Injured Giants 1st round pick could return to LSU

Coach Les Miles will welcome safety Chad Jones to LSU if he doesn’t return to NFL form. Jones left LSU after his junior season and declared for the NFL draft. Jones struck a light pole with his vehicle June 25 and suffered multiple injuries and blood loss. Jones still has more surgery to come.  “We would love to have him back in Baton Rouge, let him continue and go to school and work out for us,” Miles said. “I think maybe that’s part of the plan.” Jones was waived by the Giants, who placed him on the non-football injury list. NFL rules dictate the Giants are not required to pay any of Jones’ salary, but they must pay his $825,000 signing bonus. — Daily Reveille

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August 23, 2010, 7:43 am

Former SEC quarterback might start for Harvard

Andrew Hatch, who was a scholarship quarterback at Louisiana State University and played on a national championship team, proved he was smart enough to go to Harvard University. Now he has to show he is good enough to start for the Crimson football team, which doesn’t compete at the sport’s top level or even play postseason games. Hatch, who was a freshman at Harvard in 2005, left to go on a Mormon mission the following year. He then accepted a scholarship to play for LSU and decided to come back to Harvard after breaking his leg in a game against the University of Georgia. When the Crimson start their summer practice at the school’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus, today, Hatch will be competing for the starting job with Collier Winters, who led the team to a second-place finish in the Ivy League last year. “When he called me to say he’d like to come back, I said, ’Fine, you can come back, but it better be based on you getting your degree from Harvard, because you’ll be starting from scratch with Harvard football,” coach Tim Murphy said in an interview. – Bloomberg

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August 20, 2010, 3:09 am

Les Miles raves about LSU freshmen class

LSU football coach Les Miles has heard and read the criticism about his handling of the scholarship controversy with offensive lineman signee Elliott Porter of Shaw High in New Orleans. “If we didn’t recruit so well, we wouldn’t have had any problems,” Miles mused. “But we’d have problems.” Coaches who did not sign large, talented classes full of players who can get academically eligible last February do not have to worry about the 25-limit on incoming classes. Miles signed 27 players and all 27 made qualified academically, including a few who were living on the edge just a couple of weeks ago. “It’s not like I wanted them not to make it,” Miles said. “But who would’ve thought every one would? I mean, I had six last spring in risk of not making it. As late as that Friday (before the Wednesday, Aug. 4 reporting day), I thought I’d have room for Porter. This has never happened to me.” — Shreveport Times

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August 17, 2010, 4:40 am

LSU’s Les Miles slips in SEC coaches ranking

Here is the 2010 ranking of the SEC’s coaches.

1. NICK SABAN, ALABAMA — Back in the top spot for the first time since his last season at LSU in 2004. He is also No. 1 in the nation. He is the first coach in modern times to win national championships at two schools — LSU in the 2003 season and Alabama last season. He also recruited most of the players who won the 2007 national title at LSU. He has not lost a regular season game since Nov. 24, 2007.

The scary thing is, he’s not leaving, and he has Alabama where he had LSU when he left — with gobs of talent entering, exiting and throughout the program.

2. URBAN MEYER, FLORIDA — Down from the No. 1 position a year ago, but probably the No. 2 college coach in America as well. It’s amazing how much Meyer won the last two years — 26-2 with a 15-1 SEC mark — while unhealthy.

3. HOUSTON NUTT, OLE MISS — Laugh all you want, but Nutt has averaged nine wins a year the past four seasons at second-tier programs Arkansas and Ole Miss. If he was at a program with the resources of an Alabama, LSU or Florida, he would be winning 11 or 12 a year. Nutt has not always fared well when he is highly ranked entering a season like last year.

4. MARK RICHT, GEORGIA — Last season the Bulldogs dropped to 8-5, but he would have to have another subpar season to get on a hot seat. Richt was 22-5 in 2007 and 2008 and has been close to getting into a national championship game or two.

5. BOBBY PETRINO, ARKANSAS — He has not been able to get Arkansas to the top as quickly as he got Louisville there, but he’s coming. Look for a breakout year.

6. LES MILES, LSU — Down one spot. His record is still gaudy — 51-15 (.773) and 27-13 (.675) in the SEC. But the fact is he gradually has turned an elite program — 22-4 (.846) and 13-3 (.812) in the SEC the two years before his arrival — to an average one with a 17-9 (.653) and 8-8 (.500) record the past two seasons. In 2008 and 2009, LSU lost four games by six points or less.

7. STEVE SPURRIER, SOUTH CAROLINA — When Spurrier’s entire career is judged, he will go down as one of the best ever. But lately, he just doesn’t have it.

8. DAN MULLEN, MISSISSIPPI STATE — State came close to going 7-5 in Mullen’s first season after inheriting a 4-8 program. Mullen probably got more out of what he had than most other league coaches last season.

9. GENE CHIZIK, AUBURN — He started fast with a 5-0 record but fizzled to 8-5. His last season at Iowa State was eerily similar. He started out 2-0 and finished 2-10.

10. DEREK DOOLEY, TENNESSEE — Dooley and Chizik must have the same agent. Dooley got a high-profile job, too, after going 4-8 at Louisiana Tech!

11. ROBBIE CALDWELL, VANDERBILT — Caldwell edged Kentucky’s Joker Phillips with the best SEC Media Days performance in history. No one has ever channeled his inner Hee Haw better.

12. JOKER PHILLIPS, KENTUCKY — The best first name for a head coach since Bum Phillips. — Monroe News Star

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August 16, 2010, 7:32 am

LSU coach defends grayshirt rule

LSU coach Les Miles defended himself against recent media criticism of the football program’s oversigned recruiting class Tuesday, saying “it’s not a bad thing” for a player to be asked to grayshirt to comply with NCAA roster and signing class limits. Miles has been lambasted by some media since he asked offensive lineman Elliott Porter, a member of the 2010 signing class, to sit out of school in the fall semester and join the program in the spring. The Archbishop Shaw product was asked to sit out after he had gone through summer school. This practice is commonly called “grayshirting,” where players stay out of school for a semester and start the clock on their careers in the spring semester, allowing them to still have five full seasons to play four season, just a semester late. NCAA rules limit Football Bowl Subdivision teams to 25 scholarship freshmen and 85 scholarship players. Many teams sign more than 25 players to NCAA letters of intent as insurance against players who eventually don’t meet NCAA initial academic eligibility requirements. LSU signed 27 players in February, and all 27 qualified academically, forcing LSU to come up with an alternative plan. — Baton Rouge Advocate

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August 11, 2010, 10:00 am

Alabama-Duke highlights dog SEC games.

Lets take a look at the worst SEC non-conference games this season:

1. Alabama at Duke — This game might actually be competitive for a while, but what in the world is Alabama doing traveling to Duke to play in that high school atmosphere? I just don’t get it.

2. Miami (Ohio) at Florida — Typical opening-day fodder for the Gators, and a big stat game for John Brantley.

3. McNeese State at LSU — This game will be McUgly, for sure.

4. Eastern Michigan at Vanderbilt — This should draw a huge, energetic crowd to Dudley Field. Not.

5. Idaho State at Georgia — Idaho State makes the Louisiana Lafayette game look like a big one on the ‘Dogs’ schedule. – Gainesville Sun

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July 12, 2010, 6:27 am

Big Ten football coach thinks SEC is better conference

Illinois football coach Ron Zook was asked this week if he thought the Southeastern Conference is better than the Big Ten, and the former Florida coach said it is. This from a guy whose teams have gone 12-28 during his five years in the Big Ten and is coming off a 3-9 season. “But I think there’s teams in the Big Ten Conference just as well as there’s teams in the Southeastern Conference that can play against anybody,” he added. “The biggest thing that I’ve noticed is that maybe in the Southeastern Conference there’s a few more big guys that can run. But trust me, there’s some awfully, awfully good players in the Big Ten Conference as well.” The past four national champions have come from the SEC – Alabama (2009), Florida (2008, 2006), and Louisiana State (2007) – so Zook probably deserves some slack. But it’s a good bet his opinion didn’t win him many friends in the Big Ten offices. — Columbus Dispatch

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July 9, 2010, 7:10 am

Former Baylor football star commits suicide

Patrick Peterson, CB, LSU, a junior from Pompano Beach, Fla., is showing up on All-American teams again. The 6-1, 211-pound Peterson is that blue-chip athlete who has been as good as advertised. Peterson led all SEC corners in 2009 with 13 passes defended while coming up with 52 tackles, including 43 solo stops. Peterson also had two interceptions, a number that is deflated because so few teams challenge him and throw his way. Peterson, the USA Today Defensive Player of the Year as a high school senior, is regarded as the SEC’s best cover corner — and might be the best in the country. – Myrtle Beach Sun News

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July 8, 2010, 7:59 am