HOOVER – Within half an hour, LSU freshman running back Leonard Fournette had been compared to Michael Jordan and Adrian Peterson – all before playing a down of college football.
LSU coach Les Miles commended the 19-year old New Orleans native’s character thus far and said he expects great things from the latest addition to the Tigers’ backfield.
“He expects himself to be something very special,” Miles said. “I think if you look at Michael Jordan, he could not have been coached to be Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan accepted the role of expecting him to be better than any.”
Fournette is drawing plaudits from his colleagues at running back, as well. Senior Terrence Magee said he was cherishing the chance to run with someone as gifted as the 5-star recruit.
“I know you guys have seen Adrian Peterson play,” Magee said. “Who wouldn’t want to play in the same backfield as that guy?… That’s the only guy playing the running back position right now that you could compare him to.”
As excited as the Tigers are about their new running back, they appear to be equally excited about the expansion to Tiger Stadium or, as it’s colloquially known, “Death Valley.” The stadium, famed for its literally earth-shaking decibel levels, will now seat over 102,000 people, up from 95,542.
“If you thought we were loud before, we just got louder,” Miles said. “We like to play at home, there isn’t any question. We enjoy walking down the hill to that stadium. We enjoy the style of people that come in there that are intimately attached to our football team, and that the opponent has a very difficult time getting the ball snapped.”
Senior offensive lineman La’El Collins said he’ll treasure the chance to compete in the expanded stadium during his final season.
“Why wouldn’t I want to be a part of that one more time?” Collins said. “It’s just that one percent of my life that I’ll never get back, just doing this one more time, I’m extremely excited about it.”
The Crimson Tide will travel to the expanded “Death Valley” on November 8.
Other notes from Days Two and Three:
- While explaining the new College Football Playoff, executive director Bill Hancock said the system, had it been in place last season, would have given the college football public an Iron Bowl rematch in the Rose Bowl for a national semifinal.
- “If the pure seeds are one, two, three four, Auburn is two, Alabama is three, [the selection committee] will leave them right there and there will be a rematch,” Hancock said. There’s no dropping of lines in the College Football Playoff.”
- South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier clarified a number of comments he made over the summer concerning Alabama coach Nick Saban.
- “I just made a statement that I think they’ve had five number one recruiting classes out of the last six years, which has got to make him the greatest recruiter in the history of college football,” Spurrier said. “Arguably, they’ve got the greatest collection of football players ever assembled for a college team… So they’re the favorites.”
