Spring Football on the horizon, Baseball prepares for Illinois

Spring Football is in the air. The LSU Football team starts spring drills in less than a week. The team will welcome a host of new coaches (and some true freshmen) when it returns to the practice field on March 12, including new defensive coordinator John Chavis, simply known as The Chief.

There will be a lot of question marks for the team, especially at the all-important QB position. The QB spot was a bane for last year's team, which had to break in inexperienced quarterbacks following the departure of Ryan Perrilloux. Andrew Hatch has transferred back to Harvard, leaving Jarett Lee, Jordan Jefferson and incoming freshman Russell Shepard to compete for the starting role.

Another question to be answered is if Chavis can revive a defense that gave up gobs of points last year. Chavis will need to replace three defensive line starters: Kirsten Pittman, Tyson Jackson and Ricky Jean-Francois. Rahim Alem is expected to start at one end.

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In LSU Baseball news, the baseball team will host Illinois (5-1) for a three-game stand at Alex Box Stadium. The No. 1 ranked Tigers (9-0) have outscored their opponents 109-25 through their first nine wins. First pitch tonight is at 7pm CT.

Related Article:
No. 1 Baseball to Face Illinois Prior to SEC Play

In LSU Basketball news, the Tigers (25-5, 13-2) return to action on Saturday when they travel to Auburn (20-10, 9-6). The game, which tips-off at 3pm CT, will be televised by Raycom.

LSU has wrapped up the overall SEC title, but is still fighting to improve its RPI ranking and land a high seed in the NCAA tournament.

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Johnson, Mitchell, Thornton Earn National Accolades

That's all for today...have a good weekend and Geaux Tigers. And, as always, you can discuss LSU Sports on the Tiger Rant message board, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.