BATON ROUGE — Sports Illustrated’s College Football Preview Issue hits the newsstands this week and the magazine has tabbed LSU as the nation’s 20th-ranked team heading into the 2003 season.
Ohio State is ranked No. 1, followed by Oklahoma, Miami, Texas and Georgia. Other Southeastern Conference teams in Sports Illustrated’s Top 25 include Auburn at No. 9 and Tennessee at No. 16.
LSU senior offensive lineman Stephen Peterman earned a spot on SI’s First-Team All-America squad as a guard. Other SEC players on the first-team include Arkansas offensive tackle Shawn Andrews, Alabama offensive guard Justin Smiley, Georgia defensive lineman David Pollack, Auburn linebacker Karlos Dansby and Kentucky return specialist Derek Abney.
In addition, LSU offensive tackle Rodney Reed is featured in a story written by former Tiger John Ed Bradley. Titled “The Smartest Players in Football”, Reed is one of five offensive linemen from across the country that SI focused on for the story.
Reed, who has started 34 straight games for the Tigers, graduated in May with a 3.94 grade point average in accounting. He is currently pursuing his master’s degree in accounting. Last year, Reed earned First-Team Academic All-America honors after being a second-team pick in 2001.