LSU’s Les Miles is always one of the more entertaining coaches to speak at SEC Football Media Days and he was again on Wednesday.
The Tigers’ 10-year man opened by talking open his family’s vacation, which was in Austin, Texas, and “hated it” because there wasn’t a beach.
He also talked about being pleased that Cox Cable picked up the SEC TV Network, “so I won’t have to change my cable provider,” and the expansion of LSU Stadium to a new capacity of 102,000-plus.
“If you thought we were loud before, we just got louder,” he said proudly.
Miles also said he liked the team LSU will put on the field this season.
“I like us, and I like us in every game,” Miles said.
By their standards, last year’s season was disappointing for the Tigers. They went 10-3 and won double-figure games for the fourth consecutive season. But they also failed to win the SEC West for the second year in a row and won’t be expected to win it this season.
“I would be willing to bet not many picked Auburn a year ago,” Miles said. “So generally what our position seems to be is, ‘Don’t bother us, we don’t care, we just want to work.’ … If we continue to do as we’ve done in the past, we’ll earn our way.”
There certainly is some work to be done. After three transfers, there are just two quarterbacks on the roster — sophomore Anthony Jennings and freshman Brandon Harris — vying to replace Zach Mettenberger as the starter. They’ll also be looking to fill the voids of receivers Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry, tailback Jeremy Hill and a couple of defensive line starters.
But as usual, the Tigers feel like they have the personnel with which to rebuild. They’ve had 18 players taken in the NFL draft the past two years — many of them underclassmen — yet they always seem to be in the championship mix.
“We recruit to fill that void,” Miles said.
One of those recruits is creating quite a buzz. Tailback Leonard Fournette is being compared to Adrian Peterson and is a shoo-in to get playing time despite the return of Kenny Hilliard and Terrance McGee.
“Even I get a ‘wow factor’ watching him catch the ball and seeing him run away from guys who’ve been here for a while in 7-on-7,” McGee said.
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