Tigers eager to see Jefferson in action

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 11, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 6:18 a.m.

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Among those players who figure to be affected most by the looming shift in the LSU quarterback continuum, the consensus Monday was the added wrinkle of freshman Jordan Jefferson is something to look forward to over the final three weeks of the regular season.

LSU coach Les Miles said Sunday that Jefferson deserves a chance to play.

During his weekly press gathering Monday, Miles reiterated that it’s time to see what the 6-foot-4, 209-pound freshman can do.

The Tigers dipped to 6-3 (3-3 Southeastern Conference) with a 27-21 overtime loss to top-ranked Alabama on Saturday. The loss ended LSU’s dwindling prospects of winning the SEC West Division and marks the earliest point of a season the Tigers have had three losses since 2002.

As a result, LSU is in a position to test out different options for this season and going into 2009.

Jefferson is one of those tantalizing unknowns. And with starter Jarrett Lee struggling with interceptions, there may not be a better time to take Jefferson for a test run.

The 18-year-old former Destrehan star isn’t likely to start anytime soon, but he will apparently get a chance to run the offense in more meaningful situations than he has in games this season against North Texas, Mississippi State and Tulane — a total of 10 snaps so far this season.

“We’re kind of curious,” LSU tailback Charles Scott said. “You don’t know what to expect and want to see what he could do if he got a shot. He can run the ball pretty fast and has a strong arm. It depends on how he gets in there and reacts to live fire.

“I think the best way to learn is baptism by fire. It’s starting to get to the point of the season where you want somebody to play and see if they make a difference with the team, see what they can do in a real situation.”

Miles has been hesitant to insert Jordan into a more prominent role because the young QB hasn’t completely mastered the complexities of the Tigers’ playbook.

Where that comfort level is now — after Miles said Jefferson took 50 percent of the practice snaps last week — was a question posed Monday.

“I think there will be things that Jordan is really good at,” Miles said. “I think it’ll be a cross section of the offense. I don’t know if it’s as clean as Andrew Hatch’s and Jarrett’s definition would be, but he really took a lot of snaps last week, and he’s really improving. We really think he’s more ready now than he’s been. We are going to take a cross section our offense and the things that he does best and do it and see how he plays.

“I don’t think that there is really anything completely off his plate. I think there are those things he’s better at within formations and play series, and I think we’ll ask him to do those things, but I think you’ll find that he’ll be in spread passing situations where we throw it.”