Brandon LaFell is one of the taller premier receivers coming out this year. If LaFell has a good workout at the combine, he may be the second wide receiver off the board. He red-shirted his first year as a Freshman, but once he made his way on to the field, he made his prescence known. In 2007, LaFell was a one of the number one targets for LSU. The only thing that may hold him back is that from time to time, he doesn't come up with the more difficult catches. If it's off the mark even the slightest bit, he has trouble coming up with some of them. If he wants to reach that "elite" status, he's going to have to start catching tennis balls and wild passes to get his concentration up. In 2008, LaFell continued his success but in 2009, his statistics tapered off a bit. However, the LSU Wide Receiver did make his mark in the 2009 Capital One Bowl with 5 Catches for 87 Yards and a Touchdown.
While LaFell has left his imprint on the world of college football, he does have alot of work to do at the next level. He was fairly limited in receptions and getting more reps by playing in a system who prides itself on mixing it up between alot of different players.
There are other receviers that LaFell will be competing with for draft slot such as Arrelious Benn, Mardy Gilyard, and a couple others. LaFell will need to tighten up his route running and fine tune his ability to catch the ball in adverse situations.
Below, we'll look at some of the highlights from LaFell, some of his stats and other accomplishments throughout his career in college...
In this video, LaFell get's the better of top cornerback prospect Joe Haden. He has the natural ability to get open and good awareness as to who is where on the field for the defense. He is great at finding the holes in zone coverage but will need to fine tune his route running on press and man coverages.
AWARDS AND HONORS:
- 2006 Freshman All-SEC
- 2008 First Team All-SEC
CAREER STATS:
| Stats Overview | Receiving | Rushing | Fumbles | |||||||||
| YEAR | REC | YDS | AVG | LNG | TD | ATT | YDS | AVG | LNG | TD | FUM | LST |
| 2006 | 5 | 140 | 28.0 | 58 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | 50 | 656 | 13.1 | 56 | 4 | 1 | 18 | 18.0 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2008 | 63 | 929 | 14.7 | 43 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 3.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 | 57 | 792 | 13.9 | 58 | 11 | 5 | 13 | 2.6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 Regular Season Game Log | Receiving | Rushing | Fumbles | |||||||||||
| DATE | OPP | RESULT | REC | YDS | AVG | LNG | TD | ATT | YDS | AVG | LNG | TD | FUM | LST |
| 9/5 | @Washington | W 31-23 | 4 | 34 | 8.5 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9/12 | Vanderbilt | W 23-9 | 7 | 38 | 5.4 | 20 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 4.3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9/19 | Louisiana-Lafayette | W 31-3 | 3 | 57 | 19.0 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9/26 | @Mississippi State | W 30-26 | 6 | 101 | 16.8 | 58 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10/3 | @Georgia | W 20-13 | 3 | 52 | 17.3 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10/10 | Florida | L 13-3 | 4 | 44 | 11.0 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10/24 | Auburn | W 31-10 | 6 | 67 | 11.2 | 19 | 1 | 1 | -7 | -7.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10/31 | Tulane | W 42-0 | 4 | 85 | 21.3 | 39 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11/7 | @Alabama | L 24-15 | 4 | 28 | 7.0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11/14 | Louisiana Tech | W 24-16 | 2 | 54 | 27.0 | 38 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11/21 | @Mississippi | L 25-23 | 5 | 75 | 15.0 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11/28 | Arkansas | W 33-30 | 4 | 70 | 17.5 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 Postseason Game Log | Receiving | Rushing | Fumbles | |||||||||||
| BOWL | OPP | RESULT | REC | YDS | AVG | LNG | TD | ATT | YDS | AVG | LNG | TD | FUM | LST |
| CAPITAL ONE BOWL | Penn State | L 19-17 | 5 | 87 | 17.4 | 36 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
SUMMARY AND PROJECTIONS:
Like I mentioned above, LaFell will have a bit of work to do at the next level. He does have the athletic tangibles to make it as a very very good wide receiver in the NFL. I believe that he will be a late 1st round to early 2nd round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, April 22nd.
Possibilities -- 1st round; Bengals, Jets, Ravens, Cowboys, Chargers. 2nd round; Rams, Lions, Bucs, Chiefs, Browns.