Defensive tackle Chad Lavalais has been the rock in the middle of the Tigers defense for all four years of his time at LSU. He’s registered 34 starts at his right tackle position.
Even after a solid sophomore campaign and a junior campaign which saw The Sporting News name him to the 2002 First-Team All-Southeastern Conference, Lavalais still draws praise from coach Nick Saban. Lavalais has been playing hurt much of the year with a sore ankle.
“Chad has been a good playmaker for us,” He gets a lot of push and has great quickness. He’s an outstanding player. We’re pleased with how he’s performed.”
Lavalais remembers last year’s 36-7 rout that LSU put on Florida in The Swamp. He said the key for the line will be to once again get pressure on the quarterback and negatively effect his decision making.
“We got after them [last year],” Lavalais said. “They were banged up [on the offensive line]. That’s what we’re going to do this week.”
Do not think that Saban, a defensive guru in his own right, did not pick up on what Ole Miss did to claim last week’s game in the second half.
“I think they probably pressured and affected the quarterback a little more in the second half,” Saban said of Ole Miss’ defensive effort against Florida last weekend. “They made few big plays early [on offense]. The biggest thing was the pressure.”
Sky replacing Shy?
With running back and punt returner Shyrone Carey questionable for Saturday’s game, sophomore wide receiver Skyler Green is practicing with the punt return team.
Carey, who probably won’t return punts unless he is 100 percent healthy, is trying to come back from a knee injury suffered in the last game against State.
The number one priority for Green: catching the ball.
“I have to focus on getting the ball in my hands and run off the blocks,” Green said. “It’s real hard [to practice punt returns in practice situations]. The scout team tries to give you a good look.”
The fact that Green returned a punt for a touchdown earlier in the season against Arizona gives Saban confidence in knowing Green has experience in those situations and can take it to the house.
“Skyler’s done a nice job,” Saban said. “He had a good week during the bye week and elevated his game even more. He’s a guy that has big play capabilities that we want to utilize.”
Super Troupe’er’
Senior tight end Ben Troupe was probably not as well known as he should have been coming into this season. But when the 6-foot-5, 262-pound athlete broke tackle after tackle on his way to a SportsCenter highlight-like touchdown reception and run last week, he turned some heads.
Included in this crowd is Saban who called Troupe the best tight end in the Southeastern Conference.
“He’s just like a receiver at tight end,” linebacker Lionel Turner said. “That’s going to be the main concern. We’re just going to have to clamp down on 84.”
Safety Jack Hunt, who himself dodged a few tackles and nearly scored on an interception return against Mississippi State two weeks ago, admired the skills Troupe possesses.
“He’s just a freak,” Hunt said. “He’s a special athlete; big, strong and fast. He just makes plays.”
That Tricky Ole’ Ball Coach
Saban talked about coaching against Steve Spurrier while the current Washington Redskins coach [and former Florida coach] was at Duke.
“Way back in the early ’80s when I was coaching at Ohio State, Spurrier was at Duke and we played them the first or second game of the year,” Saban said. “We were concerned about what they were going to do, so we took a lightbulb out of the clock in the endzone and put somebody up there. They watched practice and [Duke] ran the wishbone, and they were a passing team. So coaches were scrambling around all night trying to figure out how we were going to defend the wishbone if they ran it. But they still threw it just like they always did.”
Saban denied that he was the spy, but his comments drew laughter from the press and forced a smile out of the normally intense coach.
White for Everybody
The theme for Saturday’s nationally televised game is “White out Florida”. All fans are encouraged to wear white.