Derick Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
LSU is expected to hire former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron as the new offensive coordinator for the Tigers, and his primary focus should be directed at developing quarterback Zach Mettenberger.
One of the reasons why Cameron was relieved of his duties in Baltimore after a week 14 loss was that his game plan tended to neglect his star running back, Ray Rice, and the running game as a whole and fell in love with wanting to pass the football.
That absolutely can’t happen at LSU where the Tigers have the talented duo of Jeremy Hill and Kelly Hilliard splitting reps in the backfield. Mettenberger was supposed to finally fix the quarterback dilemma at Baton Rouge, but last year threw only 12 touchdowns and had seven interceptions. Of the 12 touchdowns he threw last season, only five were in conference play.
LSU has been masking the quarterback deficiencies in recent years with stellar defense and that team continues to win and be ranked inside the top five-ten teams in the nation. Cameron can truly make this a championship contender if he can develop Mettenberger like he did with Super Bowl MVP, Joe Flacco.
The best thing he can do for Mettenberger is to hand it off to his stable of running backs and not let him air it out and risk turning the ball over. If he can mold Mettenberger into an efficient game-manager, that combined with their defense should be a well-balanced team.
If that’s enough to be the SEC champions remains to be seen, but more production out of Mettenberger is the place to start and Cameron is the man for that difficult job.
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Patrick is the host of “The Wake-up Call,” on Sportstownchicago.com airing Wednesday mornings from 8-10. View his show’s website here.
