Put this at the top of the list LSU’s 2015 opponents did not want to hear: Leonard Fournette is getting better.
“You’d be hard-pressed to have me tell you anybody other than Leonard is the most-improved player on our offense,” offensive coordinator Cam Cameron told ESPN 104.5 in Baton Rouge (via Yahoo’s Dr. Saturday). “I tell people that and their eyes kind of open up because he was probably our best player a year ago, but he is. He’s tremendously improved. He’s a special kid. He’s a special player and people are going to get to see a lot of Leonard Fournette in Tiger Stadium this fall.”
After a somewhat slower than expected start to his freshman season (52 rushing yards or less in four of his first six games), Fournette improved as the year went along. He carried a season-high 27 times for 140 yards and two touchdowns in a win at Florida, rushed 23 times for 113 yards in a victory against the Land Sharks of Ole Miss, popped Texas A&M for 146 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries, and closed with his best game as a collegian to date - 11 carries for 143 yards and two touchdowns, including an 89-yarder, plus a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the Music City Bowl against Notre Dame.
“He’s like a lot of great players. They’re never satisfied. They never feel like they’ve arrived,” Camerson said. “Even with what he did in the bowl game and the A&M game, he came in to this spring just dialed in and focused on certain things he wanted to get better at and he’s done that.”
Cue Texas A&M defensive coordinator John Chavis: “Yeah, um, we’d like Fournette to be satisfied, please.”