Scott Rabalais: On LSU’s special teams, Angel Reese, and Ben Taylor’s life decision

Notes on a golf scorecard from a cool little par-3 course I found in Greenville, South Carolina. The arena roof there leaked during the Southeastern Conference women’s basketball tournament, and the internet was less reliable than a carrier pigeon, but at least the golf was good:

… More than a few eyebrows were raised last week when LSU women’s basketball forward Angel Reese — an All-American who is the only Division I player ranked in the top five in scoring and rebounding — was left off the 15-player list of finalists for the John Wooden player of the year award.

Reese clearly qualifies as one of the nation’s 15 best players for her on-court achievements. But there is another component to the Wooden Award, which states candidates must be full-time students with a cumulative 2.0 grade-point average at their current school, plus some vague stuff about character.

Academics are a touchy subject. You never get the full story until a player is ruled ineligible. Clearly that’s not the case with Reese, who has played in and started all 30 of LSU’s games this season, including Saturday’s SEC tournament semifinal loss to Tennessee after the Wooden finalists were revealed.

I asked coach Kim Mulkey about the situation after the game, and she stressed several times that Reese was academically eligible and that she would be for the NCAA tournament.

That leaves one conclusion, that Reese didn’t get off to a good start academically after she transferred to LSU from Maryland but still good enough to be eligible throughout the season and the NCAA tournament.

Every indication is that Reese is happy at LSU and excited to be the cornerstone of what could be an even better team with the arrival of the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class and whatever transfers Mulkey and her staff land. Top recruit Mikaylah Williams of state champion Parkway was just named the Morgan Wootten national player of the year.

For the moment, though, it’s unfortunate one of the nation’s three or four best players isn’t getting her due.

… Months ago, as LSU’s football team steered past one blazing special-teams shipwreck after another to the SEC West title, I predicted Brian Kelly wouldn’t stand pat with how the Tigers’ special teams were structured in his first season.

He didn’t. Kelly recently announced special-teams coordinator Brian Polian was being kicked upstairs into a general manager-type role. Kelly promoted defensive analyst John Jancek, a former defensive coordinator at Tennessee, into Polian’s former job. It isn’t exactly the same role, though. In a one-on-one interview Tuesday with our Wilson Alexander, Kelly said he was going for a “decentralized approach” with more assistant coaches helping coach different aspects of special teams.

Jancek himself also will coach outside linebackers. Defensive coordinator Matt House still will coach linebackers and help with kickoffs.

Is this the best way to go? Personally, I’ve always preferred one special-teams coach. For all the ways he earned criticism, I thought Ed Orgeron’s hiring of Greg McMahon in 2018 as special-teams coordinator was one of the best things he did in his tenure.

But that doesn’t mean this approach won’t work just as well. It’s certainly Kelly’s prerogative as head coach to structure it the way he wants, and he said Tuesday he didn’t want a new coach with new schemes. He just wants LSU’s current special teams to work better within a system he likes. Arguably, more coaches mean more one-on-one instruction with the players they work with already — like offensive line coach Brad Davis teaching blocking for extra points and field goals.

The proof in Kelly’s Special Teams 2.0 plan will be in better blocking, better coverage, and better hands that catch the ball and don’t muff kicks and punts. One expects significant improvement in all these areas in 2023. Frankly, there’s hardly any way for the Tigers to go but up.

… Former LSU golfer Ben Taylor, who made the clinching putt when the Tigers captured the 2015 NCAA title, is having the best year of his professional life. He’s got three top-10 finishes this season, is 30th on the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup points list and has already banked nearly $1.5 million in earnings.

But the Englishman made a life decision this week, skipping a berth in his biggest professional tournament to date — The Players, which starts Thursday — to follow through with marriage plans to his fiancée, Taryn Enea. They found their dream wedding venue a year ago in West Palm Beach, Florida, but it had just two available dates: The Saturday of The Players and the Saturday of the Masters (April 8). Ben and his future bride picked the former, not dreaming he would go from playing on the Korn Ferry Tour (the Triple-A baseball of the PGA Tour) to The Players.

Taylor is not qualified for the Masters at this point. He’d have to win one of the next three weeks on the PGA Tour to get in.

At least he’s already got his bride.