LSU Tigers

Schedule: The Tigers open spring practice Thursday and will conclude the spring April 20 with their annual National L Club spring game at 3 p.m. ET in Tiger Stadium.

What’s new: Cam Cameron steps in as LSU’s offensive coordinator after spending part of last season in that role with the Baltimore Ravens. Cameron replaces Greg Studrawa as LSU’s play-caller on offense and will also coach the quarterbacks. Studrawa remains on staff and will coach the offensive line. Steve Kragthorpe will move into an administrative role after coaching the LSU quarterbacks the previous two seasons.

On the mend: Reserve quarterback Rob Bolden (knee) and defensive end Justin Maclin will both miss the spring while recovering from injuries.

On the move: Junior La’el Collins will get first shot at left tackle this spring after starting all last season at left guard. Senior Josh Williford will shift from right guard to left guard. Junior Terrence Magee is moving back to running back after playing receiver last season and catching just one pass.

Question marks: The Tigers are replacing five of their top seven defensive linemen. Junior tackles Anthony Johnson and Ego Ferguson and junior end Jermauria Rasco need to take that next step and become every-down forces up front. Head coach Les Miles said sophomore tackle Mickey Johnson has lost weight and had a promising offseason. Playing with more consistency at receiver will also be important. The Tigers had too many dropped passes last season and didn't make a lot happen down the field. Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry will be counted on to make big moves as juniors. LSU also has to find a new place-kicker and punter. Sophomore Jamie Keehn heads into the spring as the punter, while junior James Hairston will have to hold off redshirt freshman walk-on Colby Delahoussaye for the starting place-kicking job.

New faces: Junior-college newcomer Logan Stokes will battle for a starting job at tight end, while junior-college newcomer Fehoko Fanaika could factor in at offensive guard. At receiver, redshirt freshman Travin Dural will be one to watch after injuring his knee last season along with a pair of early enrollees -- Avery Peterson (Patrick Peterson’s younger brother) and John Diarse. Two more true freshmen, Anthony Jennings and Hayden Rettig, will be among a handful of players vying for the backup quarterback job. The Tigers have a total of six true freshmen on campus who will be going through spring practice as early enrollees. Redshirt freshman Dwayne Thomas is a prime candidate to be the Tigers’ third cornerback on passing downs.

Breaking out: In reality, senior linebacker Lamin Barrow has already broken out. He had 104 total tackles last season, but was overshadowed by Kevin Minter. With Minter leaving early for the NFL draft, Barrow will move this spring from weakside linebacker to Minter’s middle-linebacker spot. The 6-foot-2, 232-pound Barrow has everything it takes to become an All-SEC performer. If he sticks in the middle, it just makes the Tigers that much deeper at linebacker. Talented sophomores Kwon Alexander, Deion Jones and Lamar Louis can all play on the outside along with senior Tahj Jones, who returns after missing all but one game last season for academic reasons.

Don’t forget about: Senior running back Alfred Blue returns to give the Tigers one of the deepest backfields in the league. He injured his knee in the third game last season and was No. 2 in the SEC in rushing at the time. The 6-2, 220-pound Blue has excellent speed and also catches the ball well out of the backfield. He’ll team with sophomore Jeremy Hill to give LSU a dynamite one-two punch. The 6-2, 235-pound Hill had four 100-yard games as a true freshman and led the Tigers in rushing. Following a splendid freshman season, Kenny Hilliard was the forgotten man last season. He’ll be looking to regain his form this spring, while Magee will add some speed to the Tigers’ backfield.

All eyes on: Now that senior quarterback Zach Mettenberger has a season as a starter in the SEC under his belt, can he capitalize on the improvement he showed toward the end of last season? In particular, Miles wants to see Mettenberger get better at throwing the deep ball and understand all of the throws better. Mettenberger struggled early last season, but he didn’t get a lot of help from his receivers. The best news for Mettenberger was the hiring of a veteran offensive coordinator like Cameron, who’s tutored a ton of quality quarterbacks. There’s no question that LSU has to be more consistent on offense if it’s going to return to the SEC championship picture. How much Mettenberger improves from his junior to senior season will go a long way toward determining whether the Tigers will be a part of that equation.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU coach Les Miles took the podium for his pre-spring practice news conference Wednesday with a red left eye he said was the result of a case of pink eye.

It looked, however, like it might have been something else, like a symbolic black eye that came from a jab thrown by Clemson in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, or from a hook fired by a couple of surprisingly early departures from his team to the NFL, part of a whopping 13 NFL departures after a 10-3 season.

At any rate, Miles looked ready to put the pink eye, and any symbolic black eye, behind him as LSU begins drills on Thursday.

Here is what we learned from Miles on Wednesday:

1. La'el Collins will get first shot at left tackle: Collins was one of the highest-rated offensive tackles in the country coming out of high school in 2011, but he was the Tigers' starting left guard as a sophomore in 2012.

Miles confirmed that Collins, now a junior, will get his chance to slide over to tackle, but added that redshirt freshman Jerald Hawkins will get a look at the position as well. If Hawkins proves to be the better tackle candidate, Collins would move back inside.

Miles said if Collins indeed wins the left tackle spot, senior Josh Williford would be the likely choice to start at left guard. Junior college transfer Fehoko Fanaika came to LSU at 370 pounds, Miles said, and is more likely to play on the right side, where Trai Turner returns as the starting guard, Miles said.

2. Lamin Barrow gets first shot at MLB: Miles also indicated that Barrow would get the first shot at the vacant starting middle linebacker role, a spot vacated by Kevin Minter's early NFL departure.

Miles said Barrow " can do the job outside," where he excelled with 107 tackles at weak-side linebacker last season. If one of LSU's six Class of 2012 linebacker recruits or another veteran -- Miles mentioned junior D.J. Welter -- steps up at middle linebacker, Barrow can easily move back to his weak side spot.

3. Bolden, Maclin out: Miles said quarterback Rob Bolden, who made news when he transferred from Penn State to LSU last summer following the NCAA fallout from the Jerry Sandusky scandal, will not participate in spring practice after undergoing knee surgery in the off-season.

(Read full post)

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Maybe the lesson learned this week for LSU is this: Don't schedule North Texas.

LSU will play the Eagles for the fifth time in school history Saturday if Baton Rouge emerges OK from the effects of Hurricane Isaac, which is blowing through Baton Rouge with prolonged tropical storm force Wednesday.

This is all too familiar for LSU and North Texas.

In 2005, LSU's season opener against North Texas was postponed because of Hurricane Katrina and was instead played Oct. 29 (LSU won, 56-3). In 2008, Hurricane Gustav forced LSU to push up the start of its season opener against Appalachian State to a morning start, then postpone its second game against Troy. LSU's first game to go on as originally scheduled was against North Texas in the season's third week (LSU won, 41-3).

"I don't think North Texas has anything to do with it," said LSU coach Les Miles, who was the Tigers' coach in the previous two North Texas games. "But it is an unusual coincidence."

(Read full post)

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Barkevious Mingo's smile was almost one of embarrassment.

Told Monday that LSU coach Les Miles had called him, without hesitation, the most improved player on the Tigers' team during August camp, Mingo said, "I don't know why."

It's a scary thought, actually. Many had already predicted the junior defensive end to be one of the top picks in the 2013 NFL draft. He was in the conversation of the best pass rushers in college football.

But Miles said Mingo has gotten even better in August.

"Keke (Mingo's nickname) improved routinely through last fall," Miles said. "Those guys that have that kind of experience, when they come back to the fall, they've done it once now and now they recognize it more quickly. Suddenly, they have greater recognition of the play and greater speed to the ball. Of course, Kiki's got great speed and he's gotten faster and stronger."

As a sophomore, he was second on the team behind Sam Montgomery with eight quarterbacks sacks and had a team-high 15 tackles for loss. He did that mostly as a backup to Kendrick Adams. If there is still doubt about Mingo, it's on whether he can be an every-down end, considering his smallish weight (235 pounds) and the fact that he hasn't been tested every down in the past.

(Read full post)

BATON ROUGE, La. -- If there weren't enough expectations built up for new LSU quarterback Zack Mettenberger and the Tigers' new-look passing game, there probably will be after LSU's final scrimmage Tuesday.

Mettenberger, getting extended action in the last full scrimmage before the start of the regular season, completed 26 of 36 passes for 336 yards, "a number of touchdowns," and one interception according to LSU coach Les Miles, in a closed and long scrimmage at Tiger Stadium.

As is the case with all LSU scrimmages, the workout was closed from both the public and the media. Statistics were provided by Miles.

Playing against second-team defenders, Mettenberger threw for almost as many yards as he did in the first two scrimmages combined and also played more as the LSU coaches looked to fine tune things in the last "camp" practice before their attention gets turned to the Aug. 1 opener against North Texas.

(Read full post)

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The natural reaction to Rob Bolden's transfer from Penn State is that of someone abandoning a sinking ship. With the sanctions handed down in State College, Pa., last month, it's understandable that any Nittany Lion would want to get out of town.

But that's not the case with Bolden, who completed his transfer to LSU just in time for the start of the Tigers' fall camp. Although the timing coincided with the fallout from Penn State's Jerry Sandusky scandal, a change of scenery is something the junior has been seeking for quite some time now.

"I tried to leave after my freshman year, and [former Penn State coach Joe Paterno] declined the release for whatever reason, and I just continued to play after that," Bolden said. "I was planning on transferring regardless of whatever all happened."

It's one thing that Bolden was looking for something different. How he wound up in the remote territory of Baton Rouge, La., and SEC country, is another matter entirely. For offensive coordinator Greg Studrawa, that allure was the appeal of the LSU juggernaut that Les Miles has built.

"I think he was looking for a change before that scandal ever broke -- I don't think he was comfortable in that system," Studrawa said. "He wanted to go somewhere where he thought he could win a national championship. He wanted to go somewhere where he thought he could compete for a starting position ... It was an opportunity to go somewhere ready to win, in a program that's winning. And I think that was big for him and his dad both."

(Read full post)