LSU’s Leonard Fournette probably isn’t going to play this week against Southern Mississippi.
It’s OK to openly wonder when and if we’ll see Fournette on the field again, at least with the Tigers. Fournette, a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate who rushed for 1,953 yards and 22 TDs in 2015, is still battling a high-ankle injury and will miss his third game on Saturday.
"I know he wants to play," LSU interim coach Ed Orgeron said on the SEC teleconference Wednesday. "When he's fully healthy; I expect him to have a great rest of season.”
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It’s OK to wonder if Fournette will be back in time for the Alabama game. Just don’t wander for long.
You know those three go-to arguments are coming:
— Fournette should have been able to enter the NFL Draft out of high school, or after his freshman or sophomore year.
— Fournette should have sat out this year and worked with a personal trainer and specialized in training to get ready for the NFL Draft.
— Fournette gained nothing by staying at LSU for his junior year.
We’ve gone through this exercise with Maurice Clarrett, Mike Williams, Adrian Peterson and Jadeveon Clowney. Now, we have to do it again. We’ll do it next year with Lamar Jackson.
So you think the NFL — which currently is being riddled with criticism about the quality of its product — is going to willingly let an influx of younger players who might not be ready in earlier? That’s not going to happen. This isn’t the NBA — and to be clear, we’re not saying the NBA’s one-and-done plan is flat-out wrong — but they are two very different sports.
Fournette is an outlier, for sure, and like Peterson and Clowney, he probably could’ve played in the NFL out of high school. But that would open the door for way too many players who aren’t even close to ready. That would diminish a product that clearly needs work for other reasons. There’s no reason to invite another potential problem in.
The “sit out a year” theory needs to be proven by one of those outliers before we recognize it. That became a conversation with Clowney, who was the top player coming out of high school and gained notoriety heading into this junior season at South Carolina after “The Hit” in the Outback Bowl against Michigan. Sitting out a year would not have benefitted Clowney anymore than playing through an injury-riddled season in which he had just three sacks.
Fournette is having the same season, though he did have 386 yards on 5.8 yards per carry when he was on the field. Sometimes an injury lingers.
“It's just taking a little bit longer than we thought,” Orgeron said. “He's not able to even practice right now."
So you think NFL general managers would be interested in a player who opted to sit out a year and run wind-sprints with a parachute on his back instead of competing in the SEC for another year and abandoning his teammate? That would’ve done nothing to help Fournette’s value.
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Three years in college didn’t hurt Fournette’s draft value. A freak ankle injury suffered in training camp isn’t going to hurt Fournette’s ability to play in the NFL next season. He’s still going to be the 6-foot-1, 235-pound highlight-o-matic freak with the potential to lead the NFL in rushing. Ezekiel Elliott is doing that in Dallas right now, and Fournette is at least on par with Elliott.
Here are a few things that staying at LSU this season didn’t hurt:
It doesn’t hurt Fournette’s draft-day appeal. Clarrett and Williams sat out a year, and you saw what it did for their NFL career. Peterson broke his collarbone in his junior season and played in just seven games. He was taken with the No. 7 pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. He’s rushed for 11,725 yards in the NFL.
It doesn’t hurt Fournette’s perspective. What if he had suffered an injury in the NFL this season? He’d still be on the sideline. Orgeron lauded Fournette for being an “emotional leader” from the sideline. He’s probably going to get hurt at some point in his NFL career, too.
It doesn’t hurt his shelf life. Fournette had 300 carries last season and having less carries on the odometer heading into the NFL isn’t the worst thing. The best thing Fournettte could do is come back from the injury, show how good he is again — perhaps against Alabama — and go from there. If Orgeron is right and Fournette really wants to play, then he’ll play at some point this season.
Playing is always better than sitting. The ankle injury might raise a few questions about Fournette’s durability, but Clowney battled injuries his junior year and was still the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft. We’re starting to see what a healthy Clowney can do now. It’s pretty damn good.
Fournette might not go No. 1 — which Sporting News projected at one point — but he’ll be a high pick. He’ll also be very-good at the next level. All the hypotheticals are simply talking points.
Stop wondering. Stop wandering.
Let Fournette show you when he gets back on the field.
