Link Gumbo: 12/9

LSU Coach Les Miles Has a Long History With Notre Dame -- Ross Dellenger details Les' history with the Irish, along with some notes.

La'el Collins Lands on the Associated Press First Team -- Nothing is official from the league, and I would imagine La'el will compete for the Jacobs Blocking Trophy, but he was LSU's sole first-team choice. Kwon Alexander and Ronald Martin landed on the second team, with Vadal Alexander netting honorable mention. Not so much as a mention of Tre'davious White or Jalen Collins, which is a crock. It's a really crowded defensive end class, but Danielle Hunter deserved honorable mention at least. Notable snubs from other teams (in this writer's opinion) include Kentucky's Josh Forrest and Alabama's Nick Perry. Yes, an Alabama defensive back is actually underrated.

Sure Sounds Like LSU's Quarterback Battle is Back On -- Dellenger quotes Miles on bowl practices and LSU's QB situation.

Sam Ponder on Motherhood, Football and Misogyny Among Hockey Media -- The Fairer Contingent of the ESPN Gameday crew talks making it through football season with an infant. Including a very cute encounter with, who else, but Les Miles.

LSU recruiting coordinator and running backs coach Frank Wilson spoke at the New Orleans quarterback club -- naturally he brought along Cam Cameron to talk LSU's offense and quarterbacks.

Wilson makes some nice small talk about working in the expanded Tiger Stadium, the new athletics nutrition center breaking ground soon, the opening at St. Aug and some niceties with the high school coaches in attendance. Notably, he responds to Bobby Hebert's question about a "10th win" with a reference to the state's top receiver recruit. He also mentions some unknown leans in the remaining open spots in the Tigers recruiting class.

Cameron, after discussing game management with one of the coaches on hand, jumps right into quarterback talk.

"I could have done a better job," he says, referencing learning how to teach young players like Anthony Jennings and Brandon Harris (he consistently mentions both players in referencing the quarterbacks) versus seniors like Zach Mettenberger and pros like Drew Brees and Joe Flacco. That's no surprise, and certainly little comfort. Still, he also references scaling the offense back to the power game, before adding the jet sweep/spread elements for the Texas A&M gameplan. Also references using that more in the bowl game and going forward.

"In hindsight, we'd do a lot of things different."

Other notes:

• References Will Clapp and Garrett Brumfield among young offensive line returning in 2015.
• He mentions encouraging more and more kids to come to LSU's summer camps to work under center, given how many high schools run full-time shotgun offenses.
• Cameron likes the zone-read as a weapon to manipulate the defense, and something that can serve as a foundation for other things he'd like to do, but he also talks about how the I-formation still works for backs like Leonard (Fournette). Also references a personal pet peeve -- short-yardage plays from the shotgun.
• To a question from Hebert on play-calling, Cameron talks about it being a collaborative process among all caoches -- he mentions Wilson's input, and specifically talks about Les Miles calling the bootleg pass play that scored the go-ahead touchdown versus Ole Miss. Also talks about being the filter that ultimately has to work with all that input. "But in critical situations, headsets really go quiet...and as the coordinator, you make that call."
• Also mentions that with the coaches LSU keeps on the sidelines, he feels much more comfortable in the booth.

Anyways, it's not that often that we get to hear from these guys in public -- thanks to SportsNOLA.com for the video. I'm sure opinions will vary, but it makes for some interesting discussion.

More video from players on the bowl selection:

Christian LaCouture

Jalen Collins

Terrence Magee

Vadal Alexander