Brandon LaFell took advantage of the 72-hour window underclassmen were given to withdraw their names from the NFL draft when he announced Sunday he will return for his senior season. LSU coach Les Miles said he was thrilled to have the wide receiver back for another year.”The news of Brandon coming back to school is big for our football team,” Miles said in a news release. “His contributions to our football program have been very significant, and I’m glad we are going to get another year with him.”LaFell has been one of the top receivers in LSU history in his career, amassing 118 catches for 1,725 yards and 18 touchdowns. The Houston native will enter the 2009 season at No. 6 on LSU’s all-time career touchdown receptions list. He also sits just seven receptions and 186 yards shy of the Tigers’ top 10 for career catches and receiving yards.He tied for the Southeastern Conference lead with eight touchdowns in 2009.FRESH FACESTwo days before the news of LaFell’s return, Miles introduced the new faces of LSU’s defensive staff.He welcomed his defensive coordinator, defensive line coach and secondary coach Friday and said he was very excited to work with such well-respected and experienced coaches next season.”I looked for guys who had experience in the greatest conference in the country and who have had success in that conference in their career,” Miles said. “I looked for guys who taught their players to pursue excellence and represent the good ideals and values of LSU and college football. I’m very fortunate to have hired three men who give us exactly what we need to pursue excellence and win championships.”LSU appointed John Chavis as its new defensive coordinator Jan. 5. Chavis was the defensive coordinator at Tennessee for the past 14 years, and he has been a coach in the Southeastern Conference since 1989.The Volunteers ranked No. 2 in the SEC and No. 3 in the nation in total defense last season, allowing 263.5 yards per game.”I’m delighted to be working for coach Miles. He’s a great man,” Chavis said. “We look forward to getting this thing going. The biggest thing is to finish up recruiting and get to know our players and spend some time with them. We’re going to be putting in a new system. It will be very similar, but there will be things that are different.”Chavis said one thing that drew him to LSU was the school’s high potential to win championships.”That’s what I come in here hoping to do,” Chavis said. “Certainly when you think about LSU, the first thing that comes to mind is championships and doing things the right way. It hasn’t been that long since they’ve been in the championship, and they’ve done a great job recruiting. The more I find out about it, the more I get excited about it.”LSU also hired defensive line coach Brick Haley. Haley held the same post for Mississippi State from 2004-2006. He also coached the Chicago Bears’ defensive line the last two years and has been defensive coordinator at Baylor and Troy.”Coach Chavis coached me in college,” Haley said. “It was an opportunity for us to work together again, and I’m very glad to be here. I was very excited about what I saw up front [in the Chick-fil-A Bowl]. When I first saw [Tiger Stadium], I was like ‘Wow.’ I didn’t have that feeling when I walked into Soldier Field.”LSU also hired secondary coach Ron Cooper. The former Eastern Michigan and Louisville head coach and Notre Dame secondary coach has spent the last four years on the defensive and special teams staff at South Carolina.Miles acknowledged that many of the players Cooper has led have advanced to the NFL.”I’m very fortunate to bring in a man with great experience in the secondary,” Miles said. “If you look at the type of young men he’s coached, they’re all playing on Sundays, and they’ve all got great respect for their college coach and their mentor.”Cooper said he is proud to be a part of the LSU tradition.”It is definitely an honor and a pleasure to be here and be part of the LSU family,” Cooper said. “In coaching, you look for the right combination, and you look for the right feel. There aren’t a lot of coaches who are fired up like [Miles] is fired up about a situation, about the things that can happen here at LSU.”—-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]