The history of women in college football is mostly limited to extra point tries, with the exception of West Alabama's Tonya Butler, who was a full-time field goal weapon in 2003. So how could Mo Isom fit in with the LSU Tigers football team, seeing as returning starter Drew Alleman was one of the country's best field goal kickers last year?
Les Miles himself has said he'd be happy to bring on Isom, but not just for attention. "The real interesting thing," Miles said, "is there has to be an advantage obtained*." Advantage obtainable maybe, sir:
LSU FEMALE KICKER: LSU does need a kicker for kickoffs, not FGs. Kicking off is Mo's best chance to make team. LSU struggled there last yr.
— Glenn Guilbeau (@LSUBeatTweet) March 7, 2012
* Of course that's an actual Les Miles quote about the actual topic at hand.
Freshman James Hairston handled most of LSU's kickoffs in 2011. He was good, posting touchbacks on 22.9 percent of his kicks, which would've ranked LSU No. 26 in the country if he'd done them all. But he didn't, and the Tigers ranked No. 45 in touchbacks and No. 54 in average kickoff length. For a team so dominant everywhere else on special teams (LSU ranked in the top 25 in punting, punt coverage, kickoff coverage and field goals), ranking in the middle of the pack looks out of place.
Hairston was solid once he took over kickoffs in Week 4, soon HAMMERING Arkansas with five touchbacks in one game. So on the year as a whole it looks like it was a weakness, but it really wasn't, once Miles found his guy.
The point is that Hairston could have competition now. Surely he spent all offseason doing leg curls on the leg curl machine. If he did not, he may lose his job to a girl for one year, so long as said girl can kick a ball really far.
How far can Isom kick a ball? She can kick a ball far as f---:
This has been 350-something words on LSU's kickoff specialist depth chart.
For more on Tigers football, visit LSU blog And The Valley Shook, plus SEC blog Team Speed Kills.