LSU's Baker breaks jaw; Davis pushes for starting role
Part of the Where Are They Now? section
BATON ROUGE, La. — Ryan Baker had done everything necessary since spring practice to secure his place as a starting weakside linebacker on the Louisiana State University football team.
Baker’s path was obscured temporarily when the former Blountstown standout suffered a broken jaw in a collision with a teammate in practice on Aug. 13. Tigers coach Les Miles originally predicted the injury would require four to six weeks to heal, and Baker will sit out the team’s season opener against North Carolina in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic on Saturday at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
The game begins at 7 p.m. CDT and will be televised on ABC.
“He was having a great camp,” Miles told reporters after the injury. “It was a pretty routine, but heavy-hitting drill, and it was unusual contact. Basically a glancing blow hit him in the chin. I saw the contact. I did not think it was as significant as it was.”
Baker, a 6-foot, 220-pound junior, suffered four breaks in the bone, and the team hasn’t set an official return date. Miles has said redshirt freshmen Kevin Minter (6-1, 225) and Lamin Barrow (6-1, 220) will fill in for Baker.
Davis challenging Bolden
Former Mosley running back Enrique Davis seems to have turned a positive corner in his college career, and he’s listed No. 2 on the Mississippi Rebels’ depth chart behind starter Brandon Bolden. If Davis’ performance since spring ball has been an indicator, it may not be long before he supplants Bolden as the top tailback in Oxford.
Davis gets another opportunity to prove his worth when the Rebels host Jacksonville State at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Davis (6-1, 220) has compiled 354 yards on 96 carries in a career that has yet to live up to lofty expectations placed on him coming out of high school and briefly was tarnished by an arrest for disorderly conduct in 2009. Meanwhile, Bolden (5-11, 215) lost his starting job last season and is trying to retain it in 2010.
ESPN.com reporter Chris Low, who covers the SEC, posted in a blog recently that Davis “has played some of his best football this preseason and displayed some of the same moves that made him one of the top running back prospects in the country when he signed with the Rebels.”
Smith on scout team
Darrell Smith (6-3, 190) faced a sizable adjustment this year making the move from Port St. Joe to a major college football program at Arkansas, and that process took another step when the true freshman was named to the Razorbacks’ scout team this week.
