Collee football roundup: Mathieu may want to return to LSU
If LSU is willing to forgive, cornerback Tyrann Mathieu can forget.
Mathieu, dismissed for violating team policy, has considered transferring to an FCS school to play immediately, but is reportedly open to sitting out 2012 and returning to play for the Tigers next season.
ESPN reported Mathieu would accept the one-year suspension, remain enrolled and attend classes in hopes of being allowed to play at LSU in 2013.
Mathieu visited McNeese State but Jackson State, a rumored option, told USA Today it had not heard from Mathieu as of Monday morning.
Mathieu, the top defensive player in the nation last season, was a force for a team that went undefeated during the regular season. Multiple reports have said that the Heisman Trophy finalist failed a drug test. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported a player would likely need to fail three or four drug tests to be kicked off the team based on the school's disciplinary policy process.
If reports of a failed drug test are true, Mathieu couldn't play at another NCAA university, though he would be eligible to enter the 2013 NFL draft.
--Southern Cal coach Lane Kiffin stirred controversy last week when he was forced to set straight comments he made to reporters.
Kiffin said he wouldn't select USC as the No. 1 team in the nation but USA Today, which oversees and tabulates votes in the poll, forced Kiffin to clarify when it looked back to find that, in fact, he did vote USC first in the debut coaches' poll.
In a letter to USA Today and American Football Coaches Association director Grant Teaff, Kiffin said "I find it necessary to relinquish my voting status."
--UCLA middle linebacker Patrick Larimore won't play this season, leaving a gaping hole in the center of the Bruins' defense.
Larimore will "medically retire" from football, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
He had a recurrence of concussion-related symptoms Tuesday and missed practice. Larimore emerged as a game-changer in the middle as a sophomore, when he unseated Patrick Sloan. He was UCLA's defensive MVP in 2012, leading the Bruins with 81 tackles.
