Liggins breaks QB mold
“He’s a leader. A big leader with a small ego.” Anthony Hart, former Lafayette High coach on quarterback Jeremy Liggins, an LSU signee
Look down the list of players for LSU’s 2012 recruiting class, and most of the heights and weights seem to fit.
Kwon Alexander, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker? Not surprising. Defensive coordinator John Chavis likes his ’backers long and lean.
Derek Edinburgh, a 6-7, 325-pound offensive lineman? Big enough to draw asteroids into orbit around him, but not unexpected.
Then you come to quarterback Jeremy Liggins. That’s 6-3, 270-pound quarterback Jeremy Liggins, who according to LSU coach Les Miles and Liggins’ high school coach is probably a double cheeseburger or two north of that right now.
“He’s probably closer to 280 than 270 right now,” Miles said when discussing his recruiting class Wednesday. “So if a defensive lineman rushing the passer came loose, he might want to bring a friend. He might not get it done by himself.”
It doesn’t compute, but that doesn’t deter Liggins. He’s already shown he’s comfortable with breaking conventional molds.
Despite advice to the contrary from Miles, Liggins marched right into the town square of downtown Oxford, Miss., his hometown and just a couple of fly patterns from the Ole Miss campus, and announced his commitment to LSU last Monday. And even though he’s big enough to be a quarterback’s blocker, he is confident he can play the position on the college level.
“It’s not going to be as bad as people think,” Liggins said. “I probably have to lose 10 or 15 pounds, but that’s not a problem. I’m talking to a nutritionist who’s telling me how to eat and keep running.”
Liggins will keep running in his final college semester at Lafayette County High, as in running the 100 and 200 in track as well as throwing the shot and discus.
Liggins as a football player has always been in motion. His senior season he threw for 1,678 yards and 16 touchdowns, which was all well and good.
But he also demonstrated his dual-threat capabilities by rushing for 953 bone-crunching yards and 18 TDs.
“He’s got great feet,” former Lafayette coach Anthony Hart said. “I would say he’s 280 right now, but he still runs a 4.7 40. He was faster earlier in his career, but he was lighter.
“His weight is an issue, but they can get him to whatever weight they want him to be at.”
Hart said Liggins’ biggest attribute is not his size but his dedication to winning. It’s what helped lead Lafayette to back-to-back Class 4A Mississippi state championships and 32 straight victories to close his prep career.
“He’s a leader. A big leader with a small ego,” Hart said. “He’s willing for others to have success. That’s what made us successful. Some nights our running back ran for 200, 300 yards and Jeremy didn’t get that many. But that was never an issue. He’s got a great work ethic.”
While LSU flirted with, courted and was ultimate jilted by one of the nation’s top quarterback prospects in Gunner Kiel (he signed with Notre Dame), Liggins stuck with the Tigers and gave LSU the quarterback signee its class desperately needed.
And not a bad quarterback at that. Liggins is ranked No. 93 on the 24/7 Sports Top 247 and No. 118 on the ESPNU 150.
“Coach Miles and his staff never wavered on me one time,” Liggins said. “They recruited that Kiel dude, but they let me know they weren’t just trying to recruit someone else without me knowing about it. They were true to me the whole time.”
Like LSU fans grumbling about Dutchtown’s Landon Collins leaving to play for Alabama, Liggins caught flak from Ole Miss fans for leaving Oxford. But one of Liggins’ comments about his college choice was telling.
“One of the things he said was that he’s used to winning and going somewhere you can win SEC and national championships now, not four years from now,” Hart said. “Not that he mistrusted anyone (at other schools), but he had a good feeling about coach Miles and coach (Brick) Haley and (quarterbacks coach Steve) Kraghthorpe.
“Jeremy is a good person, coachable, trustworthy. If you need him to run or throw, he’s got the tools to do it.”
Even if his tools aren’t what people think of in a quarterback’s toolbox.