An LSU MILEStone; Miles’ First Recruiting Class Reaches Senior Status

**GeauxTo** · 05-25-2009, 07:42 PM

The 2009 senior class will become the first class to be recruited and coached by Head Coach Les Miles at LSU. With the exceptions of DT Charles Alexander, who was granted a sixth-year of eligibility because of medical hardships, and S Harry Coleman, who was recruited by Nick Saban in 2004, but did not join the team until the spring of 2005, when Miles was hired, there will not be a player on this year’s squad that has experienced another coach’s philosophy.
Throughout the last four years, as Coach Miles was racking up double digit season wins, an SEC championships, a National Championship, and a perfect 4-0 bowl record, the pundits have given a lot of credit to his predecessor Nick Saban for leaving the players to Miles to win with. Not that Florida coach Urban Meyer won with Ron Zook’s players in 2006 or even that Nick Saban won last year with Mike Shula’s players at Alabama, it just seemed to be a label that Coach Miles has had to deal with since he took over the LSU program.

2009 will be the year that Coach Miles finally gets that label ripped off and he can truly call this team his own. The players still remaining from that 2005 recruiting class will make up much of the backbone of the 2009 team. Brandon LaFell, Ciron Black, Lyle Hitt, Trindon Holiday, R.J. Jackson, Chris Hawkins, and Rahim Alem will all be seniors on this year’s squad, along with Alexander and Coleman. All of them currently hold a starting spot, whether it’s on offense, defense, or special teams. These players made up the smallest class recruited by LSU this decade, by in large part to Nick Saban’s departure on Christmas Eve in 2004 during the most critical part of the recruiting season. Miles was left with the unenviable task of coming in and trying to salvage the 2005 freshman class and hopefully hit on a few prospects to keep the program in the right direction. And boy did he ever hit on a few prospects. Of the 13 players signed in 2005, 10 of them played prominent roles in LSU’s 2007 SEC and National Championships.

Now with this team made up of all of Miles’ recruits, it’s time for the coach and the program to prove that they have made the right choice no matter what anybody says. It doesn’t matter how high he is on Top Ten Coaches List or that he shares nicknames with a fictional characters, the only fact remains is that he wins. As one displaced Tiger fan told me after listening to what Colin Cowherd said on ESPN Radio this week, Coach Miles is one of sport’s most underrated figures. He’s doesn’t get the hype that the Nick Saban’s and the Pete Carroll’s of the world get, yet he’s 4-0 in bowl games with a National Championship under his belt. He doesn’t need the hype, he just wins.

That’s all that matters in this day and age. Win or go home. Miles has found a home in Tigertown and now he must continue to win. With the foundation he has laid himself, with the right players and coaches he has recruited and hired, Coach Les Miles should continue to win in 2009 and beyond.