Looks like Les has said that Ethan Pocic will start at center versus Wisconsin. Did he beat out Porter or does Porter have an undisclosed injury?
That's easy to answer. Les Miles out coached Saban on game day. People forget that. Nick outsmarted himself again last year against Auburn trying that long field goal. His kicking game sucks which is unusual for a defensive minded coach. The punt it's tge first play on defense and field goals aka any points you can muster are huge when you routinely have such a suffocating defense.
Special teams and offensive players who improvise dating back to his days at LSU whee Matt Jones routinely gave us fits. He struggled against Manziel.. Cam Newton, heck even Jordan Jefferson gave him problems at times. If you run a set offense his defenses are robotic.. stiff and disciplined so they usually will in the end make fewer mistakes than the offense. Throw a wild card offense like Malzahn runs or a dynamic mobile qb like Manziel and your chances increase. I recall they asked Corey Webster prior to his being taken in the NFL Draft how he'd defend a certain player and he said he had no idea he'd all Coach Saban. That was telling. Corey defended exactly as Nick told him to and I think that's why he struggled early in with the Giants. He was a receiver most of his live and then he was taught by a great coach but maybe it's a little too robotic. Nick is a great coach, but he's far from prefect. people forget that. Think of how different he'd be seen had Bama not gotten a free pass rematch against us in the title game. How different less would be viewed as well.
Chief has done as good a job as anyone adjusting. LSU was the only team to beat Johnny both years. Auburn was another team last year that played hell with the Tigers. I said last year that teams better get their shots in on Chief, you don't get that chance all too ofter. I like what Chief has returning, this is what he likes. Gonna be a fun year. Enjoy it.
Looks to me like Pocic won the job. Pretty unusual; don't think there are too many examples under Les of a returning starter losing his job over the summer.
If Pocic had to ride the bench for another year with his talent, I suspect he would find greener pastures. Les may be stubborn, but he ain't stupid. Neither is Jeff Grimes.
Pocic has a chance to do the Iron Man thing for the OL. Could play all 5 positions, this would be a great year to do this. The last LSU player I remember playing all 5 positions, Rudy Niswanger. "During his college career he started at least one game in every offensive line position. As a senior, he was team captain and was elected as Second Team All-SEC." Undrafted out of LSU, end up playing a number of years in the NFL. At 6'5" some say he was too tall to play OC, Kevin Mawae was talking the other day about him and Pocic being too tall to play the position. He also talked about Todd McClure being a little small for the position, an at his time, Mawae was a little old to be still playing the OL in the Pro's. What kept Todd and Kevin in the Pro's so long is technique, this is something Grimes is bring back to LSU OL. Todd was undersized, but could work players younger, stronger, faster and bigger than him. Look at the Falcons after he left them, they are still trying to recover. Very rare to play for only one team your entire stay in the Pro's, congrats to Todd. Oh, on Mawae...."Mawae was originally drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the second round (36th overall) of the 1994 NFL Draft. He was Louisiana State's highest selected offensive lineman since Bo Strange in 1961."
Played center? Don't think he played center. He did play TE in short-yardage, also guard and tackle. When playing TE, would switch from #68 to 81. To add: "The only player in LSU football history to leave school with a national championship and two degrees ... True freshman on LSU's 2007 national title team and then later earned Bachelor's degrees in sports administration (December, 2012) and general studies (May, 2011)."
