SEC PREVIEW LSU

The Leonard & Les show

LSU running back Leonard Fournette speaks to the media at the Southeastern Conference NCAA college football media days, Thursday, July 14, 2016, in Hoover, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Twelfth in a series previewing SEC teams entering the 2016 season.

HOOVER, Ala. — Les Miles enters his 12th season at LSU as the SEC’s longest-tenured head football coach, a scenario that didn’t seem likely late last season.

Three consecutive losses after a 7-0 start and a No. 2 ranking in the College Football Playoff poll triggered reports that LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva and some members of the school’s board of supervisors were set to dismiss Miles after LSU’s regular-season finale on Thanksgiving night.

The heat was on Miles after a 30-16 loss at Alabama and a 31-14 home loss to Arkansas. Media reports revealed Miles was “coaching for his job” before the Tigers fell 38-17 at Ole Miss.

It was the first time LSU had lost three consecutive games by 14 or more points since 1966.

But Miles was greeted at Tiger Stadium by cheers and mostly favorable signs in the crowd, while Alleva was roundly booed when he appeared in a recorded message before LSU’s 19-7 victory over the Aggies.

Miles was carried off the field on the shoulders of 300-pounders Vadal Alexander and Christian LaCouture and was informed he was being retained.

Miles always had the backing of his players.

“He was cool the whole time,” All-America tailback Leonard Fournette said. “He always told us to just play for ourselves, but at the end of the day that is our head coach, and without his signature on those letters we wouldn’t be here, so we play for him.”

Tigers center Ethan Pocic said the public mess wasn’t fair to Miles.

“Those games that we lost were on us,” he said. “Coach Miles is one of the best. You look at his record, look at the stats. … We won that [A&M] game, won the bowl game, and now we’re headed into this season on a roll.”

Miles enters the 2016 season with a .778 winning percentage at LSU, second to Nick Saban’s .847 percentage at Alabama, among active SEC coaches at his current school. Saban was Miles’ predecessor at LSU.

The Tigers return the second-most experienced team in the conference, paced by Fournette, who led the country with 162.8 rushing yards per game and broke the school single-season record with 1,953 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns.

Three starters on the offensive line, receivers Travin Dural and Malachi Dupre, tight end Colin Jeter and eight members of a veteran, well-regarded defense return as starters.

So does quarterback Brandon Harris, which could be a good or a bad thing.

Harris passed for 180.4 yards per game to rank seventh in the SEC and completed 53.8 percent of his passes, lowest among the top 10 quarterbacks in the league. The Tigers’ inconsistent passing attack was most often cited as the cause of their three-game losing streak last November.

“Everybody’s asked me about Brandon, and I think he’s going to do a marvelous job this year,” Fournette said at SEC media days. “His confidence level is high. … I’m just ready to see the new Brandon Harris when Sept. 3 comes. He has a new swag to himself.”

Said Miles, “I think we could expect more from our quarterback play and our receiver play.”

Anthony Jennings, the team’s primary quarterback starter in 2014, transferred to Louisiana Lafayette after not playing at all last season.

When a reporter pointed out to Pocic that Fournette had “the worst game of his career” with 31 yards on 19 carries in the loss to Alabama, Pocic had his tailback’s back.

“It’s on the whole offense,” he said. “In order to run the ball, we’ve got to pass the ball. In order to pass the ball, we’ve got to run the ball. It’s got to be a complete offense. We just didn’t find a way to get it done.”

Miles kept embattled offensive coordinator Cam Cameron but brought on a new receivers coach in Dameyune Craig, the former Auburn quarterback and assistant coach, and a new running backs coach in Jabbar Juluke. Miles also made a change at defensive coordinator, where Kevin Steele, now at Auburn, will be replaced by projected up-and-comer Dave Aranda, who was last at Wisconsin.

Coincidentally, the Tigers open the season against Wisconsin at famed Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis.

LSU has high expectations with Miles and all its returning starters back. The media picked the Tigers to finish second in the SEC West behind Alabama.