Getting into Lamar Jackson’s Early Days
So, I got thinking about Lamar Jackson the other day. You know, how young he seemed when he first burst onto the scene. It feels like ages ago, but also just yesterday. Decided I’d actually sit down and really look back at his early stuff, see what was what.
First thing I did was pull up some of his college tape from Louisville. Man, you forget how electric he was even back then. Just pure speed and instinct. Watching those highlights, you could see the raw talent. It wasn’t polished, not by a long shot, but the potential was just screaming.
Then I moved on to his rookie year with the Ravens. Remember all the talk back then? A lot of noise about whether he could really be a pocket passer, if his style would last in the pros. I dug into the stats from that first season, just the basic numbers, nothing too fancy. He didn’t light the world on fire passing right away, but you saw flashes.
What I really spent time on was watching actual game footage from late in that rookie season, when he took over as the starter. Here’s what I did:
- Focused on his decision-making. When did he run? When did he try to pass?
- Looked at how defenses reacted to him. They looked confused half the time.
- Tried to spot those early signs of the MVP player he’d become just a year later.
It was interesting comparing that young Lamar to the guy we see now. Back then, it felt like run-first, figure out the pass later. Now, he’s much more balanced, though that running threat is still deadly. It’s a process, right? You see the development clearly when you look back like this.
My main takeaway from digging into this? It’s easy to judge a young player too quickly. People had him pegged as just a runner. But watching that early stuff again, you see the foundation was there. He was learning, adapting, even as a rookie. It wasn’t just raw athleticism; there was a brain working, figuring things out on the fly.
It just reminds you that development takes time. He wasn’t a finished product when he came into the league, nobody is. Seeing that journey from the raw, young talent to the established star was pretty cool. Definitely worth the time spent digging through the old clips.
