Williford game-time decision for USC

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Miles said Hurst is dealing with personal issues and has missed some time

By RICHARD FISCHER
Tiger Rag Associate Editor

LSU head coach Les Miles met with the media Wednesday afternoon as he always does during football season.

Many questions involved LSU’s struggling offensive line that has just simply had players dropping like flies.

Josh Williford, the latest Tiger to get injured seriously, suffered a concussion in the second quarter against Florida. He did not return to the game, and redshirt freshman Trai Turner played the remainder of the game in his spot.

Williford has not yet been cleared to play, but Miles says he’s gotten better since Saturday.

“We would expect maybe a game-time decision there,” Miles said. “I think it would be a little premature to suggest he’d return to practice but I think he’s done a little bit of work and we’ve enjoyed it. I think there’s a great opportunity for him to see what the back end of the week holds.”

If he is unable to play, Miles said Turner will start at right guard. That ends speculation that Miles could move Josh D. back to guard.

Elsewhere on the O-Line, there’s doubt regarding the status of tackle Alex Hurst. Miles said he has missed some time due to a nick and some “personal issues.” However, he added, “We don’t expect that he will miss the back end of the week.”

Josh D. came into the Florida game at left tackle for Hurst on LSU’s second to last drive of the contest.

When asked if Hurst expressed interest in not being part of the team anymore, Miles said, “No. Not to me in any way.”

He continued, “I think there are some things that we need to work out, and certainly [Hurst is] very part of the team. We expect him to play based on things that have not been worked out.”

If Hurst doesn’t play Saturday, expect Dworaczyk to start at left tackle and Vadal Alexander at right.

At linebacker, the loss of Kwon Alexander (ankle) for the remainder of the regular season opens up a spot at Sam linebacker after he started there in LSU’s last two games. Luke Muncie started the first four there before making way for Kwon Alexander. When asked if Muncie will regain his starting spot, Miles said, “I think Muncie will certainly get more reps because of it, but I still think there’s some quality young guys that will vie for time there.”

By “quality, young guys” you can be sure he’s referring to most notably Deion Jones but also Lamar Louis and Ronnie Feist as well.

Miles was agitated when told that a couple players indicated in a media session earlier this week that a loss this weekend ends their national championship hopes.

“I think talking about that at that point in time is way premature,” Miles said. “This is about feeling good Sunday. This is about taking care of our immediate goals and that’s victory. Just one at a time.”

He added that he’ll “correct” the players for not focusing on the task at hand tomorrow night.

Kickoff for the next one in LSU’s one-at-a-time series is Saturday night at 7 against South Carolina, and the game will be broadcasted by ESPN.