I have to say this about Mark Rickt at Georgia. Just like Miles, he seems to give guys second chances...Lord knows Crowell has had a couple, but after you betray the team and coach's trust a couple of times, that is it for you. I think Mathieu would be gone even if the NCAA didn't require it. Miles has always been more about the team than the individual. The best example is who in college football changes players positions as much as Les Miles....mainly defense to offense but you come in a DE, you become a TE. You come in a DT, you become a FB. You come in a WR, you become a TE. You come in a DL like Barksdale, you end up a RT.
85 is not a problem right now and neither is the 25 limit. The Simoan OL didn't make it this season...Avery Johnson didn't make it this season....Liggins didn't make it this season, so LSU should be under both limits by a few. Having said that, next year is going to be interesting. LSU only has 10 scholarship seniors so that means around 10 would have to declare early for the NFL draft after this season for LSU to sign in the mid 20s in February. Of course guys could leave "on their own" like happened with 3 secondary guys in the off season. I hope LSU puts a couple of senior contributors on scholarship for their last year...doesn't hurt them for next year's class and certainly should be under 85 by a few at this point with 4 recent departures from the team and 3 guys who didn't qualify.
pretty sure he couldnt risk the ncaa administering their own with us on double not-so-secret probation. word is he failed 3 consecutive tests.
Part of this is def Les trying to cover his rear and save the team from future issues with the NCAA, so def good looking out on that aspect. Life moves on. This just proves at LSU, it's more important to grow as a man than as a football player. Coach Miles doesn't make the most popular decisions but ones like this can def help in the long run with attracting high character players in the future. It says a lot that he can dismiss the best player on the team and a Heisman finalist with an 'undisclosed reason' and all the fans and media still stand behind Coach Miles. And also, he's probably trying to protect Tyrann from releasing the reason. It says a lot about the man if you can do that after a player lets you down like that. I don't know what I would have done
By my userid, it is pretty obvious what I think of Coach Miles but I think a tad too much credit is being given to him here. The credit would be I guess he didn't cover it up for sure, and I bet you there are several NCAA coaches who would have tried. Having said that, the 3 failed drug tests and you're out is not an LSU rule...it is not an SEC rule...it is an NCAA rule. Thus, Miles is neither protecting his rear nor is some paragon of morality here....he has no choice! Unless he covered this deal up, he HAD to boot Mathieu. Also, the lack of a "disclosed reason" is not his choice. Privacy rules restrict that type of information from being officially put out although obviously it has little trouble making it into the light of the day via other means.
