Football: Ex-BYU QB commit could start for LSU
As BYU continues its search for the quarterback who will replace Max Hall in 2009, it could be interesting to note that a quarterback who committed to BYU years ago could be LSU's starter this season.
News reports Friday that LSU coach Les Miles has kicked troubled quarterback Ryan Perrilloux off the team means that Andrew Hatch, a junior from Las Vegas, is the front-runner for the starting job with the bayou Bengals.
Hatch, who is LDS, committed to ex-BYU coach Gary Crowton in Crowton's last season, but when Crowton was fired, Hatch became dis-interested in BYU, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel.
Hatch ended up at Harvard, then went on an LDS Church mission to Chile after playing one year for the Crimson. In Chile, Hatch suffered a knee injury while playing soccer, and returned home midway through his scheduled two-year mission for surgery.
Crowton, now LSU's offensive coordinator, kept track of Hatch through his ordeal and lured him to Baton Rouge.
As the backup to Matt Flynn (who is now trying to make the Green Bay Packers' roster) and Perrilloux, Hatch threw all of two passes for the Tigers last season, completing one for 9 yards.
Hatch had the best spring game of all the quarterbacks, according to various newspaper reports, and is a battle with redshirt freshman Jarrett Lee to be the starter when the Tigers open against Appalachian State on Aug. 30.
News reports Friday that LSU coach Les Miles has kicked troubled quarterback Ryan Perrilloux off the team means that Andrew Hatch, a junior from Las Vegas, is the front-runner for the starting job with the bayou Bengals.
Hatch, who is LDS, committed to ex-BYU coach Gary Crowton in Crowton's last season, but when Crowton was fired, Hatch became dis-interested in BYU, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel.
Hatch ended up at Harvard, then went on an LDS Church mission to Chile after playing one year for the Crimson. In Chile, Hatch suffered a knee injury while playing soccer, and returned home midway through his scheduled two-year mission for surgery.
Crowton, now LSU's offensive coordinator, kept track of Hatch through his ordeal and lured him to Baton Rouge.
As the backup to Matt Flynn (who is now trying to make the Green Bay Packers' roster) and Perrilloux, Hatch threw all of two passes for the Tigers last season, completing one for 9 yards.
Hatch had the best spring game of all the quarterbacks, according to various newspaper reports, and is a battle with redshirt freshman Jarrett Lee to be the starter when the Tigers open against Appalachian State on Aug. 30.
6 Comments:
Looks like it's going to be a looooooong season for the Bayou Bengals.
Whatever. With all the talent they have on the line, in WRs, RBs, and on defense, Jay could play QB for them and win a few games. Somehow I think they'll be ok.
It doesn't happen very often but this time Jefe is correct.
Stories like this confirm the theory that while Crowton was a horrible head coach, he is an excellent recruiter. I believe Mendenhall has benefitted greatly from Crowton's recruits, much the same way Urban Meyer benefitted from Ron Mcbride's recruits. As we have seen the last three years, Meyer didn't exactly do the best job of stocking the cupboard for Whittingham. With Mendenhall having to use more and more of his own players in '08 and beyond, I think we are going to see a decline in the level of play at BYU. Mendenhall will still get some of the upper level LDS recruits, however, he isn't going to get those top level kids like Crowton did. Going 11-2 these past two years is as good as BYU is ever going to be under Mendenhall, most years they will finish 8-4 or worse. Whittingham, on the other hand, has improved the level of recruiting over that of Meyer as evidenced by winning nine games in '07 using so many Freshmen and Sophomores.
Before anybody throws Unga and Hall in my face, I am well aware of them. However, Bronco doesn't get credit for picking up Hall, a disgruntled transfer from ASU(he was just looking for playing time anywhere he could get it) nor does he get credit for picking up Unga who, by his own admission, only chose BYU because he didn't like Whittingham's reaction after Unga lied and said he was signing with BYU just to see how Kyle reacted. Another knock on Mendenhall's recruitment of Unga: Unga couldn't even enroll at BYU out of high school because of his drug and sex issues. If you believe Mendenhall, he doesn't recruit kids with those kinds of problems, meaning he isn't going to take a chance on highly talented kids with questionable character. I'm sorry, but in modern college football you just can't build a powerhouse program with a bunch of Peter Priesthoods.
Amen Utethunder! Any coach who has not developed a back up quarterback in case of injury so they are ready to play, is not a very smart coach. When Hall goes down in the UCLA game, then what......... Mendenhall has been riding the wave on Crowton's recruits. In fact it was Mendenhall's stupid 3-3-5 defense that got Crowton fired so Bishop Bronco could get the job, after it was offered to Kyle Whittingham. It is beginning, the fall has began........just look at this year's signing classes, two programs going in completely opposite directions, bye bye cougars! Hope those 8th graders your coach is recruiting pays off. It is so impressive to give out all 25 scholarships before the season has begun, just to say you did. Judging by the severe lack of NFL talent in this year's draft from the Mountain West Conference, I am not so sure those two conference championships symbolizing anything but being able to beat some young programs that are building solid foundations. Hope you enjoyed the two years, cuz it's over!!!!
Good points bigutefan. Especially about BYU beating young teams that are building. In '06, most of the MWC was starting either a young QB or an upper-classman with very little experience.(UNM, Utah, SDSU, Wyoming . . . ) In '07, it was much of the same.(UNM, Wyo, TCU, CSU, UNLV . . . ) Although Utah was starting a Junior, he was coming off of an injury redshirt year, and his throwing shoulder was never better than 50% after the second quarter of the OSU game. Yes, BYU's offense was young in '07, but their senior heavy defense was responsible for most of their wins(AZ, TCU, UNM, Utah, UNLV, UCLA) A lot of teams will be able to exploit a young defense for BYU this year, and you can't like their chances in a bunch of shoot outs. See BYU @ Tulsa last year.
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