Last year’s mistakes fuel Jefferson heading into new season

LSU junior quarterback Jordan Jefferson’s ears work just fine.

The Tigers’ signal caller can hear everything that has been said in the past year.

He has heard on numerous occasions the story about the time he spiked the football with just 1 second left that resulted in a costly late-season loss to Ole Miss.

“They aren’t going to let it go. It’s just a lack of experience and I was very inexperienced,” Jefferson said at LSU’s preseason media day. “That was my first time ever being in that situation, and I promise you that that situation will never go like that again.”

He’s also heard loud and clear the people who say he is too slow to read opposing defenses, which results in costly sacks and stalled offensive possessions.

The boos that sometimes rained down in Tiger Stadium after a bad drive? Those aren’t lost on him either. He can probably hear those in his sleep.

And Jefferson actually agrees with what’s being said, because he describes himself as his own biggest critic.

That’s why last year’s sophomore reported to the team as this year’s freshly-chiseled junior – a dedicated offseason workout he said he believes will silence critics in 2010 and establish himself as an elite passer, while establishing the Tigers as one of the Southeastern Conference’s best teams.

“I’ve been working out hard. Extremely hard,” Jefferson said. “I’ve been working out way harder than what I did last year. I’m just analyzing myself. I noticed that I had a lot to work on to be where I wanted to be. I just took the time during the off-season and right now. I’m just taking those steps.”

The first step Jefferson took came last season when the quarterback served as the youngest full-time starting quarterback for LSU since 1945.

The end result was sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes ugly, but the bottom line showed Jefferson completing 182-of-296 passes for 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions and LSU finishing with a 9-4 record.

But despite the tidy stat line, Jefferson took more than 30 sacks, thanks in part to a suspect offensive line, but also due to his sometimes reluctant approach to throwing the football down the field.

Being able to make faster decisions in a shorter span of time is something LSU offensive coordinator Gary Crowton said is the next step in his quarterback’s development – a push the Tigers’ offensive staff has made all summer to ready him for the season.

The coordinator said a source of some of the confusion last year was the team’s inability to effectively relay a play to Jefferson in the huddle, which left LSU scrambling against the play clock as the rule more than the exception.

“We feel that we can quicken up the way we call things,” Crowton said. “We’re trying to get Jordan Jefferson to be faster at getting a play from the sideline, communicating, and getting that snap count, so the clocks not running down to five-four-three-two-one snap.”

With another year as the full-time starter, LSU head coach Les Miles added he believes some of last season’s mental errors will disappear.

Miles also gave his thoughts on the quarterback’s development and said he’d like to see the junior become less of an individual player and more of a leader this year.

The ability to do that is what the coach said is the next step in Jefferson’s progression.

“He has to see that the quarterback position is more than just one of 11 guys that just calls the play and runs it. It is different,” Miles said. “He has to run the offense, understand what the play is designed to do and how to attack the defense. He has to put some of those young players into position for us and communicate effectively so those players that need a coach on the field can turn to a quarterback and understand.”

Jefferson said Miles’ message has been made prevalent all throughout the summer, and with the season coming this weekend, the quarterback said he understands that No. 9 is in charge of LSU’s offense.

“When I’m in the huddle, I control those guys. They are learning all the time, so when I go out there, I manage the plays and control them,” Jefferson said. “Then we run the plays until they are excellent.”

Being able to rise up in the face of adversity, that helps, too, according to Miles, who agreed with his quarterback’s tough-skinned approach and said what didn’t kill Jefferson in 2009, will definitely make him stronger in 2010 – something that might be bad news for LSU’s 12 opponents this year.

“When you have a tough man at quarterback, leadership will eventually come to him because he has to be tough,” Miles said. “Kicking him in the tail [like in 2009] is generally great guidance for a guy that has some tough skin.”

LSU junior quarterback Jordan Jefferson audibles during last season’s opening game at Washington. The Tigers expect big things from Jefferson in his second season as the full-time starter. STEVE FRANZ LSU SPORTS