field waiting to see what package LSU ran onto the field? The combination of talent and depth was too much for even a great player like Fournette. i don't understand why any Alabama fan would discount his talent rather than laud the team performance.

To say that Ole Miss and Arkansas had their way with him is just inaccurate. He rushed 25 for 119 and 19 for 99 plus caught passes for 72 and 36 yards respectively. Not eye popping, but not terrible either. The game situation, playing from behind, had much to do with his lower stats.

Bottom line, Fournette has an incredible combination of size and speed. His positive, team first attitude and humility make him special. But, this is a game of 11 v 11 each snap and one guy can only carry a team so far, especially when facing a defense full of NFL caliber talent and premier coaching.