2002 SEC Football Previews

2002 SEC Football Spring Preview Index

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY "TIGERS"

QUICK FACTS

Location: Baton Rouge, La.
Founded: 1860
Enrollment: 29,022
Stadium: Tiger (91,600)
Chancellor: Dr. Mark A. Emmert (Washington, '75)
Faculty Representative: Dr. William P. Culbertson (LSU, '63)
Athletics Director: Skip Bertman (Miami, Fla., '61)
Head Football Coach: Nick Saban (Kent State, '73)
Off. / Def. Systems: Multiple / 4-3
All-Time Record: 628-362-47 (.628)
SEC Championships: 8 (1935, 36, 58, 61t, 70, 86, 88t, 2001)
Bowl App. / Record: 33 / 16-16-1 (.500)

2001 IN REVIEW

2001 Record: 10-3 (.769) (5-2 H, 3-1 A, 2-0 N)
SEC Record/Finish: 5-3 (2-2 H, 3-1 A) / T1st Eastern
Bowl: Nokia Sugar Bowl (Jan. 1), LSU 47, Illinois 34
National Ranking: 8th - USA Today/ESPN; 7th - AP
Home Attendance: 633,439 (90,491)

SEC/NCAA Statistical Rankings
Total Offense: 2nd / 11th (451.5)
Rushing Offense: 6th / 58th (153.3)
Passing Offense: 2nd / 11th (298.2)
Scoring Offense: 3rd / 29th (30.9)
Total Defense: 10th / 75th (396.0)
Rushing Defense: 5th / 21st (116.6)
Pass Efficiency Defense: 8th / 76th (128.9)
Scoring Defense: 6th / 39th (22.3)

2001 RESULTS
(10-3 Overall -- 5-3 SEC)

Sept. 1		TULANE				91,782	W	48-17
Sept. 8		UTAH STATE			87,756	W	31-14
Sept. 29	at Tennessee (ESPN)		108,472	L	18-26
Oct. 6		FLORIDA (CBS)			92,010	L	15-44
Oct. 13		at Kentucky			52,471	W	29-25
Oct. 20		at Mississippi State (ESPN2)	45,514	W	42-0
Oct. 27		OLE MISS (ESPN2)		91,941	L	24-35
Nov. 3		at Alabama (CBS)		83,818	W	35-21
Nov. 10		MIDDLE TENNESSEE		88,249	W	30-14
Nov. 23		ARKANSAS (CBS)			89,560	W	41-38
Dec. 1		AUBURN (ESPN)			92,141	W	27-14
Dec. 8		vs. Tennessee (CBS)		74,843	W	31-20
		(SEC Championship Game - Atlanta, Ga.)
Jan. 1		vs. Illinois (ABC)		77,688	W	47-34
		(Nokia Sugar Bowl - New Orleans, La.)

2001 STATISTICAL LEADERS

RUSHING    	G    	ATT  	YDS  	AVG  	PG	TD	
* L. Toefield	12	230	992	4.3	82.7	19
* D. Davis	12	75	406	5.4	33.8	5
* D. Henderson	11	47	273	5.8	30.3	1
LSU		12	451	1840	4.1	153.3	28
Opponents	12	375	1399	3.7	116.6	9	
 
PASSING		G    	ATT  	CMP  	INT  	PCT  	YDS	TD
R. Davey	12	367	217	10	59.1	3347	18
* M. Mauck	3	41	18	2	43.9	224	0
LSU		12	411	238	12	57.9	3578	18
Opponents	12	457	261	18	57.1	3353	25

RECEIVING	G	REC	YDS	AVG	RPG	TD	
J. Reed		12	94	1740	18.5	7.8	7
* M. Clayton	12	47	754	16.0	3.9	6
* J. Myers	12	39	461	11.8	3.3	1
LSU		12	238	3578	15.0	19.8	18
Opponents	12	261	3353	12.8	21.8	25

PUNTING		NO   	YDS  	AVG  	LP	BLK
* D. Jones	47	2054	43.7	68	1
LSU		48	2054	42.8	68	1
Opponents	61	2529	41.5	63	0

KO RETURNS	NO   	YDS  	AVG  	TD   	LP
* D. Davis	22	418	19.0	0	59
LSU		36	718	19.9	0	59
Opponents	59	895	15.2	0	47

PUNT RETURNS	NO   	YDS  	AVG  	TD   	LP
* D. Davis	19	263	13.8	1	71
LSU		23	257	11.2	1	71
Opponents	26	154	5.9	0	19

TACKLES		TOTAL		TFL	SACKS	INT	FC-FR
T. Faulk	119 (77-42)	5 (-17)	2 (-11)	0	1-0
* B. James	113 (78-35)	8 (-14)	3 (-4)	0	1-1
R. Clark	 88 (63-25)	4 (-9)	0	3	0-1
* N. LeJuene	59 (41-18)	3 (-8)	0	0	0-0
* D. Hookfin	55 (42-13)	2 (-2)	0	1	1-0

* - Returning Player

TEAM INFORMATION

LETTERMEN
Returning: 40 (20 Offense, 15 Defense, 5 Specialists)
Lost: 16 (7 Offense, 9 Defense, 0 Specialists)

STARTERS RETURNING -- 17
Offense (6):
SE Jerel Myers (5-11, 180, Sr.)
LT Rodney Reed (6-4, 288, Jr.)
LG Stephen Peterman (6-4, 300, Jr.)
C Ben Wilkerson (6-4, 275, So.)
FB Solomon Lee (6-1, 229, Sr.)
TB LaBrandon Toefield (6-0, 225, Jr.)
Defense (6):
RT Chad Lavalais (6-3, 270, Jr.)
SLB Jeremy Lawrence (6-3, 236, Sr.)
WLB Bradie James (6-3, 238, Sr.)
LCB Damien James (5-11, 191, Sr.)
RCB Demetrius Hookfin (5-11, 174, Sr.)
SS Norman LeJeune (6-1, 180, Sr.)
Specialists (5):
RS Domanick Davis (5-10, 211, Sr.)
PK John Corbello (5-11, 220, Sr.)
P Donnie Jones (6-3, 217, Jr.)
SN Wendell York (5-11, 197, Sr.)
H Blain Bech (6-1, 172, Jr.)

STARTERS LOST -- 10
Offense (5):
RG Dwayne Pierce (6-3, 315, Sr.)
RT Jason Baggett (6-5, 310, Sr.)
TE Robert Royal (6-5, 261, Sr.)
FL Josh Reed (5-11, 205, Jr.)
QB Rohan Davey (6-3, 239, Sr.)
Defense (5):
LE Kyle Kipps (6-4, 275, Sr.)
LT Howard Green (6-2, 320, Sr.)
RE Jarvis Green (6-3, 265, Sr.)
MLB Trev Faulk (6-3, 230, Jr.)
FS Ryan Clark (6-0, 192, Sr.)
Specialists (0)

NOTE: Specialists include kicker, punter, holder, snapper, punt returner and kickoff returner if they are not already listed at another offensive or defensive position.

2002 SCHEDULE

Sept. 1		at Virginia Tech	Blacksburg
Sept. 7		THE CITADEL		BATON ROUGE
Sept. 14	MIAMI (OHIO)		BATON ROUGE
Sept. 28	MISSISSIPPI STATE	BATON ROUGE
Oct. 5		LOUISIANA LAFAYETTE	BATON ROUGE
Oct. 12		at Florida		Gainesville
Oct. 19		SOUTH CAROLINA		BATON ROUGE
Oct. 26		at Auburn		Auburn
Nov. 9		at Kentucky		Lexington
Nov. 16		ALABAMA			BATON ROUGE
Nov. 23		OLE MISS		BATON ROUGE
Nov. 29		at Arkansas		Little Rock

COACH NICK SABAN

Alma Mater: Kent State (1973)
Coaching Experience: Kent State Graduate Assistant 1973-74; Kent State Assistant 1975-76; Syracuse Assistant 1977; West Virginia Assistant 1978-79; Ohio State Assistant 1980-81; Navy Assistant 1982; Michigan State Assistant 1983-87; Houston Oilers (NFL) Assistant 1988-89; Toledo Head Coach 1990; Cleveland Brown (NFL) Assistant 1991-94; Michigan State Head Coach 1995-99; LSU Head Coach 2000-.

SABAN YEAR-BY-YEAR

Year	School		Conf.	 Pct.	All	 Pct.	Bowl
1990	Toledo		7-1	.875	9-2	.818	
1995	Michigan St.	4-3-1	.563	6-5-1	.542	Independence
1996	Michigan St.	5-3	.625	6-6	.500	Sun
1997	Michigan St.	4-4	.500	7-5	.583	Aloha
1998	Michigan St.	4-4	.500	6-6	.500	
1999	Michigan St.	6-2	.750	9-2	.818	*Citrus
2000	LSU		5-3	.625	8-4	.667	Peach
2001	LSU		5-3	.625   10-3	.769	Sugar
TOTALS		       40-23-1	.633   61-33-1	.647	8 Years
LSU Record	       10-6	.625   18-7	.720	2 Years
Michigan St. Record    23-16-1	.588   34-24-1	.585	5 Years
Toledo Record		7-1	.875	9-2	.818	1 Year
Bowl Record		                2-3    (.400)

* - Did not coach in bowl game

TIGER ASSISTANT COACHES

Gary Gibbs (Oklahoma, 1974) - Defensive Coordinator
Jimbo Fisher (Salem College, 1988) - Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
Michael Haywood (Notre Dame, 1986) - Running Backs
George Yarno (Washington State, 1978) - Offensive Line
Lance Thompson (The Citadel, 1987) - Defensive Line
Derek Dooley (Virginia, 1990) - Tight Ends/Recruiting Coordinator
Will Muschamp (Georgia, 1994) - Linebackers
Charlie Harbison (Gardner Webb, 1982) - Defensive Backs
Stan Hixon (Iowa State, 1979) - Assoc. Head Coach/Wide Receivers

TOP RETURNEES

TB LaBRANDON TOEFIELD * 6-0, 225, Jr., Independence, La.
Consensus first-team All-SEC selection ... Tied an SEC record with 19 rushing TDs in 2001 ... Led SEC in that category and total points (114) ... Rushed for 992 yards on 230 carries, finishing second in the SEC in rushing yards per game ... Named SEC Player of the Week against Arkansas, rushing for 173 yards and 3 TDs ... Had four 100+ rushing yardage games in 2001.

LB BRADIE JAMES * 6-3, 238, Sr., Monroe, La.
Named first-team All-SEC by the league's coaches ... Logged 113 total tackles (78 solos), which was second on the team ... Had eight stops behind the line (-14), including three sacks (-4) ... Recorded 10 tackles against Tennessee in the SEC Championship Game ... Had season-best 16 stops in earlier game against the Vols ... Also had 14 tackles against Alabama, 12 against Utah State, 11 against ARkansas and 10 against Florida.