Mike the Tiger is seen here pondering all the chill Instagrams he’d be taking if only he had opposable thumbs. (AP)

By Holly Anderson

LSU blog And The Valley Shook has an interview up with Ginger Guttner, director of public relations for the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, concerning life with Mike the Tiger. The whole thing is worth a read, but we know what you’re thinking:

So he doesn’t actually do the tweeting himself?

No, Mike’s not able to tweet himself. While he does have wifi in the habitat, I don’t think any computer we would give him would survive.

That clears that up. Read on.

LSU running back Jeremy Hill rushed for 755 yards and 12 touchdowns last season. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

By Zac Ellis

Some unfortunate news came out of Baton Rouge over the weekend, as LSU running back Jeremy Hill was arrested early Saturday morning after being involved in an altercation outside a bar near the school’s campus.

The school announced on Monday that Hill has been suspended indefinitely.

LSU RB Jeremy Hill has been indefinitely suspended from team for his involvement in off-campus incident over the weekend.—
Michael Bonnette (@LSUBonnette) April 29, 2013

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By Holly Anderson

LSU could fund any number of non-revenue sports by getting Les Miles to leave outgoing voicemail messages for donors.

“Have a GREAT day.”

Ex-LSU star Tyrann Mathieu is projected as a mid-round 2013 NFL draft pick. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

By Zac Ellis

Ex-LSU star Tyrann Mathieu, formerly known as the “Honey Badger,” might have gotten away with more than people thought during his days in Baton Rouge. According to USA Today, Mathieu told one NFL team during a pre-draft interview that the number of drug tests he failed at LSU went into double digits.

According to an assistant coach for the team, Mathieu responded: “I quit counting at 10. I really don’t know.”

The NFL assistant coach explained that not all the blame should fall on Mathieu, though. He holds LSU responsible for enabling one of its star players.

Read More…

Here you can see Gunner Kiel beginning his run from South Bend to Cincinnati. (Robin Alam/Icon SMI)

By Zac Ellis

The Gunner Kiel saga took its latest turn on Wednesday, when ESPN’s Joe Schad reported that the ex-Notre Dame quarterback is set to enroll at Cincinnati. Kiel will sit out the 2013 season before looking to compete for the starting job in 2014.

Kiel has been tied to a number of high-profile programs since the Indiana native first committed to his home-state Hoosiers in 2011. He flipped to LSU during his senior year, then changed his mind again only days before the enrollment deadline, when he signed with Notre Dame.

Once Kiel announced his intention to transfer earlier this year, he considered Kansas State, Mississippi State and Ole Miss, among others. Ultimately, he bonded with new Bearcats coach Tommy Tuberville and his staff.

Kiel’s decision comes on the heels of Everett Golson winning Notre Dame’s starting quarterback job and leading the team to a berth in the BCS title game last season. This may have also played a role: Cincinnati is only a short drive (93 miles) from Kiel’s hometown of Columbus, Ind.

Most followed CFB Teams on #Twitter: 1. Michigan 132,074; 2. LSU 98,739; 3. Alabama 76,193; 4. Tennessee 63,824; 5. Auburn 58,864—
Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) April 01, 2013

Some thoughts:

• That’s a lot of keys to imagine jangling in the general direction of a lot of computer screens.

• Alabama is not the national champion at something, and we find this deeply unsettling.

• No, we don’t know why that many people want to know about Tennessee or Auburn football either.

LSU defensive coordinator John Chavis is the living embodiment of Wario. We say this with complete affection, and continue to believe this is why he ended up in Baton Rouge, where he’d feel at home in a sea of purple and gold. Also, like Wario, he is pleased to see you get knocked around some:

Nick Saban will have this many five-star running backs on scholarship by the time ‘Bama plays Wisconsin. (AP)

SABAN TO THE COWBOYS (STADIUM)—
Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) March 20, 2013

Fans of large smashy men banging themselves together on a football field while wearing varying shades of red, rejoice: 2015′s season-opening Cowboys Classic will feature Wisconsin and Alabama on September 5. You will recall that the Tide have a history of recent success in Arlington; ‘Bama returns to Atlanta for the 2013 season opener versus Virginia Tech. The move extends a streak of interesting-looking high-profile nonconference matchups, with LSU and TCU scheduled for 2013 and Florida State and Oklahoma State (States Florida-and-Oklahoma?) booked for 2014.

Touted quarterback prospect Gunner Kiel is off and running — and we don’t mean out of the pocket! (AP)

Gunner Kiel’s recruitment has been going on for so long that we weren’t even working here yet when we started writing about it. For those of you just joining us, a brief timeline:  The 6-foot-4 pro-style quarterback, who fielded offers in high school from elite programs such as Alabama, Notre Dame, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma, USC and Wisconsin, originally committed to Indiana in something of a recruiting shocker back in July 2011. He reopened his recruitment in October 2011, and narrowed his subsequent choices down to LSU, Notre Dame and Vanderbilt. Kiel’s second commitment was to LSU in December 2011, but he re-decommitted in January 2012 and enrolled early at Notre Dame. This is about the time The Les Miles Chest Video happened.

Fast forward to 2012, in which Kiel redshirted and watched Everett Golson lead the Irish to an undefeated regular season and BCS championship game showing against Alabama. Now, Kiel intends to transfer out of South Bend. Tommy Rees, Andrew Hendrix and freshman Malik Zaire would fill out Notre Dame’s quarterback depth chart behind Golson.

Fans of neutral-site football played in climate-controlled environments will find much to enjoy on opening weekend. (AP)

Unaffiliated viewers of high-profile neutral-site college football games, rejoice: There will be no choosing between the God’s House O’Chicken Kickoff and the Jerrydome Football Space Camp Classic this year. Per a Tuesday ESPN announcement, the Atlanta game, Alabama vs. Virginia Tech in the Georgia Dome, will kick at 5:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 31, while the Arlington clash, TCU vs. LSU at Cowboys Stadium, will get underway at 9 p.m. With the potential pointsplosion of Georgia at Clemson lurking in between at 8:00 p.m., it’s shaping up to be a very fine first Saturday indeed. Just under six months to go! [weeps uncontrollably]