The first official practice isn't until Thursday, and the first full-field workout won't take place until Sunday afternoon. Nobody will don pads until Monday. But the excitement and hoopla of LSU football is already in the air.
Mo Isom certainly feels it. The fifth-year senior and former soccer star and homecoming queen made headlines by trying out for a placekicking spot in the spring. She didn't make it then. But she is expected to take another stab at a coveted roster spot this week.
It's a long shot, especially to make a team most experts pick as the favorite to win the SEC.
Les Miles isn't likely to spend a lot of time on his kicking game. That aspect of this Tiger team is solid, and Miles has too many other things on his plate.
Sophomore punter Brad Wing is on the preseason watch list for the Ray Guy Award, and field goal kicker Drew Alleman is one of 30 players on the watch list for the Lou Groza Award for outstanding kicker in the country.
To think that Isom will displace Alleman or any of his backups is to stretch optimism beyond all reasonable bounds.
Miles knows this. That's why he told the Baton Rouge Rotary Club, "The idea that she beats (Alleman) out in pressure kicks during preseason practice? Not likely. She's going to have to compete. Knowing Mo, that's what she wants to do. She wants to win the job right. She doesn't want to be given anything."
Isom has been mum on her plans. Her Twitter page continues to be full of inspirational messages, the same sort of uplifting passages that made her one of the most beloved figures of the spring campaign.
"You are loved," was the only message she posted on Wednesday, the first day of team meetings.
"I have not heard that she's not going to try out again," Miles told the Shreveport Times last week. "So I suspect she'll be out there. She deserves the opportunity out of respect to the great career she's had and the kind of person she is."
People have taken a keen interest in Isom because of the kind of person she is. If she were to make it – again, a highly unlikely prospect at this point – she would be the first female player on a college team ranked preseason No. 2 in the nation. And at 6-foot-1 and just under 170 pounds, she would be anything but a shrinking wallflower on the field.
"She has the size and body strength to be a kicker," Miles said. But he was quick to add, "We do have a lot of depth there."
Isom made it clear in the spring that she wasn't trying out as a publicity stunt, and that she did not want or expect any special treatment. "I just want to do whatever I can to continue to be a Tiger," she said.
There will be no press conference if she is cut and no running to the nearest camera if she makes it. Isom isn't like that. Never has been.
She will probably just make an announcement on Twitter or her blog where she shares her life and faith openly.
Her Twitter page leads with: "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity. 1 Timothy 4:12"
