ACC Football: Biggest offseason question for every team
By John Buhler
Louisville Cardinals: Can Lamar Jackson grow into an NFL passer?
Division I college football knows that Lamar Jackson is every bit of an elite dual-threat signal caller. What he did in the first two months of his Heisman Trophy-winning season was borderline unbelievable. It was the perfect combination of Virginia Tech Michael Vick and social media highlights.
Jackson will be a true junior in 2017 and could go pro if he feels so inclined next spring. He will carry Louisville like he did last year, but is it advantageous for Jackson to leave school a year early? Jackson is slight of built and could use an extra year to bulk up his frame in the Louisville weight room.
That being said, he’s still not yet a blue-chip NFL quarterback talent. Jackson has to become a more accurate passer in 2017. He has to be able to complete at least 60 percent of his passes in Bobby Petrino’s offense before even thinking about leaving school early.
Jackson has the foot speed, the arm talent and the on-field dynamism to succeed at least briefly in the NFL. However, needs to use this year to work on his mechanics and refine his passing game. Fortunately for him, Jackson is a fast learner. Keep in mind that he didn’t use a football playbook until arriving on the Louisville campus as a true freshman. That didn’t stop him from winning the starting job in 2015.
If Jackson can show NFL scouts that he truly is a student of the game, he could leave college a year early to play professionally. However, he may be best served at getting two more years of tutelage under Petrino before giving the NFL a shot. At worst, he’ll just be a Louisville and ACC football legend, so that’s cool.