By David Steinle
Special to LSUsports.net
Many college football teams would fret over losing a receiver the caliber of LSU’s Josh Reed, a consensus first team All-America selection in 2001 who set single-season SEC and LSU records for receptions (94) and receiving yards (1,740), and won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top wide receiver, the Fighting Tigers’ first individual award recipient since Billy Cannon won the 1959 Heisman Trophy.
Even with Reed off to the Buffalo Bills, the Tigers shouldn’t miss a beat, thanks to 2001 freshman sensation Michael Clayton and a pair of seniors who have mentored Reed and Clayton to help LSU’s receivers rank among the nation’s elite, Reggie Robinson and Jerel Myers.
Robinson, who played basketball at Fair Park High in Shreveport with former LSU star and current Memphis Grizzly Stromile Swift, is back on the field after a one-year hiatus. A herniated disc in Robinson’s neck discovered during spring practice in 2001 forced him to take a medical redshirt.
Surgery to repair the disc during last year’s fall camp was successful, and Robinson returned to non-contact drills late last year during the Tigers’ run to the Southeastern Conference championship and the Sugar Bowl.
“I knew I had a chance to come back, but I didn’t know how I was going to recover from the surgery,” Robinson said. “I continued to work, and the doctors said the recovery was going well, and when they told me I would be able to get back to into it, I was excited.”
Robinson made his return to the field at Virginia Tech on September 1, and he has caught a pass in 29 of 31 career games.
Playing his first game in over 20 months, Robinson admitted to shaking off a little rust, but the flow of the game quickly came back.
“It felt good to be back out there, even though I forgot how high I got and where I was supposed to line up and go,” Robinson noted. “But everything came back to me, and even though we lost to Virginia Tech, it will be great to step back on the field.”
Even though Robinson wasn’t in his familiar number 4 jersey catching passes, he was able to lend tremendous vocal and moral support to his teammates from the sideline as LSU won its last six after losing its first two conference games and starting 4-3.
“I really supported the team from beginning to end through all the highs and lows,” Robinson said. “After the loss to Ole Miss, I really saw the team come together and say, ‘We’re a good team with good players, and we shouldn’t be losing games like this’.”
Robinson is the last remaining Tiger to have played with two of the finest offensive players in LSU history-quarterback Herb Tyler, who is third on the career total offense list (6,654 yards) and fourth in passing (5,876), and running back Kevin Faulk, who is LSU’s career leader in rushing yards (4,557), all-purpose yards (6,833, also an SEC record) and points scored (318).
“Just to be on the field with Herb and Kevin was a great feeling,” Robinson said. “I’ll be proud to say 50 years from now that I played with two of the greats in LSU history.”
In the only season they played together, Tyler immediately became comfortable with true freshman Robinson, connecting 21 times for 308 yards, good enough to earn Robinson a spot on the SEC All-Freshman team.
Despite missing three games in 1999 with injuries, Robinson still managed to increase his output, catching 25 passes for 362 yards, including five grabs for a career-high 154 yards in the Tigers’ season-ending win over Arkansas.
Robinson continued his upward trend in 2000, hauling in 31 passes for 391 yards in 2000, scoring the first points of the Nick Saban era with an 80-yard touchdown reception in the season opener versus Western Carolina. He recorded a career high of 10 receptions in LSU’s come-from-behind overtime victory over Mississippi State.
Ironically, when Robinson missed the first two games of 1999 against San Jose State and North Texas, it was Myers who got the opportunity to start right away as a true freshman, and the Houston native hauled in eight passes in a pair of LSU victories.
Myers then made his breakthrough on national television at Tiger Stadium against Auburn, hauling in 13 passes for 153 yards despite losing to the Tigers of the Plains.
The Auburn game turned out to be no fluke, as Myers went on to have triple-digit receiving games against Ole Miss (124) and hometown school Houston (114) later that year. He finished his first year with team highs in receptions (64) and yards (854), earning first team Freshman All-America laurels from The Sporting News, as well as a place on the SEC All-Freshman team.
“I always have high goals for myself,” Myers. “I always expect myself to reach high goals like I did as a freshman.”
Myers’ numbers haven’t matched the lofty standards of his freshman year, but 68 catches for more than 800 yards over the past two seasons are one of the many reasons why the Tigers have won 18 games, two bowl games and an SEC championship under Saban.
“It’s been a little up and down,” Myers said. “But I’m looking much more forward to wins rather than big numbers.”
Late in 1999, Reed was a seldom-used redshirt freshman running back who made the transition to wide receiver prior to the Tigers’ game with Alabama.
Thanks in large part to the guidance provided by Myers and Robinson, Rayne native Reed blossomed into one of finest receivers in the 109-year history of LSU football.
“Josh didn’t know too much about how to read and run routes when he first made the position switch,” Robinson said. “I really helped him by telling him where to cut and what to do after he got the ball in his hands.”
Reed’s excellence helped Myers and his teammates raise the bar for their own expectations.
“Josh helped us raise our ability level very well,” Myers said. “We knew we had to pick up our level of play to keep up with him.”
Myers gives credit for developing the Tigers’ receiving depth to offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher and receivers coach Stan Hixson, two of the most respected offensive minds in college football.
“We’ve learned a lot from coach Fisher, because he has a very good offensive scheme,” Myers said. “Coach Hixson is a great coach whom I’ve learned a lot from, and he does some great things to help us in the games.”
Myers, Robinson, Clayton and fellow returnee Devery Henderson, along with newcomers Shyrone Carey and Bennie Brazzell, will keep the Tigers’ receivers an area of strength.
“We have a lot of speed and guys with good hands,” Myers said. “The experience we have will really help our younger guys.”
Both Myers and Robinson have known the valley of a losing season and the peak of a league championship, and both would like nothing more than to end their careers at LSU on top.
“Winning the national championship would be nice,” Robinson said. “But at least we would like to continue the dominance that we had last year and prove that we can compete with anybody.”