Miles laments loss of juniors, expresses confidence in Tigers heading into season

LSU head football coach Les Miles acknowledges that the team’s 2014 version is younger than most other teams in the SEC, but he says its members will be ready and able to compete at the highest level of college football when the season kicks off on Aug. 30. “You’d kind of like to not lead college football” in the number of juniors skipping their senior year of eligibility to play pro ball, Miles said at today’s luncheon of the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge, but you live with it. “I recognize this is a youthful team, but there is some insistence that the culture we have created will continue. And that means team in front of self,” he said. After expressing confidence in every aspect of his offense and defense, as well as outlining the strengths of specific players, Miles was asked whether he would consider playing two quarterbacks. “I’m thinking about it,” Miles said, adding jokingly: “The problem is, there’s just one ball. It makes my head hurt trying to figure out who would snap to whom.” Miles began today by saying his now-traditional pre-season address to Rotary is “my favorite one of the year … because it’s the last” before the season opens. Miles declined to reveal who will be wearing the coveted No. 18 jersey—which the team annually votes to give to a leading teammate—and he did not offer a prediction of where the Tigers will end up in the SEC. Earlier this year, media members at SEC Media Days picked LSU to finish third in the SEC West division, behind Alabama and Auburn. —David Dodson