Keyed up for new LSU season

Published 8:01 am Friday, August 19, 2016

By American Press Staff

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">With every passing day it seems we get more evidence that August was put on the calendar just to remind us that September — and, like, an honest kickoff — really, really needs to hurry up and get here.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The latest tidbit to stir the anticipation comes from the LSU camp, of course, fresh out of the mouth of sophomore defender Arden Key.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Key was trapped by reporters the other day, although by all accounts it didn’t exactly take waterboarding to get him to open up about his season goals.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He’d like to finish the season, he said, with 20 quarterback sacks.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Message boards, of course, promptly exploded.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Many fans, just because it’s August, immediately plugged in 20 individual quarterback sacks to whatever complex formula was generating the already sky-high expectations for the coming LSU season.</span>

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<span style="font-style: italic;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Did you hear what Arden Key said? … 20 sacks … TWENTY! … Not 10, TWENTY!!! …. and two pick-sixes … and some other stuff … Take THAT, Alabama …</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">This is fairly harmless stuff, even in August.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But, just to clarify, those 20 sacks are a “goal,” albeit a very lofty one. No one of authority has yet penciled in 20 sacks for young Mr. Key. They are not yet a fact.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Not that there’s anything wrong with that.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Key is entitled to his own goals, and there’s something to be said for setting them in the stratosphere.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">These 20 sacks would be four more than anybody in college football had last year. They would quadruple his own total of five from his freshman season last year. They would shatter the LSU record of 12 in a season. For that matter, no one in college football has cracked 20 since 2005.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But, you know, go for it.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Or maybe he was just playful enough to see what the reaction would be.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It has, of course, been overanalyzed to August and back.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Fueling the fan excitement in this case is that Key apparently did not just pull these numbers out of thin air.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He’s studied the situation to come up with a nice, round number, he said.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He double-checked to see what that LSU record was for such mayhem.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Teammates have chimed in with eyewitness accounts from the secrecy of the hermetically sealed practice fields, tall tales that warn against writing this off as the folly of youth.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Key even seems to be following a certain protocol.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Notice, he did not</span> <span style="font-style: italic;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">guarantee</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">20 sacks, which might have attracted the attention of enemy bulletin boards.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He did not pick a sack number to start the season with against Wisconsin to open the eyes of any proud Badgers.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">He just has a clear, seemingly rational enough view of what his overall season should look like.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">So it is a perfect August story — hard to dispute, easy to get excited about.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Besides, those 20 sacks might be a bit high, but not a total pipe dream.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Even as a true freshman, at the end of last season the quick, athletic Key was probably LSU’s best pass rusher.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And that was in the old system, in which he might have been a little awkward (and light) playing defensive end in the 4-3 alignment.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Key, in fact, might have been the specific defender who Les Miles looked at, slapped his forehead, and said, “Let’s bring in Dave Aranda to put in his 3-4 defense.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The new defensive coordinator’s plans — what we know of them at least — do seem tailor-made for an athlete like Key.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">With the rumors of constant pressure it sure would seem to open up the possibilities for Key, now at the outside linebacker spot and most likely in starters’ blocks for pass rushing.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Meanwhile, the unseen legend of nose guard Travonte Valentine continues to grow at a robust pace probably not possible in any other month but August.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">In fact, if somebody isn’t allowed to put eyeballs on Valentine in a real game soon, the NCAA, just on rumor alone may declare him a weapon of mass destruction and rule him illegal for the health and safety of college football.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Miles isn’t helping on this one.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Not only did Miles bring back a player he kicked off the team last summer, by his own account he brought back a sleeker (even at 340 pounds), quicker missile at a position of need.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Also, smarter.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Valentine has introduced us to the term “summer intercession class” on the academic calendar, a heretofore unknown micro-semester of some sort. Apparently it will come in handy in bridging the gap between Valentine being practice eligible and game-worthy eligible.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But ??— and this is the important part — Miles insists that in Valentine’s previous stop on the practice field, the likes of Vadal Alexander and La’el Collins flat couldn’t block him.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">We’ll see soon enough, you suppose.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But September really needs to go ahead and get here.</span>

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