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BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU is just a few weeks away from starting a season that locals legitimately believe will lead to the school’s fourth national championship.
Yet, around here football is an afterthought these days.
For that to happen, there must be something serious and real. And indeed, for Louisiana, this last week has been trying.
1. The flood impact
Baton Rouge and many other areas of south Louisiana have been hammered by floods that are being called “historic.” Governor John Bel Edwards said on Sunday that 20,000 people had to be rescued from their homes or vehicles to escape the flood waters, a figure that may be on the low side given that it likely accounts for the efforts of first responders and not necessarily the efforts of countless private citizens who took to fishing boats to help their neighbors escape.
Among the rescued was recently retired, legendary LSU play-by-play announcer Jim Hawthorne.
President Barack Obama declared four Baton Rouge-area parishes to be major disaster areas on Sunday night.
Indeed, the epic flood happened faster and hit harder than most were prepared for, and now Baton Rouge is operating like a city hit by a hurricane with businesses shut down for lack of workers (along with the safety issue of access) and curfews in some surrounding parishes.
As for LSU football, areas around campus were under water on Monday morning, and while the football program’s preparations have not been interrupted, there’s no doubt the players have been affected by what’s going on around them.
LSU has been here before, most notably with Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Last season, a scheduled game at South Carolina was moved to Baton Rouge because of similar flooding in South Carolina.
However, this time the disaster has Baton Rouge directly in the crosshairs.
How can you help? Here is a good list to start with.
2. Summer of distraction
LSU is enjoying an unusually veteran team this year with several seniors opting to stay in school instead of leaving for what would have been sure-bet professional careers.
The Tigers will need that leadership after being surrounded by tough news all summer.
Before the floods, Baton Rouge was already in national news over a police shooting of a black man, which led to protests, then the shooting death of police officers.
For the entire community, the summer has been difficult to digest and process. For young men still in their teens or early 20s, these can be life-changing events. The Tigers are fortunate to have seniors who may be able to keep the team as focused as it needs to be with a season opener against Wisconsin looming.
3. The injury bug
Camp is barely halfway over and the Tigers have already lost two defensive starters for at least half a season.
Senior defensive lineman Christian LaCouture — one of the players who elected to return to school rather than leave for the NFL — suffered a season-ending torn ACL. Then, news broke that outside linebacker Corey Thompson would be out six to eight weeks with a broken leg.
LSU also lost outside linebacker Isaiah Washington to a knee injury.
How do these injuries affect the defense?
They certainly do not help, but the Tigers may have the depth to recover. Converted senior defensive end Tashawn Bower was competing with Thompson for the “F” linebacker spot along with true freshman Michael Divinity. LSU could also shuffle players. Inside linebackers Duke Riley and Donnie Alexander both have the athleticism to play outside.
As for LaCouture’s spot …
4. We have nose tackles!
While LSU will miss LaCouture, it suddenly has some depth of natural nose tackles, which should allow the Tigers to shuffle bodies around to replace LaCouture.
Junior college transfer Travonte Valentine joined LSU for the second week of camp after gaining his academic eligibility. The sophomore had been dismissed from the LSU team before going to junior college but returns to give the Tigers a 356-pounder who’s a natural fit to absorb double teams in the middle of a 3-4 defense.
That’s a huge development for LSU, which in the spring experimented with LaCouture and Davon Godchaux, both arguably more natural 3-4 defensive ends, at nose. But since then, LSU has added Valentine, five-star true freshman Rashard Lawrence and four-star rookie Edwin Alexander at the position.
Like Valentine, Alexander had to do a lot of summer work to get eligible, so the Tigers went into the summer with the possibility of only getting one true nose tackle into the program in Lawrence, but instead they have three. This is the best-case scenario for the position so long as they avoid the injury bug.
And their additions could free up Godchaux to play at defensive end, making up for the loss of LaCouture.
5. K.J. delivering at left tackle
After the spring, one suspected LSU wasn’t settled with its starting offensive line of Maea Teuhema (left tackle), Will Clapp (left guard), Ethan Pocic (center), Josh Boutte (right guard) and Toby Weathersby (right tackle).
That, indeed, seems to be the case.
Head coach Les Miles said that the coaching staff has been pleased with the progress of junior K.J. Malone, and the son of NBA Hall of Famer Karl Malone was taking first-team snaps at left tackle.
If Malone finds himself in that spot, that could mean Teuhema moves to right tackle, knocking Weathersby out of the lineup.
Miles has also been consistent in praising guard Garrett Brumfield, and LSU is clearly comfortable with backup center Andy Dodd, who did a nice job subbing for the injured Ethan Pocic during the spring (Pocic is now healthy and back in the starting lineup). What it adds up to is one of the deeper offensive lines in recent memories for the Tigers.
