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Louisville Football: Is the Lamar Jackson hype justifiable?
Louisville football quarterback Lamar Jackson has had an incredible start to the 2016 season. Is this a sign of things to come or all hype?
The Louisville football team has started the season strong beating Charlotte 70-14 last Thursday night. It was a great start to the year for the Cardinals who have now won nine of their last eleven games, dating back to last season. One of the biggest reasons for Louisville’s resurgence over the past eleven games is due to star quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Jackson’s eight touchdown performance last week brought a ton of national attention his way. In the preseason, his hype train began to gain steam as he was named a dark horse for the Heisman by every NCAA writer in America. Okay, that may be a bit of a stretch, but you know what I’m saying.
The more success that Jackson is going to have, the more criticism that is going to follow. Louisville fans need to understand this before it comes as a huge surprise.
Jackson has been compared to Michael Vick and he has also been compared to a video game, but is this hype justifiable? Or, is he just a guy who will quickly lose steam over the course of a tough 2016 season.
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If there is one thing that Louisville fans can hang their hats on, it’s that Lamar Jackson is going to be one of the best quarterback to ever wear a Louisville football jersey when it’s all said and done. Not only does he possess great speed and quickness, but he has also shown the qualities of being a great character guy with a high leadership ceiling.
He isn’t going to be a guy who stops working hard. Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino wouldn’t be okay with that and neither would Lamar Jackson. The intangibles that Jackson brings to the table will only enhance his football abilities.
Not to mention, Jackson has come a long way since his first career pass was interception in the Auburn game last season. If he can continue to develop as a passer, Jackson is going to be the ACC’s top quarterback in a short amount of time.
Putting up eight touchdowns in one half is extremely impressive, it doesn’t matter who they were playing. Don’t let people water down what Jackson was able to accomplish against Charlotte last Thursday. His game is continuing to develop and it finally turned the corner at the end of last year.
In arguably one of the most memorable Lamar Jackson games, he brought the Cardinals back against Kentucky on the road last November. Louisville was able to erase a 21-0 hole, coming all the way back to win 38-24. Jackson finished the game with 130 passing yards, one passing touchdown, 186 rushing yards, and two rushing touchdowns. He absolutely destroyed Kentucky.
If one win on the road over an SEC team isn’t good enough for the haters, here is another win over an SEC school.
Jackson topped off his best game of the season by having another career day, beating the Texas A&M Aggies 27-21 in the Music City Bowl. Jackson played all four quarters in this contest, while at the same time putting up an incredible stat line. He threw for 227 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 226 yards and two more touchdowns.
There aren’t too many guys in college football that are going to be in the 200 yard club for both rushing and passing in the same game. What’s even more impressive is that he did it as a Freshman, while apparently not knowing too much of the playbook. Come on now, that’s pretty amazing.
At the end of the day, the way Lamar Jackson is playing is becoming the trend. It isn’t a one game thing, it’s starting to be the expectation that Louisville brings into every game.
This isn’t hype and it wasn’t just Charlotte. Lamar Jackson is improving and dominating at the same time.
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