To see a video about players discussing Hurricane Gustav, click here.
Several upperclassmen on the LSU football team witnessed first-hand the destruction caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 while also balancing the day-to-day hardships of being a college athlete.But LSU coach Les Miles said Hurricane Gustav will present a different challenge for the Tigers.”Rita and Katrina affected our state, but they affected us peripherally,” he said. “Our off-the-field issues were dealing with other concerns and others’ concerns. This storm is dealing with more personal issues — electricity, your families’ electricity and those things that surround this school. It’s a little more wear on our team than the other situations.” When it was announced LSU’s game against Troy last weekend was postponed, Miles gave his players the weekend off to be with their families to help recover from the storm.Senior defensive lineman Kirston Pittman said while the effects on Baton Rouge are different this time, he expects the storms will have similar impact on the remainder of the season.”It’s about the same,” he said. “It’s tough dealing with having no lights and no air and a scarcity of food, but [we] still have to practice and [we] still have to go out and get better.”Junior tight end Richard Dickson was a senior in high school when Katrina hit near his hometown of Ocean Springs, Miss. Dickson said going through tough times early in the season will help the Tigers develop chemistry as the team approaches Southeastern Conference play next week. “We’ve spent a lot of time together over the past week,” he said. “No one has been on campus except for us, so it brings unity and will help bring our team together.”Junior Brandon LaFell, a Houston native, went home during his weekend off and visited family and friends.LaFell said he spent most of his free time in Baton Rouge on the practice fields, trying to improve the chemistry he has with the Tigers’ young quarterbacks.”I sense it getting better and better,” he said. “We sensed it last week when we were in here with no lights on, still catching balls from them.” While Pittman, Dickson and LaFell grew up on the Gulf Coast, Gustav was sophomore quarterback Andrew Hatch’s first experience with a major hurricane. Hatch rode out the storm in Baton Rouge with his parents, who visited to watch the Tigers’ game against Appalachian State.Hatch experienced earthquakes growing up out West but said a hurricane is more frightening.”Hurricanes have much more widespread damage,” he said. “There wasn’t too much damage, but a couple chimneys got knocked down at the apartment complex I live in, which is kind of crazy.” Sophomore linebacker Kelvin Sheppard, an Atlanta native, said anything more than normal heavy rainfall was foreign to him.”I’m from Atlanta. The most we’d ever get is a thunderstorm,” Sheppard said. “I was like ‘Hurricane? What are we supposed to do?'”Miles also was unable to escape Gustav’s wrath, having to live in the Football Operations Building after the storm knocked out electricity in his home.”There were four Mileses on my couch at my office at one time, and they were all snoring,” Miles said. “That was quite a bit unusual.”—-Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]