BATON ROUGE — LSU head coach Les Miles spoke to the media on Monday afternoon as his Tigers football team prepares for its season-opening contest against Appalachian State on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Watch the complete press conference on-demand in the Geaux Zone or listen to the archive free now.
Les Miles Press Luncheon
August 25, 2008
Opening Statement…
“Good afternoon. It’s nice to be back. It’s always fun to kick off a new season. The expectations of 2008 are, as we all know, pretty high. I appreciate your attendance. Appalachian State is a very fine football team. The Mountaineers have a great tradition of winning. Anytime that you play a program or team that is used to winning, they bring a little bit more to the table. They are going to be competitive. We understand that. We played them two years ago, and I want to say, into the 4th quarter, it was 14-0. It was a very competitive game then. I expect it to be a very competitive game this Saturday.
“We had a very good fall camp. Virtually everybody that can play in this game or showed up for camp should be eligible to play in this game with the possibility of one exception. We feel like we got a lot accomplished on offense, defense and special teams. I like the fact that we are playing a talented opponent. I think our guys prepared very well based on that. I just happened to sit next to Coach Moore at the national convention last year, and in 19 seasons, Coach Moore has done a great job there and what a great coach he is. He is certainly a coach that the profession is very proud of.
“Stacy Searles, who is an old offensive line coach for us, coached for him and was at Appalachian State and told a story that really brought our two programs together. We’ve always rooted for them and frankly, look forward to competing with them this Saturday. They’ve made a tradition of playing great teams. They’ve played North Carolina State, Auburn very close and then, obviously the major example, the Michigan win at Michigan in the season opener a year ago. We understand that they are coming here to play us well. If you look at their offense, their quarterback, Armanti Edwards is a tremendous player. He is 6’0 tall, 175 pounds. He throws the ball well, very fast and really makes a lot of quality decisions for their offense. He, Devon Moore, their veteran tailback, not their returning starter, but a guy who is going to carry the ball more for them than he did in the past. He certainly has a lot of experience in their offense, and he has had plenty of preparation as we go forward into the season.
“One of their big playmakers, CoCo Hillary, is also a great returner and a great receiver, and certainly, we will have to know where No. 6 is at. They return three linebackers, their tackle leaders, and guys that know how to play football. They have three starters back on the defensive front, and again, this is a defensive front that has had success. Looking at their special teams, I think they have a great punter and a guy who puts the ball up in the air with a long hang time and very little opportunity to return balls. Their special teams have always been solid. We look forward to the matchup to be honest with you. I think our offense is certainly prepared and looking forward to starting fast.
“I have great confidence in all three quarterbacks. I can’t tell you today who will be taking the field first. I can tell you that I’m comfortable with whoever that is, and we’ll see how it plays out from here. I can tell you that Jarrett Lee‘s back is not an issue at this time. There’s nothing but health there, and from this point forward, we’ll make those decisions as we go. I would not be surprised if all three played at certain times. The great thing about our new quarterback is that we have a veteran offense around him with receivers that know where their supposed to be, a veteran offensive line that can give him some protection and guidance, and veteran backs that can carry the football. We’re going to ask him to do the things that we need from the quarterback spot but not to do anything that they’re not capable of doing.
“Defensively, I think our defensive front is up to the challenge. This team led all of football in rushing a year ago, and we’re going to be challenged to play extremely well and disciplined upfront. I think our guys there are looking forward to it. Ricky Jean-Francois and Charles Alexander, who is really just coming back to health and will practicing again this week, are guys who are both really looking forward to playing football and a challenging Appalachian State offense. Darry Beckwith is the veteran at linebacker, and he certainly gives us great leadership, but I like Perry Riley and Kelvin Sheppard. Both of those guys are big, strong, very fast, capable linebackers, and I think you’ll see those guys on the field a lot. When they are not, you’ll see us in some sub-package that allows us to get some safeties on the field that are very talented as well. Again, I think the defense is looking forward to it, and at this point in time, we are all looking forward to playing an opponent.
“On special teams, Coach Joe Robinson really brought some of the stuff from Arizona in, and we’ll look to some of things that they’ve done in the punt and some of the kicking. We think we’re improved. We really look forward to the opportunity to go out on the field and have an advantage with special teams. It’ll be a great opener, and it will be great to be back in Tiger Stadium in front of our fans.”