LSU Football: Should Coach Miles and the LSU Tigers Move on to Plan B ?

The 2011 LSU football team reported for fall camp on August 3rd with one of their most anticipated seasons since the 2007 BCS Championship year, in front of them.    

This optimism is not without good reason, as this year's LSU Tiger team is ranked fourth in AP and the USA Coaches Poll, while Sporting News has ranked the Tigers as  No. 1.   

The Tigers came into the 2011 fall camp after working very hard all summer, but on the first day of practice, the team was hit with an immediate shocker when it was revealed that new offensive coordinator, Steve Kragthorpe, has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.  

The announcement of this illness could not have come at a more surprising time for the Tigers, but the good news is that coach Kragthorpe will still remain on staff as the quarterbacks coach while handing his former OC duties over to offensive line coach Greg Studrawa.

At this point no one knows very much about what to expect from coach Studrawa's play calling other than the fact he did have a very successful experience as Bowling Green's offensive coordinator.

Most Tiger fans are comfortable with Coach Stud and what Coach Miles has done with the recent coaching changes this year.     

Daily talk has come from Coach Miles on how much he likes this team and he has seemed very happy with Jordan Jefferson as his quarterback.  

After the team finished it's second full scrimmage of the fall camp last Thursday, things were looking good. The team was showing improvement as they were moving ahead and looking forward to their much anticipated season opener against powerful Oregon on September 3rd.   

Coach Miles gave the team Friday off to rest, but before Friday could come some 15-20 Tiger players sneaked out after curfew at 10:30 and went to a local bar to apparently let off steam.

But, that is when all hell broke loose for this team as four LSU players including starting quarterback, Jordan Jefferson, got into a fight with four men and all four victims were taken to the hospital for treatment of physical injuries sustained in the fight.  Actually, two were very seriously injured.

Not only was there a fight, but many of the witnesses pointed out that Jordan Jefferson was seen kicking a Marine in the head and the Marine was knocked unconscious with numerous contusions and cuts, and one of the other victims in the fight suffered two broken vertebrae. 

As a result of this debacle, the once promising and united LSU football team has been practicing in a daze of some sort trying to figure out what will be the end results of this bar fight.  

Coach Miles has not taken any disciplinary action on any one individual because he is still waiting for proof beyond a shadow of a doubt or at least until he feels sure who is truly guilty.

But in the mean time, the players are unsure of who the starting quarterback will be, and Coach Miles himself has said how heavy this whole situation has been for him personally and for the team.  

In light of the fact that Jefferson has been pointed out specifically by several witnesses for kicking the Marine, and the other three accomplices—Jarvis Landry, Chris Davenport, and Josh Johns—are guilty by association; that should be sufficient grounds for temporary suspensions until the investigation is completed. 

Based on the above situation and the fact that Jefferson's apartment was seized, I think it is time for Coach Miles to take immediate action and move on to Plan B. 

The goals and welfare of this team are far too important at this point to continue wasting time with a cloud of uncertainty.  

It is now time to promote Jarrett Lee and move Zach Mettenberger up as the backup and give J. Lee all or most of the reps during the remainder of the preseason camp.

Lee is more than ready to take over and lead this team and Mettenberger is certainly a young but very talented quarterback that is poised and  waiting for his chance.  

A lot has been made in preseason about Jordan Jefferson's readiness and his maturity to lead this team to a championship, but just when you are starting to have hope in this becoming a reality he goes and pulls something rather short sighted like getting in a fight.    

With the police now collecting evidence from Jefferson's apartment, it seems more evident every day that he will eventually be implicated as the player that kicked the Marine, and the longer this deal drags out the more harm that is being inflicted on this Tiger team.

We all know the four guys that have been implicated were involved in this fight, so regardless of every detail still being investigated by the police, Coach Miles knows enough at this point to move ahead with suspensions and stop allowing these distractions to continue.  

Sorry, but I am not convinced that Jordan Jefferson is such a big key to this team's success that we must have him or we just can't win.

If we can remember last year, it was under Jarrett Lee's leadership, that the Tigers were able to defeated both Florida and Tennessee.