LSU coach Les Miles refused to comment Monday on the extent of senior wide receiver Early Doucet’s injury at his weekly press luncheon.
Doucet missed the Tigers’ 44-0 win Saturday against Middle Tennessee State because of an unspecified injury.
Despite his absence, the St. Martinville native still leads LSU with 15 receptions and is No. 2 behind sophomore Brandon LaFell in receiving yards with 153.
“When I handle injuries, I do so as honestly as I can, and I’m not going to tell you what’s going on,” Miles said. “The reason I’m not going to tell you what’s going on is because I want to protect my team, and I want to give my team every opportunity at success.”
Miles said mentioning the specifics of injuries could give opposing teams advantages and incentive to target certain players or areas of the football field.
Miles asked reporters to be respectful of his decision not to elaborate on Doucet’s injury.
“If it comes out of my mouth, you use it,” he said. “If it doesn’t [and] if you root for your team – if in fact this is your team – then you would choose not to report anything not described by me.
“Everything is news, but sometimes news doesn’t help your team. I would encourage [the media] to see it my way.”
Miles made no secret of the fact that he knew specifics of Doucet’s injury.
“Don’t get me wrong; I know the answers,” he said. “I could tell you exactly what’s wrong, and I’m honest when I say I am deceptive. I’m supposed to be.”
Miles said he does not expect Doucet to be in uniform when the Tigers face No. 12 South Carolina this Saturday.
“It’s a pretty significant injury,” he said. “I hope to have him back as soon as I can get him. Right now, we’re a ways away.”
The Tigers young receiving corps stepped up in Doucet’s absence against the Blue Raiders.
Sophomore Jared Mitchell caught six passes for 82 yards, and LaFell caught three passes for 47 yards.
Junior Demetrius Byrd added two receptions for 86 yards, including a 62-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.
“We’ve prepared this team two-deep,” Miles said. “The reps that we’ve taken as we’ve gone through summer camp and the first three games, we’ve prepared our second team to get an equal number of reps. When you put Jared Mitchell in there, he’s been around [the offense]. He understands it.”
IN LIKE FLYNN … AGAIN
Senior quarterback Matt Flynn said he expects to be back in the starting lineup Saturday against the Gamecocks.
Flynn missed this past weekend’s game with a high-ankle sprain. Sophomore Ryan Perrilloux completed 20-of-25 passes for 298 yards in Flynn’s absence.
“It was good for [Perrilloux] to get out there and get some reps,” Flynn said. “Obviously I wanted to play, but I didn’t want to push it and take a risk of tweaking it.”
Flynn had a noticeable limp toward the end of LSU’s 48-7 win Sept. 8 against Virginia Tech and was limited in the practice week leading up to the Middle Tennessee game.
“[I’m not] a 100 percent yet, but I hope to be by Saturday,” Flynn said.
“QB” SHUFFLE
Miles said fans should expect Perrilloux and sophomore transfer quarterback Andrew Hatch to see more action in future games.
“We’re going to have a schedule of plays we want with those guys,” he said. “It’s basically adding a skill to our team.”
Perrilloux leads LSU with six touchdown passes this season. Hatch, a walk-on transfer from Harvard, completed 1-of-2 passes for 9 yards against Middle Tennessee.
TIGERS KICKOFF EARLY AGAINST GAMECOCKS, GREENWAVE
Southeastern Conference officials announced Sunday that CBS will televise this weekend’s LSU-South Carolina contest at 2:30 p.m.
Conference USA officials also announced Monday the Tigers’ Sept. 29 contest at Tulane will begin at 11 a.m. and will be televised by ESPN2.
Sophomore running back Keiland Williams said he does not mind the early kickoff times.
“When we play at 7 o’clock, it’s a long wait and a lot of meetings we have to go through trying to get prepared and get ready for the game,” Williams said. “To just wake up, go through a few walk throughs then get out there and play, I think the players are definitely excited about it.”
LSU has not played a game before noon since its 48-17 win against Mississippi State at 11:30 a.m. this past season.
—–Contact Tyler Batiste at [email protected]