LSU Team Report

Game week has come at LSU with no announcement from coach Les Miles as to who will start at quarterback when the Tigers open their 2008 card against Appalachian State.

Sophomore Andrew Hatch would seem to have gained an edge over Jarrett Lee, a redshirt freshman who missed some practices with a back problem, and true freshman Jordan Jefferson, but then Hatch, a transfer from Harvard, also left the team’s final scrimmage early for undisclosed reasons.

Miles said all three are ready to go, however, and still considers it a three-man race.

“I would not be surprised if all three played at certain times,” Miles said as the Tigers began their final week of workouts before the opener. “The great thing about a quarterback who is new is if you have veterans all around him, if you have receivers who know where they are supposed to be, you have an offensive line that can give him some protection and guidance, and veteran backs that know how to carry the football.”

Whoever gets the nod behind center will have plenty of help in front of him. The Tigers return four starters to their interior line, including Rimington Award candidate Brett Helms at center and All-SEC contender Herman Johnson at guard, along with all-star candidates at tight end (Richard Dickson) and wide receiver (Demetrius Byrd).

Their presence gives Miles the luxury of not demanding too much from his new quarterback right out of the box.

“We’re going to ask him to do the things that we need out of the quarterback spot,” Miles said, “but nothing that he is not capable of doing.”

No such quarterback quandary confronts Appalachian State coach Jerry Moore. He’ll start an accomplished veteran in Armanti Edwards, who engineered the upset of Michigan a year ago. Despite an injury that sidelined him for more than four games, Edwards led the Mountaineers to the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) title.

LSU’s game against Appalachian State will be the first of three consecutive nonconference home affairs before the Tigers open SEC play at Auburn on Sept. 20.

Notes, Quotes

Scouting The Offense: LSU was the second-highest scoring team in the SEC last season, averaging just under 39 points a game. The loss of key personnel at quarterback and running back likely will result in a drop in that production early on, but the Tigers do return four of five starters on the offensive line and they have a solid receiving corps returning. That experience should ease the transition of quarterback.

Scouting The Defense: As good as the Tigers were offensively in 2007, they were equally impressive on the other side of the ball. They led the SEC in total defense and were the second stingiest team in giving up points, holding opponents to under 20 a game. The front four has the potential to be dominant, but there are some questions in the secondary, where there are three new starters.

Quote To Note: “I have great confidence in all three of them. I can’t tell you today who will take the field first, but I will be very comfortable with whoever that is. We’ll kind of see how it plays out from here.”—Coach Les Miles, noting that as game week came he still had not decided who would start at quarterback among Andrew Hatch, Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson.

Strategy And Personnel

THIS WEEK’S GAME: Appalachian State at LSU, Aug. 30—This game took on new meaning because of what happened a year ago in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the Mountaineers pulled off one of college football’s greatest upsets ever with their victory over Michigan. This will be the first time that the defending champion from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A) has met the defending champ from the Football Championship Subdivision (former I-AA) in the season opener the following year. The two teams met in 2005 with LSU winning 24-0, but the score was only 14-0 going into the fourth quarter.

Players To Watch:

WR Demetrius Byrd—Byrd is a potential game-breaker any time he touches the football. He is the team’s leading returning receiver after making 35 catches in 2007, which ranked third. Nine of the receptions were for more than 20 yards. He led the Tigers with seven touchdown catches, including one with one second remaining to beat Auburn.

DE Kirston Pittman—Pittman was LSU’s leading sack man in 2007 after being credited with eight sacks among his 13.5 tackles for loss. He was granted a sixth year of eligibility after foot and Achilles’ heel injuries sidelined him for the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Since he played as a true freshman in 2003 and was a starter last year, he has been part of two national championship teams at LSU.

DT Rick Jean-Francois—Jean-Francois played in only two games in 2007 because of academic problems, but he had a significant impact in both. He was credited with three tackles in the SEC title game win over Tennessee, then earned Defensive MVP of the national championship victory over Ohio State with six tackles and a blocked field goal.

DT Charles Alexander—Alexander will make for a big addition to the Tigers’ defense if he remains healthy. He played in only three games in 2007 before being sidelined by a knee injury. A hamstring problem kept him out of several practices in preseason camp, but coaches remain “optimistic he’ll be ready to play,” Les Miles said.

Roster Report:

• C Brett Helms missed a late scrimmage to nurse an undisclosed injury, but he looks to be 100 percent by game time. Alexander also sat out the scrimmage, and his status likely will be determined during practices leading up to the game. Both are listed at the top of the depth chart.

• In addition to the listing of three quarterbacks, the depth chart also lists three possibilities as the starter at running back: juniors Charles Scott and Keiland Williams and sophomore Richard Murphy. Williams was the second-leading rusher on the team last year with 428 yards. Scott ran for 324 and Murphy 230.