It’s safe to say LSU coach Les Miles is pleased with his offense’s production in the first two games of the season.
Miles had a glow about him at his weekly press conference as he fielded question after question about his revamped offense and its record-setting quarterback.
“[LSU senior quarterback] Zach Mettenberger had a nice night, continues to improve, playing with a lot of confidence but working at it,” Miles said. “I saw him early Saturday morning studying his iPad. I generally get up early and have breakfast and go into what is our team breakfast area, and he’s in there studying and you can just tell that he’s in it.”
Mettenberger had a career night Saturday, throwing for 282 yards and five touchdowns against the UAB secondary, but Miles did say he’s hoping to get freshman quarterback Anthony Jennings a few more snaps in the coming weeks.
But it wasn’t the passers who took precedence in Monday’s conference. Junior wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. dominated the media inquiries after posting a monster game against UAB on Saturday, highlighted by his 109-yard field goal return for a touchdown late in the game.
“That field goal return certainly was something that I’d never seen live,” Miles said. “I tried to recall whether I saw a field goal return for a touchdown even in the NFL on highlights and I don’t know that I can recall a field goal return for a touchdown.”
Miles continued to applaud Beckham for his NCAA-leading 302 all-purpose yards as well as for being named Southeastern Conference Special teams Player of the Week.
It only took Beckham five catches to record 136 yards and three touchdowns against the Blazers last weekend. Miles described his play as “nifty” and “explosive” and said Beckham has the intangibles it takes to be a great receiver.
On the other side of the ball, Miles continued his campaign to promote his young group of defenders, giving particular praise to the secondary. Miles said he plans to continue giving guys like freshman cornerbacks Tre’Davious White and Rashard Robinson opportunities in the rotation.
Miles said he thinks all the corners realize they need to continue to improve if they expect to play.
“I just want to get some young corners ready to roll because I realize that in the games that we’ll need to play, you want to play fresh guys,” Miles said. “And should those guys come on, I think it’s good to have competition at those corner spots.”