ESPN College Football

HOOVER, Ala. -- LSU coach Les Miles can't escape the quarterback question, not even in Iraq or his own bedroom.

And certainly not Friday at Southeastern Conference media days.

Miles related a story about visiting U.S. armed forces in Iraq with former South Carolina coach Lou Holtz and former Tampa Bay Devil Rays majority owner Vincent Naimoli in June as part of a weeklong tour set up by the United Service Organizations.

Late on his last night, a soldier dropped by to pop the quarterback question: "OK, coach, tell me who's starting at quarterback?"

The next night, he got home at 3 a.m., nudging his wife awake because jet lag was keeping him awake.

"She was mad," Miles recalled. "And she rolled over and looked at me, gathered her wits about her and goes: 'So tell me, who are you going to play at quarterback?"

The short answer is probably the strong-armed JaMarcus Russell, who started the first 12 games and is listed as the starter. Or maybe Matt Flynn, who led the Tigers to a 40-3 win over Miami in the Peach Bowl when Russell was sidelined by a wrist and shoulder injury.

How about Ryan Perrilloux, a redshirt freshman who was widely considered the nation's top prospect in 2004?

"We have three good quarterbacks," Miles said. "I promise you the competition at the position will kind of necessitate great play."

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AUBURN SUSPENSIONS: Coach Tommy Tuberville said linebackers Kevin Sears and Tray Blackmon will be suspended for "several games" following legal run-ins.

Blackmon, a redshirt freshman, was ordered to participate in a 90-day pretrial program after his arrest for underage drinking in May.

Sears was convicted earlier this month of public intoxication, leaving the scene of an accident and driving while legally intoxicated.

Tuberville wouldn't specify how many games either player would miss.

"We aren't going to talk about them for awhile during the season," he said. "They're going to have to work their way in."

Sears was suspended for the Georgia game following his arrest last season, but Tuberville said the conviction warranted further punishment. Blackmon was projected as a starter.

Tuberville said either Merrill Johnson or converted safety Steve Gandy would likely fill that spot.

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BULLDOGS' PROGRESS:@ Mississippi State's Sylvester Croom feels like he finally has the offensive personnel to run the West Coast-style system.

The Bulldogs finished last in the league in passing last season, relying heavily on tailback Jerious Norwood and the ground game.

With Norwood gone, Croom signed three wide receivers to help sophomore quarterback Michael Henig and the passing game. He also moved quarterback Omarr Conner to receiver.

"We can finally run the offense now, do the things that we like doing," Croom said. "Basically, we withdrew into a shell last year, became a very conservative football team, because we didn't have a lot of receivers and because of inexperience on the offensive line."

Henig started the final three games last season. He broke a toe on his left foot running up stairs in June, but said a doctor cleared him this week to participate in practices next week.

The Bulldogs have won three games in each of Croom's first two seasons. Henig thinks both the offense and the record should see improvement this season.

"He is through with the baby steps," he said. "Our goals are to win the division, go to a bowl game and just give the fans what they want."

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MEYER'S MISSION:@ Recruiting services declared Florida's latest signing class the nation's best. Coach Urban Meyer is going to wait a few years before reaching his own conclusion, but he does plan to give the newcomers plenty of playing time as freshmen.

"Because of the sheer numbers of that 26-player freshman class, we'll play quite a few," he said.

As for evaluating the group, he prefers to wait and judge them by the standard set by one of the Gators' recruiting classes during the early 1990s.

"The 92-93 (class) walked out of there with five championship rings: Four SEC and a national championship," Meyer said. "That's a great recruiting class."

While the freshmen have drawn plenty of buzz, the strength of this team might be a 20-member senior class -- three-quarters of whom are likely starters, including quarterback Chris Leak.

Meyer also feels better about his running game. He called last year's ground game "arguably as bad as I've ever seen. A group of three running backs that really was not anywhere near what the University of Florida should expect."

Those three runners -- Markus Manson, DeShawn Wynn and Kestahn Moore return -- but with a notable difference, Meyer said.

"Completely different attitude and work ethic, which is all you really care about."

^QUOTABLE:@ "They built a national championship program at Miami. When I was playing at Alabama, Miami was a homecoming team every week. They built a national championship program at Florida State, they built one at Clemson. Why can't we build one at Mississippi State? There's no difference."

Mississippi State's Croom on rebuilding his program.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index