It seems like yesterday the LSU football team was getting throttled by Alabama, 21-0, in the BCS National Championship on Jan. 9.
Fifty-three days, to be exact, passed before the Tigers laced up their cleats and took the practice field for spring football on Friday.
The spring will give LSU a chance to forget about the past and focus on the future.
Had the Tigers defeated the Crimson Tide, they would have an excellent chance to win back-to-back national championships.
LSU coach Les Miles will return 15 starters from last year’s team, and junior quarterback Zach Mettenberger will take the reins as the Tigers’ starting quarterback.
The 2012 LSU Tigers possess more overall talent than last season’s team. The puzzle that coach Miles will have to solve is whether he can discover a few missing pieces to once again make this team a dominant, cohesive unit.
I’m anxious to see how new leaders, coaches and starting quarterback will influence how well LSU fares in 2012.
Senior safety Brandon Taylor, linebacker Ryan Baker and offensive guard Will Blackwell are gone, meaning a new batch of players will have to step up and fill those leadership roles. Sixth-year senior offensive lineman Josh Dworaczyk and junior safety Eric Reid should assume those roles on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
Reid is one of the best defense in the country and will be a first-round pick when he decides to enter the NFL Draft. 
Two new faces on Miles’ staff are wide receivers coach Adam Henry and defensive backs coach Corey Raymond. 
Both coaches are thrust into nearly opposite situations.
Henry comes to LSU after serving on the Oakland Raiders’ staff for five years. He’ll be stuck with the task of reinvigorating the Tigers’ passing game, which ranked No. 106 in the country last season.
The problem is that LSU lost its best receiver when Rueben Randle decided to forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft. Sophomore Odell Beckham Jr. and senior Russell Shepard are solid returning contributors, but there is certainly a lack of depth at the position.
Look for sophomore Jarvis Landry to have a great spring and vie for the No. 2 starting receiver job along with Shepard.
In Raymond’s case, he returns a wealth of talent in the secondary led by the junior safety Reid and junior corners Tyrann Mathieu, Tharold Simon and Craig Loston. 
If Loston plays like the No. 1 safety in the country coming out of high school in 2009, this secondary will once again be one of the elite groups in the nation.
Being a former defensive back at LSU from 1988-91 and having coached on LSU’s National Championship squad in 2007, there shouldn’t be much of a drop-off between Raymond and former defensive backs coach Ron Cooper.
But the main thing I’m looking forward to seeing at the Spring Game is how well Mettenberger adjusts to life as LSU’s starting quarterback.
Thankfully, Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson have exhausted their eligibility, so the more-talented Mettenberger can give LSU a chance to throw the ball downfield more effectively.
There should be much less drama surrounding the Tigers this season, since fans won’t be able to debate whether or not Miles should play Jefferson or Lee.
Mettenberger gave current Georgia starter Aaron Murray a scare for his starting job when he was a freshman, and he has a chance to be a top quarterback in the Southeastern Conference.
Even with multiple outlets pegging the Tigers as the front-runner to win it all in 2012, Miles will not be satisfied until he is able to hoist that crystal football up for the second time.
Micah Bedard is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from Houma. Follow him on Twitter @DardDog.
 
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Contact Micah Bedard at [email protected]