The reason I put LaVonte #1 is because when I pick mvp's and such, I have this thing where I try to imagine where the team would be without that person. Obviously, the worse off they would be means the more valueable they are. We can look back on that 2011 season and easily make a pretty grim assumption where the team would be without LaVonte David.
Same reason I made him my MVP. -
Here are 2 "IFs and BUTs" thoughts:
1. As someone noted before: What if L David had been in the program 4 years? I think we'd be thinking of him as the all time greatest D guy at NU instead of Suh or at least in the same conversation.
2. What if L David had
not been here? What would we be thinking about Bo P (not Ruud) now - easily could have had back to back years of almost worse ever kind of D performances.
I think he saves Bo's career with that stripped ball against OSU. (OK I may have overstated that - but it was VERY BIG) If we lose big to OSU (which we were on the way towards), I think it sets us back for the rest of the season. There would not have been the biggest comeback ever & we may not have been the come backs kids this past year - the OSU comeback gave us the "We can do this" attitude for this past year IMHO. All very speculative I know - but his impact on 2011 cannot be underestimated.