Should Harold Perkins be Mr. Inside or Mr. Outside? It seemed like that question was settled by Perkins' ineffectiveness at inside linebacker this past season, and his return to semi-effectiveness when LSU's coaches moved him back outside. But LSU coach Brian Kelly wants Perkins back inside. He tells our Wilson Alexander in an exclusive interview the reasons why. I can sense many of you out there are upset, incredulous, frozen in your tracks. (hey, you're letting the oatmeal boil over on the stove). It seems at first glance a shocking decision to me, too. I will say, in Kelly's defense, he didn't win over 300 career games (yes, including the ones at Division II Grand Valley State) without knowing a thing or two about football. Perhaps the problem was the teacher and not the plan (read: former defensive coordinator Matt House). It's Kelly's program. This is his decision. He's certainly owned it and is certainly sellng it. We will all bear witness to whether it turns out to be the right move or not. Men's basketball makes a quick turnaround Tuesday night from Saturday's sobering 20-point loss to Mississippi State with a home game against Georgia (6 p.m., SEC Network). The Tigers despite that loss are still in the hunt for an NIT berth but they in no way can afford another home loss here down the stretch. Women's basketball fans I'm sure are still in a buzz (in a much different way from football fans over the whole Perkins inside linebacker news) over the 26-point performance Hailey Van Lith had Sunday in the Tigers' 75-60 win at Tennessee. It was, by the way, just LSU's fifth win in 28 tries at Tennessee but its second-biggest margin of victory there. The win finally lifted LSU in the AP poll to No. 9, which is where the Tigers' NET ranking (the main metric used by the mercurial NCAA women's basketball selection committee) to seed the NCAA Tournament field. That should mean LSU is at least a 3 seed, right? We'll see when the committee has its second top 16 reveal Thursday night while LSU is in Georgia for its last road game. Finally, softball has stayed on a serious roll, starting the season 13-0 and vaulting all the way to No. 5 in one poll. What is making the Tigers go so well so far this season? We explain. Thanks for reading and subscribing folks. You are the Harold Perkins to our inside linebacker position. Well, let's give it some time to figure out what that means. Scott Rabalais |