The third school scheduled on the final day of the 2009 SEC Media Days was the LSU Tigers and head coach Les Miles. Les Miles opening comments ranged from dissappointment with the 2008 campaign and the team's hunger for more in 2009. He talked about his quaterback situation and the excitment around the program.

Along with Coach Miles were his OT Ciron Black and LB Jacob Cutrera who also offered some statements on preparation for the 2009 season.

Head Coach Les Miles

Q. Last year was the first year you had kids that hadn't won 11 ballgames in a year. How much of a shock was that to their systems and how did that translate into work ethic in the spring?

COACH MILES: I think there's a level of acceptable achievement at our school. I think our guys understand it. I think championship is how we're measured. I understand how that happens. But it's not any fun.

I had somebody ask me, you know, Is that something you expect? You never expect to finish second, not at LSU.

I think our team has prepared in earnest. I think it will be seen this fall.

Q. What kind of differences should we expect defensively between what you had with Bo Pelini and what you expect now with Chavis?

COACH MILES: I think you'll find that the structure of the defenses are the same. They have the opportunity to operate out of a two shell or a single high. We can put four or three on the field, down linemen. I think that the opportunity to zone dog from the field, boundary, to blitz, I think you'll find that that is the same.

I think what is also similar is a want and a desire to give relentless effort. So I think there will be some similarities, but some differences as well, based on personnel.

Q. Jordan Jefferson had a very impressive Bowl game last year. What is he doing to maintain his ability to get better?

COACH MILES: Well, he's bigger and stronger than he's been. In my opinion, the experience that he had in his true freshman year will benefit him tremendously. You know, so many times you want to get on the field, you want to get on the field, then you realize you have cadence, stems in motions, the ability to execute the offense becomes a little bit harder to do other than when you're standing on the sideline where it appears easy.

That adjustment and that experience will certainly benefit him going into the fall. He has had a great summer. He's stronger. He's bigger. He's run our seven on seven. Our players get together in the evening a couple nights a week and throw seven on seven. Both he and Jarrett Lee have done that. We expect those guys, we expect Jordan Jefferson, to have a great fall.

Q. With John Chavis coming on board, at the end of last season, specifically the Arkansas game, y'all had a few, I think you would call them, on field discipline issues that cost you in penalties, maybe cost the ballgame. In bringing Chavis on board, was that a charge you gave to him to shape up the Tiger discipline?

COACH MILES: No. That's my responsibility. And I took those observations you made in our last game as observations that I also made. I can tell you that that will not happen again.

Q. The struggles that your quarterbacks had last season, how much do you attribute that to inexperience and how much do you value experience in your quarterbacks?

COACH MILES: When you put a young one on the line of scrimmage with the opportunity to execute, and you have schooled him and trained him all through practice snaps, you've gone to live. Live scrimmage, let's say you could get a game in in a two a day schedule. One quarterback could have a solid, full game. The experiences that he might have in that 70 to 90 plays just wouldn't prepare him for the season. It's just not enough.

So what happens is, is you'd like to have one quarterback that took every one of your snaps and you prepared him with every snap he just had for the next snap that he's about to have; that the situation he was just in would compare favorably to a situation he was about to be in, and on the field away from the coaches with a down and distance and a time clock pressuring him. There's nothing but experience that will teach that.

We're fortunate, in my opinion, to have two guys that have experienced that, and at this point in time can look towards their development to happen a little bit more even and with more success.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Trindon Holliday, if you could expand a little more on what he's meant to the program, the fact that he won the hundred meters, he could probably focus just on track, but he's willing to step out and play football for four years.

COACH MILES: I believe, and I've told him this, that he's a football player. I think he enjoys toughness. I think he likes to run the football. I think he does not shy from contact. I think he's been a great example of competitive edge and the ability to advance a guy that has a specific skill and get him on the field and use him.

I think he'll have a great fall. I think we're going to run him from the backfield a little bit more. I can tell you this, that he catches the public's fancy. Certainly every boy, I know my 10 year old is short, and he loves the idea that Trindon Holliday is not big. He's a great fan.

If you have to ask the people in our country who your favorite player is, and they happen to be 12 and under, they're going to come up with Trindon Holliday pretty darn quick, so...

Q. Could you talk about what you think went wrong in the second half of the season and how much that loss at Florida, getting beat that badly, affected your team's confidence the rest of the way.

COACH MILES: Well, I think any time that you have turnovers that mark a series of games, it's the greatest defeating statistic that there is. If you had one statistic, it wouldn't be possession, time of possession, it would not be rushing yardage, it would be turnover margin. I can tell you that, you know, if you look at the year that we won, I think we were second in the country. We finished well behind that this last year.

What has to happen is it has to start fast on both sides of the ball. You can't expect one side to play so much greater than the other that it can overcome miscues.

I certainly understand what happened at the back end of last year. I suspect our team does, too, looking forward to this fall.

OT Ciron Black

On preseason expectations:
"I consider it a blessing. It's preseason. I still have a long season ahead of me and a lot of playing to do. There are a lot of great guys in our conference that will be coming after me. I just have to play."

On Ole Miss:
"Ole Miss is a great team. You can't take anything away from them. They had an unbelievable season year last year. They came after us. It does give us an incentive to play harder. If we go out and do what we're supposed to do, we can beat anybody in this league. But that's if we play like we're supposed to."

On LSU QB Jordan Jefferson:
"He looked really good. He's making his reads right. He's commanding the huddle, Jarrett Lee also. Both of them are commanding the huddle and doing what they're supposed to do as quarterbacks and leaders of this offense.

On his expectations for his senior season:
"Honestly I just want to go out a winner. I want to win on the field and win off the field. I want to graduate and get my degree. I want to be a good player and an example to the younger guys on the team. Just be a great player. On the field, trying my best to be dominant, to finish blocks. To do everything I didn't do last year."

LB Jacob Cutrera

On LSU:
"I think the hunger is there more than ever. From what happened to us last year, that's not our style of play at LSU. That's not how we want to be remembered. We went through the spring hungrier than ever. The intensity was there. Everybody bought into Coach Chavis' scheme that he brought in. That carried over into summer workouts.

On LSU Defensive Coordinator John Chavis:
"Intensity. He's a fired up guy every practice. Those two and a half hours we're out there he's in your face and you'll know when you mess up. He's brought a lot of intensity and the way he does things has helped out."

On playing Florida:
"They come here. It's going to be an exciting game like always. We're excited to have them at home. They're a great team. Tim Tebow and all the other guys and that big blue wall he has in front of him is a hard thing to stop and we're going to have to prepare for that game."

On Ole Miss:
"They're a great team. Every year, it's always a close game between us. I don't remember a time that we've just blown them out, at least not in my time here. They're a great team and deserve everything that they get."

To read the full transcripts, visit http://secsports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=-1&url_subchannel_id=&url_article_id=12864&change_well_id=2.

Rusty Thompson is one of the founders of GatorTailgating.com