In only his third season, coach Les Miles and LSU will do something that has not been done in 48 years – the Tigers enter the season as the No. 2 ranked team in the country, according to USA Today and Associated Press polls.
This is the highest preseason ranking since the 1959 team opened its season at No. 1. But being at the top of the list brings high expectations from fans and media.
The highest of these expectations is that the Tigers will not only contend for the Southeastern Conference but win the national championship.
Miles acknowledged these predictions but said he does not pay much attention to them.
“Rankings and talks of championships are always premature before a season,” Miles said.
The road to New Orleans – site of this year’s Bowl Championship Series National Championship game – will not be easy, as LSU faces four teams ranked in the preseason top 25.
No. 3 Florida, No. 9 Virginia Tech, No. 14 Auburn and No. 20 Arkansas all visit Tiger Stadium this season. The Tigers will also have difficult road games within the SEC West when they travel to take on Alabama and Ole Miss.
The Tiger defense returns eight starters from a unit that held opponents to 12.6 points, 97 yards rushing and 145 yards passing per game this past season.
Attention has been directed toward the front four, which includes returning senior tackle Glenn Dorsey, junior tackle Charles Alexander and junior defensive end Tyson Jackson. Together this trio accounted for 129 tackles, 14 sacks and one interception this past season.
Projected starters at linebacker are junior Darry Beckwith, senior Luke Sanders and senior Ali Highsmith. The three combined for 34 starts this past season and were responsible for 163 tackles, nine sacks and one interception.
In the secondary, the senior cornerback tandem of Chevis Jackson and Jonathan Zenon will return. This duo totaled 73 tackles and six interceptions.
The biggest question of the defense are the holes vacated by LaRon Landry and Jessie Daniels at the safety position.
These positions are expected to be filled by senior Craig Steltz and Junior Curtis Taylor.
Steltz said he and Taylor are trying to pick up where Landry and Daniels left off.
“With Jessie and LaRon, who had two great careers here, there are a lot of big shoes [for] me and Curtis have to fill,” Steltz said. “But as we go on with camp, we’re working on things just to kind of feel like the guys that get the opportunity to play.”
On the other side of the ball, the Tigers begin this season with new offensive coordinator Gary Crowton.
Crowton begins his time in Baton Rouge after head coaching stints at Louisiana Tech and BYU and offensive coordinator jobs at Oregon and for the Chicago Bears.
Along with Crowton, there are five fresh faces on offense. The most notable of them is fifth-year senior quarterback Matt Flynn, whose only collegiate start was a blowout win against Miami in the 2005 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
At the tailback position, Miles said the offense will again be utilizing the “hot hand” philosophy and giving the athlete who is most productive the most carries. Senior Jacob Hester is expected to start with sophomores Charles Scott and Keiland Williams and freshman Richard Murphy to receive a number of carries.
The Tigers lost their two leading receivers from the 2006 season in Dwayne Bowe and Craig Davis, but Early Doucet is expected to take over the role as the No. 1 guy.
He returns after making 59 catches for 772 yards and eight touchdowns in 2006.
Sophomore Brandon LaFell is projected to be the No. 2 option in the passing attack.
Crowton said fans can expect to see 5-foot-5-inch sophomore running back/return specialist Trindon Holliday to get five to 10 touches a game.
On special teams, senior Patrick Fisher will be taking over the starting punter job from Chris Jackson. Junior Colt David will resume his position doing kickoffs, field goals and extra points. He was 8-13 on field goals this past season with the longest being 45 yards.
Returning kickoffs and punts will be more of an unknown entering the season. Doucet is currently returning punts, and he and Holliday are returning kickoffs.
—-Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]