LSU All-American cornerback Tyrann Mathieu
was dismissed from the football team for violating team policy, head
coach Les Miles announced on Aug. 10. Miles did not specify the policy
which Mathieu had violated.
In a statement, Miles said, "This is a very difficult day for our
team. We lose a quality person, teammate and
contributor to the program.
However, with that being said, we have a standard that our players are
held to and when that standard is not met, there are consequences."
Miles also said in his statement, "It's hard because we all love Tyrann.
We will do what we can as coaches, teammates, and friends to get him on
a path where he can have success. We are going to miss him."
During a press conference on Friday, Miles said that Odell Beckham Jr.
will takeover for Mathieu on punt return duties. Beckham Jr. returned
nine punts in 2011 for 77 yards. As far as defense goes, I expect
redshirt freshman Jalen Collins to get the most snaps at cornerback.
Other players who could try to fill in for Mathieu will be Jalen Mills,
Dwayne Thomas and Micah Eugene. All four of the potential replacements
are freshmen.
I think the Tigers will feel the loss of Mathieu most on special
teams. The depth at defensive back is slim in terms of experience, but
not potential. However, Mathieu's knack for causing turnovers cannot be
replaced by any one player. In just two seasons, Mathieu had already set
the school record for forced fumbles at 11. He had a good chance to to
set the NCAA record in the category in 2012. Despite his great
athleticism, Mathieu's height was always going to hinder his ability as a
cover corner.
Mathieu returned two punts for touchdowns last season to go with a
15.6 punt return average. In addition, he also was a skilled punt return
gunner. One of his touchdowns last season occurred against Oregon when
Mathieu stripped the ball from punt returner Kenjon Barner and walked
into the endzone for the score.
Some fans and writers have already decided to trash Mathieu for
getting kicked off the team. I'm not going to go there. He's not the
first player to get dismissed from the LSU football team and he won't be
the last. I think the thing to do is to wish the kid the best in the
future.
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