Our week of sorrows continued this weekend as the Men fell at Arkansas and the Ladies snapped a 10 game winning streak at Florida.
By the time you read this the deadline to file papers for the NFL Draft will have passed and as of late Sunday, only Rueben Randle, Michael Brockers, and Mo Claiborne have declared of LSU's eligible players. (they have 72 hours to back out, as Brandon Lafell once did). Thanks to one helluva re-recruting job by Les Miles, Russell Shepard will be back next year, while LB Trevon Randle (recently joined the basketball team EDIT: I have mistaken Trevon Randle for football walk-on Ronald Martin, who joined the basketball team this past weekend) and RB Jakhari Gore will not be on the team next year. WR Kadron Boone also appears to be transferring, but I've not seen official confirmation on that from any source or his potential destination.
Aside from Billy Gonzales officially taking the OC job at Illinois, there has been very little movement on LSU's coaching staff. Thanks to Billy leaving, Les Miles gets to take a few more in-home visits with recruits, so dont expect the vacancy to be filled anytime soon. Elsewhere, former LSU Special Teams coach Joe Robinson, who left to take the DL job at UNC just before Butch Davis was fired, as ended up back in the SEC as the ST coach at USC. TeamSpeedKills is keeping track of all the coaching changes in the SEC.
G Will Blackwell, S Brandon Taylor, and TE Deangelo Peterson were all named to the Senior Bowl roster. Meanwhile, Jarrett Lee will play in the Casino del Sol College All-Star Game tonight in Tucson (technically a rebirth of the old Blue-Gray Game), on a team coached by Houston Nutt. The game will be televised on some, but not all of the FSN stations at 7pm. Lee will also be playing in the NFLPA game later this month and LB Karnell Hatcher and OL Greg Shaw will play in the Battle of Florida.
Who's ready for the Mettenberger-Kiel QB controversy? (and what about Rivers?)
Now for the team that hasn't had a chance to disappoint us yet: LSU Baseball (33 days until first pitch) Practice began yesterday in Alex Box with a lot of new names throwing from the mound. Practices continue throughout the week and are open to the public. Coach Mainieri had a great interview with College Baseball 360's podcast covering a wide range of topics. Of course, If you'd rather sink back into your depression, you can read this sad tale of what's going on in Omaha these days.
One of the oddest stories I missed sharing in the days leading up to the game, Wright Thompson caught up with our old friend Edwin Edwards.
It's been a horrific week to be a sports fan in Louisiana, but as The Accidental Cajun reminds us, "Well, we haven’t had a hurricane in awhile."
Misery loves company, Ole Miss lost out on a CB recruit to Tulane.
SB Nation's Bill Connelly breaks down the Top 100 CFB games of the 2011 season. LSU makes 5 appearances, but none in the Top 20.
Spencer Hall has a special message for you about recruiting season, which is a good opportunity to bring up the fact that Crowley RB Davante Bourque has officially flipped to the Vols (he had decommitted from LSU back on January 4th)
After being fired from A&M, Mike Sherman sent out an amazing letter to Texas high school football coaches detailing his coaching philosophies that makes for a great, if long, read.