PAGE 22 | FOOTBALL 2011 | SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2011 • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2011
Louisiana State University Tigers
Founded 1860 • Head Coach Les Miles • 2010 Record 11-2 • Home Tiger Stadium
Tigers hoping for a big year in 2011 By Chris Kinkaid St. Tammany News The purple and gold open another year Labor Day Weekend with high hopes of another successful season. LSU enters 2011 ranked third in the preseason espn.com poll, while the associated press has them fourth. The University of Oklahoma tops both polls. Southeastern Conference foe Alabama is No. 2 in the two polls. Coach Les Miles, who enters his seventh season with the Tigers, posting a 62-17 mark at LSU. He said it’s not where you’re ranked in the preseason poll. “Rankings don’t really make a difference, you just have to play it out and see where you’re at,” Miles said. Miles led his club to the 2007 National Championship and the 2007 SEC title. Miles is the fastest coach to reach the 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 career win mark with LSU. Last season, LSU went 11-2 and finished with a 41-24 Cotton Bowl victory over Texas A&M in Cowboys’ Stadium. Two former St. Tammany high school players are on LSU’s 105-man roster in 2008 Northshore graduate offensive tackle Chris Faulk (6-foot-6, 316 pounds) and 2009 Slidell graduate wide receiver Armand Williams (6-3, 195). Faulk entered last season as a backup to Joseph Barksdale and earned a starting spot at right tackle the final two regular season games against Ole Miss and Arkansas. He was in during the University of Tennessee game and when Stevan Ridley had his game-winning touchdown run after the Volunteers were flagged for 12-men on the field. LSU captured that game 16-14. This season, Faulk is slated to start at left tackle, the same position he played at Northshore. Faulk said the two starts helped him out tremendously since he got to learn the SEC. “Those two games got me ready for this year,” Faulk said. “Les Miles gave me the opportunity to show what I’ve got. Now I go back to the leftside where I’m most comfortable.” He said the key for success is executing on every down and playing hard through the whistle. At a July LSU Tiger Tour stop, Miles
LSU lineman Chris Faulk (76) protects QB Jordan Jefferson. (Photo courtesy of LSU Sports Information)
talked about Faulk’s attributes. “He’s a big, strong, powerful man. He will be a dominate player as he continues to learn the position,” Miles said. Williams was redshirted last season. He said last year helped him a lot with weight training. He said he learned from the older guys how to become a better receiver and team player. “With that redshirt, it enabled me to gain the knowledge of the game, become a student of the sport and understand what I need to do to become successful,” Williams said. At that Tiger Tour stop, Miles said Williams is early in his career, but is developing very nicely. He also said Williams is very athletic, physically capable, runs fast, jumps and is very explosive. Also locally, 2011 Northlake Christian School graduate Shawn Burst is scheduled to walk on. LSU Football Sports Information
Director Michael Bonnette said at press time 2011 St. Paul’s graduate Mickey Johnson, a defensive tackle, is still going through the NCAA process. “Hopefully he’ll get cleared and can report to camp before school starts (Aug. 22),” Bonnette said. Senior Jordan Jefferson, who started every game last season, is the Tigers’ starting quarterback. Last season, he completed 56.5 percent of his passes for 1,411 yards with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also ran for 450 yards and seven scores. Williams said he trusts Jefferson. “Jordan is one of the best guys and one of the best leaders you’ll ever meet,” Williams said. “I feel like he has also taught me how to become a team player and put me in a position to get myself within a nice set of four years.” LSU has seven preseason All-SEC players, two offensive, in junior wide receiver Rueben Randle and junior lineman Alex Hurst. The defensive
players are DBs junior Morris Claiborne and sophomore Tyrann Mathieu, linemen sophomore Barkevious Mingo and sophomore Sam Montgomery along with senior linebacker Ryan Baker. Randle is second team. Last year, he was second on the team with 33 catches for 544 yards and three touchdowns. Hurst (6-6, 329) is on the third team. Claiborne is the only Tigers’ firstteamer. Last season, he topped LSU with five interceptions and averaged 20.2 yards per return. He was also in on 37 stops, while posting one sack and breaking up six passes. Claiborne is also a godaddy.com second-team pre-season All-American. Baker was second for LSU with 87 tackles, 11 for loss and he posted a team-leading seven sacks, while also SEE LSU, PAGE 24