re: The Defense and Optimism

no, not necessarily. Manning has the same problem a lot of elite talents do - he hasn't had an extremely strong work ethic because he's never needed one. He's never really worked on his technique or in the gym and frankly it shows. I'm pretty interested in his development because imo, he's going to be one of those guys that when you turn the lights on, he'll play great.

But him redshirting was more about not going as hard in practice as Golden and Walker and the staff thinking he wouldn't get enough time to warrant wasting his redshirt. I imagine spending a year watching your buddies play and being drilled by LJ is the perfect remedy for that.