Quoted from the Advocate this morning: "Before we’d come out to practice, I mean it was just lackadaisical, people were walking around and stuff,” left guard Herman Johnson said. “(Monday) it was more intense, guys were running around at drills, coaches were getting in players’ faces, it was something I liked. “I’m tired of seeing, you know, the people just walking around being lazy, but (Monday) the coaches got on people and it was real exciting.” WTF??? Why was this not happening ten games ago???
Here's the article. Renewed sense of urgency at LSU Tuesday, December 16, 2008 By James Varney BATON ROUGE -- LSU began bowl practices Monday, flashing a spirit sharply contrasting to what some players described as a slacker attitude prevalent during the regular season. Senior offensive lineman Herman Johnson was particularly vocal about what he saw as a shifting dynamic. For some time, LSU (7-5) has sleep-walked through practices and displayed none of the fire required of a championship outfit, according to him. On Monday, however, that changed. "Before we'd come out to practice, I mean it was just lackadaisical, people were walking around and stuff," Johnson said. "Today, it was more intense. Guys were running around at drills. Coaches were getting in players' faces, it was something I liked. I'm tired of seeing, you know, the people just walking around being lazy, but today the coach got on people -- and it was real exciting today." Bad attitude tendrils have sprouted from a handful of LSU players during his career in Baton Rouge, but those isolated cases became more widespread in 2008 on a team some thought would contend for the Southeastern Conference Western Division crown, said Johnson, whom the coaches and the writers voted first-team All-SEC. "You didn't see it as much," he said of his sophomore and junior teams that won the Sugar Bowl and a national championship. "But this year, I don't know why, but for some apparent reason, I've seen it a lot -- and I don't like it." Coach Les Miles used less precise language than Johnson but referred once again to a necessary "attitude adjustment" the team requires. It was a change in attitude that he was most specifically referring to two weeks ago when he said "adjustments" must be made "before the bowl," Miles said after an extended practice Monday that left him hoarse. Junior tight end Richard Dickson described the practice as one of the Tigers' most physical of the season. LSU is preparing to face No. 14 Georgia Tech (9-3) in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on Dec. 31, a New Year's Eve game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in which LSU is uncharacteristically an underdog. "That's what we want to do -- get three weeks of hard practice in -- and today we really got after it," Dickson said. When asked in rather coarse terms Monday evening if he had jumped on the team, Miles smiled but refrained from using the same phrases to characterize the approach taken by him and his staff. The entire program seems to have been surrounded by a funk since the team unraveled at Arkansas, blowing a 30-14 second-half lead to lose 31-30 and end the regular season on a horrific note Nov. 28. That game also saw some defensive players openly chiding teammates, and senior linebacker Darry Beckwith, tears rolling down his cheeks, accusing some players of quitting during the game. Beckwith said Monday he has no regrets about questioning the guts of some unnamed Tigers but said that was an emotional outburst that is behind him. He insisted there is no lingering cloud from the Little Rock meltdown. Johnson did not name names, either, but he made it clear the daily approach of some players at LSU has been of poor caliber at times in 2008. "The older guys, we don't walk around. We've been taught that since our freshman year, and it's been ingrained all throughout these years," he said. "If I see someone walking around I'm going to get in their face and say, you know, you've got to pick it up. Or even in sprints today, I mean, if you can't run, get off. You're hurting the team. "Basically, if you can't play, if you're physically unable or you're a hurt to this team, just leave. If you have one bad apple, everybody's going to see that -- and they feed off that. We don't need negativity on this team; we need everything to be positive for the next couple of weeks." Johnson said he, senior center Brett Helms or senior defensive end Tyson Jackson has confronted players about their blasé approach, but the message repeatedly failed to hold. Now the team has no fallback position, Johnson said, and a bowl victory has to be pursued not just for individual satisfaction but for "the program and the state." Some of the team's top players met Sunday and resolved to move beyond what happened at Arkansas, Johnson and Beckwith said. Sophomore cornerback Jai Eugene said that "nobody likes to lose five games," and he chalked up the ragged emotions in Little Rock to the unwelcome result. Junior wide receiver Brandon LaFell said "that stuff" was left in Arkansas when the team got on the plane to come home, but his classmate, junior defensive end Rahim Alem, said the time off was a necessary respite. "We needed those two weeks," Alem said with a laugh. "It would have been nice to have a win to reflect on those two weeks, but we needed it." Alem was guilty of a mental error at Arkansas when he kicked the ball after Jackson had batted down a pass. The penalty gave the Razorbacks another first down on a second-half drive, and Alem, also chosen All-SEC by the coaches, said Monday he still can't explain his actions. "It was just stupid," he said. That sort of mistake, though one that has dogged this team this season, can become a thing of the past prior to the Georgia Tech game, players insisted. Now, the team can push aside the laziness and fuzziness Johnson lamented and refocus attention on the game, LaFell said. "We've got to play LSU football," he said. "There's a lot of guys that make a play or two here, maybe they're celebrating or just doing all this other stuff. (Miles) wants us to stay focused throughout the whole game." James Varney can be reached at [email protected] or 504.717.1156. Maybe some hope....:miles:
:geaux: Just another example of how there was absolutely no senior/player leadership on the team this year as compared to years past. Even scarier is why the staff would have allowed this to occur. If so, it's been one helluva hangover from the NC this year. Sad. :dis: :LSU231:
From a July 2008 article that hinted LSU would suffer from leadership problems this year: Tigers not only lost a lot of talented players but they lost some tough, solid, dependable leaders in defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, tailback Jacob Hester, wide receiver Early Doucet, strong safety Craig Steltz, quarterback Matt Flynn, outside linebacker Ali Highsmith and cornerbacks Chevis Jackson and Jonathan Zenon, tight end Keith Zinger, outside linebacker Luke Sanders, right tackle Carnell Stewart and punter Patrick Fisher. ... Talent won't be an issue for the Tigers, so the real key will be the emergence of leaders who can show the way through tough times in big games. "I don't know if I've ever been around a program with better character kids than what we had last year," Mallory said. "They were just the epitome of team. Craig Steltz and Jacob Hester played almost every snap on special teams and never wanted to come off the field. The leadership and chemistry those seniors provided last year was special, and now we've ... still got a lot of those kids in our program but a lot of them are just young and need time." ... "We lost some great leaders on offense," ... Crowton said. http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/insi...espn.go.com/ncf/insider/news/story?id=3467569
Re: Attitude Adjustments - who's next? What's the outlook for next year? Who do we have that's another Hester / Flynn / Dorsey and can take charge of the team? Freshman QB's need not apply (I know some of you are jumping straight to Shep...but he's still only going to be a frosh).
Senior leaders take their cues from the coaches. This article confirms what all of us have complained about ALL SEASON LONG. Maybe Pelini was the disciplinarian. Whatever the case, I hope Miles has learned a BIG LESSON from this. These kids need structure and discipline. They crave it and these coaches did not provide it. If Miles can't do it he needs to hire coaches that aren't afraid to whip these boys into shape. What a shame it took an entire wasted season to learn something so simple. The question is, has Miles really learned from this?
Wow... As my 11-year old daughter would say, "OMG!" Where were the coaches while all this was going on? :huh: :geauxtige
I think you nailed it. The defense in particular had absolutely no discipline. I can remember watching the team in the early parts of '07 and listening to the announcers talk about how disciplined the defense was...how they never left their assignments and never bought on fakes. There was NONE OF THAT this year. Throw in a plethora of stupid unsportsmanlike penalties and you get the most undiscliplined defense I've seen since the re-emergence of LSU football. Think back on the two past defensive coaches for LSU...while they were the best in the country. What did the two have in common? FIRE. PASSION. INTENSITY. FOCUS. ...all of which our defense lacked this year compared to recent years past.
