re: Will Bear Jones be back at LSU next year?

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It only takes one team falling in long with him

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No doubt

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with that being said I think it's a 50/50 at this point.

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I'd agree, but I don't know Jared Jones or what he's all about, what his priorities are. What motivates him, etc...He had to put in a lot of work to make the jump he did from last year to this year. And I think it's a bit underrated because Jay could stick him just about anywhere in the lineup last year and he had protection in front of and behind him. This year, he had Tommy in front of him getting on base (and behind him when he had that few game experiment hitting leadoff), and Trav behind him for a bit at the beginning of the year. But what makes his jump so impressive is that he went from one of the deepest/longest lineups in maybe college baseball history to a very short one this year. He gets everybody's focus almost AB.

That said, the jump from a nice true freshman season that exposed some weaknesses that he could focus on working on to turn himself into a really good SEC hitter was relatively "easy." For a guy with his talent. The cliche of you make the biggest jump from your 1st year to 2nd year seemed to manifest with him this season. It's much harder to make that 2nd big jump from year 2 to year 3. Not impossible, but not guaranteed. A lot will depend on health and whoever is surrounding him in the lineup.

But he could bust his arse and make strides, just not the exponential ones he made from year 1 to year 2. Or he could turn into Charlie Condon. But I think to do that, he'd have to dedicate so much of his time and energy to it, that it may not leave him much time for a social life, a girlfriend, alll the other perks that come along with being the baseball superstar BMOC as somebody mentioned earlier.

But if he's willing to do that and LSU can put a decent NIL package together for him, that might be a reason to come back. So few draft picks wind up making the bigs, but these draft eligible sophomores are in a unique position where they can make an NIL deal to get them back, and then get a signing bonus the next year. So that could be 2 nice packages, especially added together, that could set him up even better if never makes it to the show.

I think a lot will just depend on what his priorities are. He's gonna have to ride busses in A ball one way or another, whether it's next year or the next. Maybe he's ready to get on with it. Or maybe he just loves LSU and wants to come back. I wonder how much being a big contributor on a NC team is gonna affect him and Herring. There's nothing--team-wise--that will eclipse last year. We'll see.