Miles wins battle to keep juniors

Published 11:42 am Wednesday, January 20, 2016

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Maybe Les Miles is changing the culture of LSU football.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The program had all but become the poster child for the horrors of the dastardly NFL and its henchmen’s penchant for swooping onto campus with promises of easy and very big money to drop out of school and follow them to riches.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Miles even promoted it — and it sure didn’t hurt recruiting.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">These young guys have egos. LSU had become such a popular early springboard for the NFL that a Tiger who wasn’t taking the early plunge perhaps almost felt like he’d wasted three years of college and wasn’t living up to the tradition.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">LSU still cobbled together enough bodies to stage a decent Senior Night for those last home games, but few of them seemed to get their uniform dirty once the game kicked off.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">A lot of “Who’s He?” delivered roses to their mothers and took a seat.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Miles even promoted it, to a degree. Not everybody LSU recruits is headed to the NFL, but as cocksure high school seniors they all think they are, and it didn’t hurt the sales pitches to point out the shortcuts LSU was providing.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It’s still a selling point.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But now Miles seems to spend almost as much time with what he calls “re-recruiting” his juniors as he does with the traditional trips to high school seniors.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">For years while LSU juniors were mulling their options, Miles took the approach of “I’m here if you want to talk” but was mostly there to wish them well with their new bank accounts.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It made for lonely Senior Nights.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">It was gutting the depth chart annually.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">So the last two years he’s been more active, even revisiting homes of those on the fence.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Basically, if a kid isn’t projected as a sure-fire first-round pick, Miles wants him to consider how his stock might improve with another year.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">As he puts it, he doesn’t want the NFL “getting a bargain.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Maybe it’s working.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">On a team dominated by underclassmen this year, the Tigers will lose exactly one junior, offensive tackle Alex Hawkins, to the NFL draft. And Hawkins, who’s not projected anywhere near the first round, reportedly has not signed with an agent and has until Thursday night to change his mind.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">LSU had at least eight juniors requesting evaluations from the NFL, and most who stayed weren’t shockers.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But the surprises — very pleasant surprises for the depth chart — were keeping middle linebacker Kendell Beckwith and cornerback Tre’Davious White.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Beckwith, in particular, is the kind of versatile, athletic linebacker who would seem to thrive in new defensive coordinator Dave Aranda’s attacking style.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Not to mention there was no obvious choice to replace Beckwith.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Neither Beckwith nor White was guaranteed a first-round paycheck. If so, they’d be gone on the next plane, but either or both might have wiggled in there with a good NFL combine and workouts.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But even the hint of the first round certainly makes them the kind of players who would have left without a second thought in previous years.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“For the first time, we return a big senior class,” Miles said after Beckwith and White were the last to re-up as Tigers. “Anytime that you have a senior-dominated team, you recognize that you are going to play with leaders … and guys always play their best year of football when they are most mature.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">In re-recruiting, Miles has some success stories as anecdotal evidence. Offensive lineman La’el Collins improved his stock by staying last year and is thriving in the Dallas Cowboys’ line. Another lineman, Vadal Alexander, likely did the same thing this year.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And it’s not like this is a national trend. Just the opposite.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But LSU is suddenly going against the flow.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">This year 105 juniors, the most ever, have declared for the draft ??— only one is a Tiger.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Ohio State lost nine, threatening LSU’s record of 10 in 2013. Clemson is losing seven, UCLA six, with both Notre Dame and Florida saying early goodbyes to five each.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Pardon Miles if he yawns at their woes.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">After the 2012 season, he lost 10 juniors — 11, if you count Tyrann Mathieu, who’d been booted from the team in preseason. Nationwide there were 73 juniors who came out that year — so roughly one in seven was from LSU.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Seven more left early the following year.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">But next year Miles and LSU will have the rare luxury of a senior class.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The Tigers will return nine starters on offense and nine more on defense.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">That’s unheard of at LSU.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The LSU offense, for instance, will return 100 percent of its rushing yards. The Tigers will get back 100 percent of their (bless their hearts, meager as it was) passing yards and 94 percent of the receiving yards.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">And to think that two months ago it didn’t even appear they’d get their head coach back.</span>