Les Miles will be announcing his new co-defensive coordinators and special teams coach today, and - more importantly - possibly also addressing the Official Wild Rumor of the Weekend: Ryan Perrilloux has been booted (again) from LSU.

Fanblogs' Kevin Donahue poked around and came up with a scenario:

Reportedly, thousands of people with various levels of interest were informed of Perrilloux's empty locker by New Orleans TV station WDSU Saturday, but for anyone else, the story is shrouded in deafening secrecy. The station has nothing online, and none of the state's mainstream papers - the Times-Picayune, Baton Rouge Advocate or Shreveport Times - have anything aside from the afore-linked note by the Advocate's Glenn Guilbeaux that Miles may address the story today. Or he may not. Web stalwart "Dandy Don" has heard nothing substantial and would, against a good deal of past evidence, "be very surprised if Perrilloux is in any kind of trouble with Les Miles and the coaching staff," but I wouldn't trust Don about anything except the final score, maybe.

If you're looking for delicious, wildly overwrought rumors, one place you will not find them is the biggest LSU message board, the fecally-themed Tiger Droppings. Admins there are banning any form of Perrilloux speculation with a singleminded fury, which would seem to defeat the purpose of a message board. The only posts that have survived on the subject are this thread from last week on the quarterback's father passing, sarcastic questions about Jarrett Lee, the highly recruited redshirt freshman and prospective starter if Perrilloux gets the boot, and some thread headlined "RP" that speculates on his love of soda and ice cream. There are stray references to Perrilloux as "the cancer," underpinning the question "Do some of you want RP to fail?" Maybe - black quarterbacks in Louisiana are always thought by some segment of the local commentariat to be one misstep from an avalanche of fan hatred - but you will find nothing therein about his status on the team. If you can't post irresponsible and wholly unsubstantiated rumor with only the flimsiest basis in reality, what else is there?

Given his recent past - the infamous "four Heismans" prediction, alleged involvement in a federal counterfeiting ring, an arrest at a casino door (in a state that would put alcohol in the water supply if it could engineer it, no less) that earned a summer-long suspension from the team last year - there's nothing surprising about the thin ice under Perrilloux's feet cracking again; last summer, I even doubted the school's most hyped recruit of the last decade would ever suit up for LSU again. The complicating issue this time, obviously, is the death of the elder Perrilloux, which seems like a quite reasonable excuse to leave the team for a while in the middle of the offseason, and for slightly crazy fan/TV station reaction.

The Tigers start Spring practice March 4. If Miles doesn't deliver another "Have a great day" barrage at trigger-happy TV rumormongers today, there is some good chance his starting quarterback won't be there.

Update [2008-2-18 18:42:24 by SMQ]: Perrilloux is gone gone gone per Les Miles: "Ryan has been suspended indefinitely due to his failure to follow team rules." Have a great day.

Of course, he said that last May, too. 'Indefinite' leaves some significant wiggle room, but Jarrett Lee is the man until further notice. Hell, he could own every passing record by the time he's done! Perri-whoux?