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Link Gumbo - 1/6/14

By PodKATT
Al Messerschmidt

Anthony Johnson was the first LSU underclassman to officially declare for the draft this off season. Ego Ferguson has also confirmed plans to enter the draft this year. Ego did not travel with the team to the Outback Bowl for reasons that are still unclear. In an interview with his high school coach, he is said to have missed the game due to "a banged-up knee and other 'needs back home,' " Odell Beckham Jr and Jarvis Landry are both widely rumored to declare soon, but LSU has not been able to confirm that at this time, despite Les Miles' own comments in an Outback Bowl postgame radio interview that it had been the last time the WR duo would play for the Tigers. From the same report, JC Copeland became the first LSU senior to receive his invite to the NFL Combine

Before the Bowl game, The Advocate had a great profile of Doug Aucoin and the work he does as LSU's Video Director, a position he's held since the DiNardo administration.

In NFL news, Patrick Peterson has made his 3rd pro bowl. Brad Wing was signed by the Steelers last week, meaning that all 11 of LSU's early draft exits from last season are currently on an NFL Roster. Here's a summary of where they all are:

OT Chris Faulk, Browns, injured in training camp, spent 2013 on IR

RB Michael Ford, Bears, no starts, but became a special teams regular in the 2nd half of the season

DT Bennie Logan, Eagles, started every game since Week 9, including this past weekend's playoff game

CB Tyrann Mathieu, Cardinals, started every game until tearing his ACL in Wk 14, named to the Rookie All-Pro team and is still a favorite for Defensive Rookie of the Year.

LB Barkevious Mingo, Browns, after dealing with a lung injury in the preseason, played 15 games

LB Kevin Minter, Cardinals, played in 13 games

DE Sam Montgomery, Raiders, drafted by Houston, then injured in practiced and put on waivers for off the field issues, currently on IR with the Raiders

S Eric Reid, 49ers, started all but one game this season

CB Tharold Simon, Seahawks, on IR since August

RB Spencer Ware, Seahawks, played sparingly

P Brad Wing, Steelers, failed to beat out LSU punting legend Donnie Jones in Eagles camp in the 2013 preseason, Signed to futures-reserve contract by Pittsburgh.

ESPN is offering at least 7 different simultaneous live broadcasts of the National Championship game tonight. USA Today took a look behind the scenes at the massive operation.

Despite the men's stunning loss to Rhode Island on Saturday, LSU and the SEC as a whole appears headed for a much better basketball season.

Meanwhile on the north side of Baton Rouge, Southern set an NCAA record for most points scored before the opposing team when they started with a 44-0 lead over Champions Baptist in route to a 116-12 win.

The Lady Tigers have started off the new year in an extremely impressive fashion. On Jan. 2nd, the unranked Tigers stunned #5 Tennessee with an 80-77 upset on the road in Knoxville. It was head coach and former Vol player Nikki Caldwell's first victory over her alma mater and it snapped a 7 game losing streak to the Vols that had lasted since the 08-09 season. Later that week the Ladies broke another bad streak, demolishing Tulane on the road 67-35. It was Caldwell's first victory over the Greenies and broke a disturbing 3 game losing streak to Tulane. All four major team sports at LSU now currently hold winning streaks over Tulane. The Ladies host A&M on Thursday in their SEC home opener.

We are 39 days from First Pitch of the baseball season. Aaron Nola and Alex Bregman both made the Louisville Slugger and Collegiate Baseball newspaper Preseason All-America list. Coach Paul Mainieri was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame last week, becoming one of six active coaches, the second LSU coach, and joining his father Demie Mainieri as the only father-son pair in the Hall of Fame. In an interview back around Christmas, Mainieri showed off the new artificial surface which covers all foul ground territory now at Alex Box and revealed that some thought had been given to moving in the outfield fences almost 30 feet to allow for the bullpens to be moved out of the foul ground space they currently occupy. The Tigers will start the year with a #3 preseason ranking by Collegiate Baseball.

Ryan Theriot announced his retirement from baseball yesterday at the age of 34. A member of the 2000 National Championship team, Theriot has 2 World Series rings as a journeyman infielder for the Cardinals in 2011 and the Giants in 2012. Theriot is (to the best of my research) the only man in the history of baseball to score the game and series winning run in the World Series  and College World Series.

The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame will add former Tigers OL Alan Faneca and basketball head coach Richard "Moon" Ducote in it's 2014 class.

Got a report from the SB Nation mothership last week that I'd like to share. Here are 2013's most prolific commenters on ATVS

Most Comments

Billy Gomila                       3200

MikeDeTiger                        2805

Jake Nazar                         1714

PodKATT                            1643

njccc                              1531

wadewilson                         1508

ScrumhalfVinny                     1355

GeauxTiger                         1194

Poseur                             1119

olewarskule                        1011