Stop yapping: It’s YOUR fault Jeremy Hill is back at LSU
August 13, 2013
Saints ‘win ugly’, focus on growth in 2nd game
August 13, 2013
LSU will have its top returning rusher for the 2013 season.
Tigers coach Les Miles announced this week that his program has reinstated sophomore halfback Jeremy Hill to the team.
Hill was suspended from the team throughout the summer after being arrested and charged in a Baton Rouge bar fight.
Video surveillance from the fight shows Hill hitting a victim with a closed fist while he wasn’t looking. Video also captures the halfback celebrating with other bar patrons following the punch.
He was welcomed back to the squad after a judge ruled on Monday that Hill would not serve jail time for his role in the fracas.
He pleaded guilty to one count of simple battery in the incident.
Miles said he left reinstatement up to the team, which voted to reinstate the sophomore halfback to the roster.
“He stood in front of his teammates and discussed this event in depth and really talked to them in a way that would say, ‘This is what you don’t do and why you don’t do it, and I’m sorry,’” Miles said. “They voted to have him back. He was not going to be invited back to practice had he not been voted to come back.”
“I would like to apologize to my teammates and community,” Hill said to the media – his first public comments since the fight. “I made a poor choice in judgment. But since then, I’ve learned from that mistake. I will continue to be a better person and continue to be a better teammate.”
Hill may be back on LSU’s depth chart, but his position remains unknown.
Miles has said publicly that Hill has lost his starting spot to Alfred Blue, who is now healthy after missing most of the 2012 season with a knee injury.
Miles said that Hill reported to practice “rusty as heck” because he wasn’t allowed in the Tigers’ football complex during his suspension.
He added that Hill would need to make up for lost time if he expects to be placed back into the team’s rotation.
“He didn’t look anything like the Jeremy Hill that we saw before,” Miles said on Monday. “He better get back to practice if he expects to play at all.”
While Hill works himself into playing shape, Miles and his staff will now decide whether or not the halfback will miss game action via an internal suspension.
Miles said he and his unity council would decide what team-related punishment would be levied unto Hill going forward.
The coach didn’t rule out game suspensions for the Baton Rouge native, who rushed for 755 yards with 12 touchdowns last season as a true freshman.
“We will bring him back to practice,” Miles said. “We are not certain about further punishment. There will be some and it will be comprehensive. Again, we look at the person and it will be internal, as well.”
The Tigers open the 2013 regular season on Aug. 31 against TCU.
As per terms of his plea deal, Hill will receive extended probation. But his probation will work around the Tigers’ schedule meaning that he will be able to break curfew when the team is on the road.
“The reality is we are people,” Miles said. “And we are flawed – every one of us. Hopefully we learn by our mistakes and we continue to improve. I think Jeremy Hill certainly has a chance to do that strongly.”
Freshmen impress at camp
When not talking about Hill’s suspension, Miles spent time showering a slew of his freshmen with love.
The coach said that the Tigers have a very talented group of young players with a chance to see playing time in the fall.
He said that the players are found both on offense and defense. He touted freshmen defensive backs Tre’Davious White and Rickey Jefferson, freshman linebacker Kendall Beckwith and junior college transfer wide receiver Quantavius Leslie as guys who will make early impacts.
“I like our team,” Miles said. “I like the development. I like what we are doing on offense, defense and special teams. The young guys just stand out. (White) makes spectacular plays. Beckwith is very big, fast and a very skilled man. Jefferson is going to be a good player. Quantavius Leslie is a newcomer. There are guys that I have not mentioned that are going to play a lot of football. I like our team.”
Barrow chosen to wear No. 18
Each year, LSU’s leadership council elects a player to wear No. 18 – a number in Tigers history that is reserved for a player with high character and also top-notch skill.
The Tigers announced that linebacker Lamin Barrow will wear the number in 2013. He will join former LSU players like Matt Mauck and Jacob Hester who were also elected to wear the number.
“It’s just a huge honor and I’ve very humbled by it,” Barrow said. “To be in the same class as (those other guys) means more to me than any individual award. It’s a great honor to represent our team in this way.”
Barrow is heading toward his fifth season in Baton Rouge. He said he was chosen by his teammates over quarterback Zach Mettenberger, Alfred Blue and Craig Loston who were also considered.
You’re my boy Blue
Most of the media’s eyes regarding LSU’s tailbacks have swarmed to Jeremy Hill and his legal issues.
But Tigers players tout that a bigger story is slipping through the cracks.
LSU’s players said throughout the start of camp that 2012 opening day starter Alfred Blue is healthy and better than ever after missing the back-half of last season with a knee injury.
Mettenberger said the media needs to give Blue a little love, too.
“It is a funny thing about college football,” Mettenberger said with a laugh. “The media talks about him for the first four games and then Blue gets kind of forgotten (once injured). He is a seasoned veteran for this team and he is going to be a work horse for us.”
Blue started last season as LSU’s top back.
He opened up the 2012 season with back-to-back 100-yard rushing games.
He suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Tigers’ win against Idaho in week three.
Blue dressed out for the Alabama game late in the season but didn’t play.
The Boutte native said he is healthy and ready to make his senior season his best.
“I feel 110 percent out there,” he said. “The first day, it felt like I was free, like a chain has been taken off of me and I could just go and run free.”
LSU halfback Jeremy Hill turns the corner against South Carolina during a game last season. Tigers coach Les Miles said that Hill has been placed back on the LSU roster now that a Baton Rouge court has ruled that he will not serve jail time for his guilty plea in a bar fight.
