The above statement about "number of injuries" was made by some local sports talk radio hosts. I am assuming they are correct. They have way more time to research this type of stuff than i do. There's no reason for any of us to sit here and blindly defend the coaching staff in the face of evidence to the contrary. I'd rather us be rusty in terms of poor tackling against a scrub team than field a team where 8 of my 22 starters are hurt in the offseason.
Some of the injuries occured even during a noncontact type of play. I remember reading that somewhere although we do seem to have some bad luck in regards to blown out ACL's from both contact and non contact practices.
I'm not blindly defending the coach, you are blindly attacking him. Name the players who were hurt because of live tackling. Which injuries occurred because of a player being taken all the way to the ground in a drill or scrimmage. Give me solid evidence and I may support the reasoning.
I wouldn't consider local sports radio hosts to be good evidence. These guys are more interested in stirring up controversy about practicing too hard than researching whether their facts are true or not. The fact is, around 70 - 85% of ACL tears occur from non-contact injuries. I think the apparent increase in injuries is either just a case that we've noticed more injuries because they are occuring in a single high profile position(RB), or it's just a case of bad luck.
I'd rather live with the risk of a hurricane than the risk of a tornado. You can see the hurricane coming, tornados pop out of nowhere. Now, the risk of a state electing a dumb ass when they could have elected someone competent, that's something Lousianians can't avoid.
I'd rather have tornados than another blanco. :hihi: But, like you, I can't bring myself to leave Louisiana again. No matter what.
We should at least recruit throughout the SEC and Texas. The SEC is so loaded with talent that if a coach can recruit well in that area he does not have to recruit nationally. Of course, if you have a good chance of recruiting a highly touted player from outside the SEC, then go for it. But I would not put a lot of energy into it. I am concerned that Miles is only recruiting "parts" of Mississippi, Florida and Alabama.
Miles statements make sense. You can win a national title within those recruiting boundaries. Why spend time, energy, and money on players who are less likely to come to LSU? The hurricane argument is a zero. If you look at big ten rosters they get kids from Florida to play up there and I'm sure they were fed stories about -10 below zero weather and blizzards in November. If a kid and his family are worried about hurricanes in Baton Rouge he most likely isn't smart enough to handle the academics.
Couldn't disagree more (Miles has been saying this since he was hired last year, by the way...nothing new). If you do not have a really solid "natural" recruiting base--like Nebraska (who recruited California heavily back in its glory days) or Kansas State (when Bill Snyder loaded up on JUCOs from all parts), sure, you go wherever you can find the "best" guys, regardless of location. Problem with that is you don't get good return for your time and resource investment (unless you're an established national power like USC, Notre Dame, Michigan...LSU never will reach that status, just never will...and that's not a knock on the Tigers, just a fact). LSU, especially, has no need to go far and wide for talent because Louisiana turns out more NFL-caliber talent per capita than any state in the country. Why risk missing out on a home-grown 4-star lock by chasing some 5-star dream in eastern Ohio---a kid who's a lock to go Big Ten or Notre Dame anyways? I'm a little surprised by the "Dallas", as that's heavy OU and Texas category...but I guess hitting Dallas and Miami makes sense b/c you have so, so much talent coming from those major cities. Southeast Texas is a natural LSU recruiting area and will remain so forever...especially with the Aggies not winning much these days.
