Perrilloux ready for Miles’ call

• By SCOTT RABALAIS AND CARL DUBOIS
• Advocate sportswriters
• Published: Jan 6, 2008 - Page: 4C

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NEW ORLEANS — At LSU’s BCS Media Day session Saturday, the usual suspects were set up on platforms for greatest media access. There was one for coach Les Miles, as well as Glenn Dorsey, Matt Flynn, Jacob Hester, Craig Steltz and Early Doucet.

Backup quarterback Ryan Perrilloux sat in some floor seats with the rest of the team that Monday night will be occupied by the Ohio State band. But that didn’t mean he didn’t draw a crowd.

This last year was one of incredible ups and downs for Perrilloux, from being questioned in a federal counterfeiting probe to being charged for trying to get on a Baton Rouge riverboat casino with his brother’s ID — Ryan turned 21 New Year’s Day — to his role in an off-campus bar fight during the season.

Somehow he turned it all around and came through in the clutch when the Tigers needed him, earning MVP honors subbing for Flynn in LSU’s 21-14 SEC Championship Game win over Tennessee.

“Everyone makes mistakes,” Perrilloux said. “Coach Miles has given me a second chance. The team has accepted me back in. Ever since then I’ve been trying to be the right person for the ball club, do the right things, and be a positive mentor for the younger guys.”

Perrilloux is hopeful he can become more a part of the offense again. He was extremely limited before the Tennessee game, not playing or seeing only spot duty in the Tigers’ last four regular-season games.

“I definitely will be strapped up and ready to go,” Perrilloux said. “I’ll be standing right next to coach, waiting for them to call my number.”

The other No. 11
Kelvin Sheppard wants to set the record straight while he still has time this season:

That is not Ryan Perrilloux playing at linebacker and on special teams, trying to curry favor with LSU’s coaches. It’s Sheppard, a redshirt freshman from Stone Mountain, Ga.

“It’s getting old,” Sheppard said. “As the season went on they would do it all the time. Then they realize it’s not Ryan.”

It’s not as though Sheppard has had an invisible season. He has played in every game and has 21 tackles.

Though former LSU All-American and current Dallas Cowboys linebacker Bradie James also wore No. 11, Sheppard is thinking of changing to No. 9 next season.

Walk on the wild side
Miles and his wife Kathy spent about a half-hour strolling down Bourbon Street on Friday night. The two weren’t mobbed, but the coach made the occasional stop to sign autographs or pose for photos. “I enjoyed it,” Miles said. “It was a lot of fun. It was cool, but really enjoyable.”