By BEN LOVE
We’ve seen this before, at least so I think.
LSU football produces two prolific talents at the same position at just about the same time, and many around Tiger Nation are left wondering who is the better player and/or prospect.
The newest debate centers around projected top-five NFL Draft pick Leonard Fournette and first-team All-SEC running back Derrius Guice, a sophomore officially inheriting Fournette’s throne in the upcoming Citrus Bowl.
And to me it smacks of what came through the revolving purple-and-gold door several seasons ago when Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry opted to take their show to the League after highly successfully junior seasons in Baton Rouge.
My stance then, in the spring of 2014, feels pretty validated almost three full seasons into the pro careers of OBJ and Jarvis – namely that Beckham better fits the prototypical mold of a downfield-threat wide receiver but that Landry will make some franchise very happy for a decade-plus as a terror in the slot with sticky hands and extremely physical play to move the chains at will.
Enter a comparison I feel is incredibly apt: Guice is to Landry what Fournette is to Beckham.
Of course BUGA, at 6-foot-1, 235 pounds and with better straight-line speed, is deemed the more ideal NFL prospect. He’s been groomed to that end and rightfully touted as such long before he stepped foot on LSU’s campus.
Once Fournette gets through the hole, many times, it’s over.
But give me Guice if you need to find a way through that hole when it’s not always there or apparent. He’s got that something extra that jives with new-age football, like Landry in my opinion, that doesn’t jump off the screen at the Combine or can’t be tested as a measurable.
At the end of the day, barring injury, all four of these players will spend double-digit years in the NFL
All I’m saying is that while Beckham and Fournette are understandably the Cadillac edition (or Batman, if you will), and would translate well in just about any era of football, Guice and Landry are perfect for the modern game and nobody that has them on their team will feel they ended up with Robin.
Listen below as I discuss this topic in detail with Shea Dixon of Geaux 247 on Tuesday’s edition of “Bumper to Bumper Sports with Ben Love.”