It”s unclear whether Les Miles will even suit Ryan Perrilloux up for the Alabama game Saturday [Perrilloux will not make trip to Tuscaloosa], but it”s clear that after whatever went down at The Varsity (the Baton Rouge live music venue, not the famous Atlanta drive-in) last Thursday, Ryan is once again in Leslie”s dog house. Never-used freshman linebacker Derrick Odom was charged with a misdemeanor and dismissed from the team, but no charges have or likely will come against Perrilloux. Odom was apparently captured on video - along with two others who have not been identified - coming back to The Varsity after hours, faces covered, trying to get into the place and ultimately smashing the window of an SUV. Derrick, I hope you enjoy junior college.
But the Perrilloux situation is much murkier and odd. It”s been reported that Perrilloux called his lawyer early Friday morning about the Varsity fight that started a string of allegations, so he was probably at the club and somehow involved in the fight. Almost 24 hours later, a Varsity employee told police that Perrilloux had pointed a gun at him, but later decided to drop the issue and said he could not pick Perrilloux out of a photo lineup.
See if you can:
Now, I know TV camera men have a hard time telling Perrilloux apart from Kelvin Sheppard when they”re both standing on the sideline wearing No. 11, but you”d think somebody who says “Ryan Perrilloux pointed a gun at me” would be able to identify Ryan Perrilloux in a photo. Obviously that situation smells of a Varsity employee who was making things up or an attempt to not have The Varsity / Chimes associated with the ultimate demise of Ryan Perrilloux (they do a fair business on game weekends, you know).
So Perrilloux may have done nothing worse than being out at The Varsity late on a Thursday night during LSU”s off week and being with guys who got in a fight. Yet Les Miles seems to have banished Perrilloux once again, not referring to him by name when discussing the quarterback situation this week and holding him out of practice all week and announcing today he won”t play Saturday because he”s missed practice.
Is that fair? Probably not. But Perrilloux has once again made himself a distraction for the Tigers, so he”s lost the benefit of the doubt. LSU players say their coaches constantly reinforce the idea that football players are targets and to always be aware of where you are, what you”re doing and who you”re with. For a guy like Perrilloux - poised to be the starter next year, likely to have a shot at the NFL and carrying the weight of two prior off-field problems - the best idea is to just avoid situations like he found himself in Thursday night. And for God”s sake, if a fight breaks out, walk the other way. Explain to your boys that you”ll give them $100,000 when you sign your NFL deal instead of getting their back right now.
I wouldn”t look for Perrilloux to get much more than mop-up duty the rest of the season. Would Leslie”s attitude be different if Matt Flynn”s ankle were still gimpy? Maybe so, but the fact of the matter is Perrilloux isn”t a big part of LSU”s offense, so it”s an easy choice for Miles to make.
I”ve been a proponent of more Perrilloux playing time, but Miles and Gary Crowton haven”t exactly structured the gameplan around him seeing a lot of action. I can”t find the stats for total snaps played, but his game-by-game pass attempts / rush totals look like this:
Mississippi State: 6
Virginia Tech: 9
MTSU: 33 (Flynn injured)
South Carolina: 9
Tulane: 5
Florida: 7
Kentucky: 7
Auburn: 5
Even with Flynn”s injury and Perrilloux”s 298-yard night against MTSU, it”s clear the trend is not toward a deeper involvement for Perrilloux this season. The Tigers might find themselves in trouble if Flynn goes down (the other alternatives being the guy from Harvard who”s not in the media guy and taking the redshirt off of Jarrett Lee), but Miles clearly believes he can win with Flynn and Perrilloux”s poor judgment will quiet the calls to get him into the games more often.
Only time will tell the fate of Ryan Perrilloux. Will he finally heed the advice of his coaches and just stay home at night? Will he continue to be in the wrong places and find himself off the team? Will he end up in Mike”s cage threatening tiger-cide late one night? We shall see.
But for the rest of 2007, don”t expect to see No. 11 on the field much - except on kicks, and that”ll be Kelvin Sheppard.
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