LSU Dismisses "Honey Badger" Tyrann Mathieu
BATON ROUGE, La. (CBS4) – The LSU Tigers have been picked to win the SEC and are a preseason top 3 team, but they will have to proceed this year without a returning Heisman Trophy finalist.
LSU head coach Les Miles announced Friday that Tyrann Mathieu has been dismissed from the team for an unspecified violation of team rules. Miles said Mathieu was a "quality guy who had a behavior issue."
"This is a very difficult day for our team," Miles said. "We lose a quality person, teammate and contributor to the program. However, with that being said, we have a standard that our players are held to and when that standard is not met, there are consequences.
The loss of Mathieu is huge for the Tigers who also lost the other 2011 starting cornerback Morris Claiborne to the 2012 NFL Draft. Mathieu had 59 tackles a season ago to go along with 2 interceptions and was the team's most dynamic punt returner.
Mathieu was coming into his junior season and was expected to once again lead a very stout Tigers defense into the treacherous SEC Western division. His loss leaves a large gap at cornerback as he'll be replaced redshirt freshman Jalen Collins.
The dismissal of Mathieu comes after Florida State had to dismiss All-American cornerback Greg Reid and in the same year that Miami dismissed safety Ray-Ray Armstrong from the Hurricanes squad.
