HOOVER, Ala.- Les Miles stepped to the podium at SEC Media Days 15 minutes late, but the media contingent waited patiently for the LSU coach who always puts on a show at the league’s unofficial kickoff party for football season. Miles fielded questions about everything from Twitter to sophomore quarterback Zach Mettenberger to video game commercials to even more questions about Mettenberger.
“It’s pretty much what I just said,” Miles said in response to the fourth question he fielded about his signal-caller.
The focus on Mettenberger, though, was well-deserved, as the junior college transfer from Butler (Kan.) Community College by way of the University of Georgia will be counted on to lead an offense that will feature a more traditional passing attack.
“The changes will be that the quarterback won’t carry the ball as much,” Miles said. “There’s an enjoyment that Zach can make the deep throw effectively.”
His session began with a question about a commercial Miles did for EA Sports’ NCAA Football ‘13.
“The lines were narrow so I could perform them effectively,” Miles said, drawing early laughs. “I really thought that Mike the Tiger stole the show.”
Then, the inevitable question about cornerback Tyrann Mathieu and his back-and-forth with Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron on twitter.
“No game is won on the twitter page,” he said. “It’s a nice pastime, like media days.”
But the conversation, as it always does, came back to football, where Miles and his team are ready to get back to work after a disappointing end to the 2011 season.
Despite only having thrown 11 passes in 2011, it’s clear that Mettenberger is the number one option under center for LSU heading into 2012. The quarterback that watched from the sideline as Alabama took home the BCS National Championship trophy will be counted on to lead the Tigers back to the top.
“It hurt to watch our team struggle in that game,” Mettenberger said. “It’s definitely not the way you want to end the season, but I feel like our quarterbacks had a great season, and they led our team. We wish things would have gone differently, but they didn’t and Alabama beat us that game.”
The rematch with Alabama was another hot topic on what was announced as the longest day in SEC Media Days history. The Tide’s domination of the Tigers will more than likely serve as a focal point for LSU’s motivation this season.
“I’ve seen [the game] a couple times. There weren’t that many plays for us on offense,” Miles said. “It’s about us, the things we need to fix. I think we understand that.”
“We just lost the game, there’s nothing else to it,” defensive back Eric Reid said.
But if there were any concerns about the LSU players questioning Miles’ leadership after the title game, those were put to rest quickly by the Tigers in attendance. They’ll do just about anything for their coach, whose outgoing personality has become a rallying point for them.
“We love coach, we support every decision he makes. We back him up 100%,” Reid said. “He got us to the national championship game. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t win that one – we lost it as a team.”
