Toliver apologizes to fans, owns mistake

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Senior wide-out contrite following weekend incident with police

Photo of Terrance Toliver, at left, taken by Maggie Bowles

By BEN LOVE
Tiger Rag Acting Editor

In the aftermath of his misdemeanor citations from city police following a fight outside Fred’s bar Saturday night, LSU wide receiver Terrance Toliver addressed the media Tuesday after team practice.

He wore two things quite clearly. The first was a genuine expression of remorse. The second, and more conspicuous, was a heavy wad of tape over a left hand we now know is broken.

Before we get to Toliver’s future, here’s what the senior-to-be had to say:

“I just want to take this opportunity to apologize for the altercation I had on Saturday. That was an embarrassment to the team, an embarrassment to the coaching staff, an embarrassment to the players and my family and also embarrassing to me. That was totally out of my character on Saturday. It won’t happen again. That was my first time ever getting into an altercation like this … I just (want) to tell everybody I’m sorry and tell the fans I’m sorry and forgive me for what happened on Saturday.”

CLICK HERE to listen to Terrance Toliver and Les Miles speak Tuesday.

All of this came without a script or cue cards and was Toliver’s decision. It was also something Miles said he “allowed” the Hempstead, Texas native to do, a decision which goes against how the coach usually handles these types of situations which involve the law.

After Toliver left (he was not permitted to field questions), Miles gave his thoughts on a player he described as a “pretty good egg and good student (who) can make mistakes.”

“He will pay a tremendous price,” explained Miles. “He will practice with that hand. He will sustain some running. His personal embarrassment will be ongoing. But Terrance Toliver’s a good person and I suspect we’ll get by this.”

A wide receiver with a broken hand is still going to practice? According to Miles, yes. And, according to the head man, Toliver will still be accountable during this spring for all the normal aspects of practicing at his position.

“We’ll throw him balls when the read dictates, and he’ll have to catch it. And when he doesn’t catch it, we’re gonna bark at him,” Miles said. ” It’s just the way it is. He’s gonna have to block with it. I didn’t break it, he did.”

Miles also indicated the hand will probably be “casted and taped and rubber-casted for the rest of the spring” before adding that, to his understanding, there “will not be any lasting issues (into the fall).”

While Toliver didn’t practice today, he will rejoin the team at their next session Thursday.

“Right now, we feel like we can cast it and it’s a simple fracture, it’s not something that’s (un)stable. We feel like there’s less risk to practice,” continued Miles.

Should the risk increase, Miles pointed out, the coaching staff would yank the plug on Toliver for this spring.

Finally, Miles said that Toliver also called a forum of his teammates recently to apologize to them as well.

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Ben Love is the acting editor of Tiger Rag and reports mainly on LSU football and basketball. Reach him at ben@tigerrag.com.