It's been really quiet

STs worry me the most, as well...but it's not all bad. Keehn is probably going to continue the great punting tradition we've established. We have some real speedsters on this team who will likely turn into decent return men. Kickoffs are still going to go through the uprights with Hairston kicking. The only thing I really worry about is field goals. And again, I hope to see our red zone offense improve to the point where only about a dozen FGs are even attempted.

 

I was a little unnerved the other day when I heard Miles say in a news conference that we would likely use Colby D. for shorter field goals and J. Hairston for longer ones. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but it sounds like we do not have a "guy" like we've had the past several seasons. Hopefully one or the other will emerge. Feeling pretty good about the rest of the team so this might just be my preseason over-worry....

 

Our place kicking was pretty poor last season, actually. Hopefully, we'll have a step up from last year, but it seemed like everything last year was a pace or two too slow. Perhaps it was a hangover from the domination of the '11 season (with one glaring exception.)

Last year, our team lacked chemistry. If we have good chemistry this season, the sky's the limit.

 

The media is focusing their attention on other things, and I don't believe they think the tigers will contend this season. NCAA investigations trump rankings. It's all about the breaking news and the juiciest gossip.

As for LSU, I think the defense will be good enough to contend, special teams will be sketchy at the beginning of the season, but will straighten out before the tigers get to the meat of the schedule. As the offense goes so will the season. Will Mett be the guy everyone thought he could be, or will he still struggle with inconsistency? How much of Cameron's playbook will the offense be able to grasp? And will this finally be the playbook to get the tigers offense ranked inside the top 50 of college football?

Hopefully we find out those answers very soon in the season. And afterwards, the talking heads won't be able to help themselves but to talk about how dominant the LSU tigers are this season.

 

I remember Hairston getting really pumped up on kickoffs and showing emotion, possibly with at least one case of having that adrenaline work against him and kicking it out of bounds. While I have absolutely no basis for this thought, I'd prefer the field goal kicker to be more calm and collected.

 

Didn't they pass new rules against "icing the kicker"?

 

They asked Miles about our situation at kicker at a presser a few days ago, and he replied:

"I think Colby Delahoussaye is certainly in front there as our field goal guy and really is kicking well. He had a really nice camp. Though I think James Hairston as well and Trent Dominique are really providing competition. Trent gives us not only a back‑up with a long field goal, but also a really quality punter if he can step in and punt the ball. So he's going to give us that.
James is still our kickoff guy and can be a long field goal guy. So I think Colby is certainly the advantage at this point just simply at field goal."

(Colby Delahoussaye, a Cajun, is one of two redshirt freshmen--other is Trent Domingue--who go into 2013 in a battle to handle LSU’s placekicking duties. Colby passed on scholarship offers to Miss St and Houston to join the Tigers as a walkon in the fall of 2012 after earning first team All-State honors at placekicker as a junior in 2010 and honorable mention All-State as a senior in 2011 for New Iberia High School (where he was also a team captain in football as a senior). In soccer, he holds his high school record for most goals in a career (54), most goals in a season (30), and most assists in a career)

 

I really do like being the "underdog

this definitely inspires more confidence....thanks for posting this....must have missed it.

 

this team's success rides on the OL. everything else is adequate.