BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -Patrick Peterson can’t say with certainty how well he’s doing in his first season as LSU’s No. 1 cornerback.
Confidence problems? Hardly.
The last couple teams to play the seventh-ranked Tigers have avoided throwing to Peterson’s side of the field, so he hasn’t been tested much.
“It’s pretty hard to tell how I’m doing as a corner right now, but that just goes to show I must be doing something right if they’re making game plans for No. 7,” Peterson said, referring to his jersey number, after practice this week.
Peterson was one of the most sought-after recruits in the country coming out of high school in Pompano Beach, Fla. Several recruiting publications called him the top high school cornerback in the nation in 2007, and he intercepted 12 passes his last two years of high school, when teammates called him things like Primetime, Manchild, Baby Deion (Sanders) and Champ Bailey.
s in a game. He had an interception in a close loss to Alabama last season and forced a fumble in LSU’s Chick-fil-A Bowl victory over Georgia Tech.
Peterson had a busy outing to open his sophomore year as well, making a career-high nine tackles and recovering a fumble in LSU’s victory at Washington. In the past two games, however, he’s had two tackles combined as opponents have stayed away from him.
Peterson figures he’ll be tested soon enough, if not this weekend at Mississippi State, then perhaps the next two games against Georgia and Florida. So far, he’s remained on one side of the field for every snap, but expects to be locked on the star receivers of some of the top SEC opponents the Tigers will take on this season, regardless of where they line up.
Peterson also expects to play those matchups one-on-one.
“Personally, I don’t think I need help, but if push comes to shove, help will be a big boost,” Peterson said.
If he sounds overconfident, few at LSU are saying much to humble him – though wide receiver Brandon LaFell is quick to poke fun at his penchant for trash talk during games or practice.
“When I go up against the best in the game, I just go out there and try to make myself better,” a grinning LaFell said of practicing against Peterson. LaFell was serious, however, when he praised Peterson’s work ethic and improvement during spring football.
er, he’s making the right reads, he’s jamming us now,” LaFell said. “I call him the best in the game. If he wants to call himself that, he can call himself that because when he gets out there in pads he backs it up.”
LSU coach Les Miles calls Peterson “one of those young men that can really play. He’s big, strong, physical and fast, and has a natural instinct for” playing cornerback.
Peterson insists he’s not as arrogant as he sounds. His parents decided to move to Baton Rouge when he enrolled at LSU and his father, a former high school coach, is among his biggest critics.
“I pretty much don’t let my head get off my shoulders. I’ve been like that since I was a kid – always stay humble,” Peterson said. “But when I’m on the field I most definitely get in the receiver’s ear and kind of let them know what they’re going to get all night. That’s just something that hypes me up personally.”
Peterson has had lessons in humility before, at least off the field. In high school, his freshman grades were not good enough for him to play football as a sophomore. Though he completed summer courses, his father made him sit out anyway.
ng me come to the games (watching from the stands) and it was hard.”
Peterson now thanks his parents – he calls them “the best parents in the world” – for making him a better student. In the long run, he said, they also helped his football career, which could get a lot more interesting in the next few weeks.
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