LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux, who had legal and disciplinary problems throughout his college career, was kicked off the defending national championship football team.

Coach Les Miles said Perrilloux "didn't fulfill his obligation as an LSU student-athlete."

Perrilloux was a backup to Matt Flynn for the Tigers, who defeated Ohio State to win the national title.

"Ryan was given every opportunity to be a part of this football team," Miles said in a release on Friday.

In 12 games last season, Perrilloux completed 51 of 75 passes for eight touchdowns and two interceptions.

Perrilloux, who was suspended by the Tigers last summer, was on the fringe of a counterfeiting investigation and was caught trying to enter a Baton Rouge casino with false identification. He also was involved in a fracas at a nightclub in November, but was cleared of wrongdoing.

Miles suspended Perrilloux, whose father died Feb. 7, in mid-February after he missed a team meeting, skipped some classes and was late for a handful of conditioning workouts.

Perrilloux had to meet academic requirements and do extra conditioning work before he was reinstated April 6, in time to go with the Tigers to meet President Bush at the White House.

Perrilloux was not allowed to play in LSU's spring game.

MORE FOOTBALL

MAGAZINE RANKS DEACS NO. 24: Athlon Sports, which publishes sports preview publications, tapped Wake Forest as the No. 24 team in the nation for its ongoing college football preseason countdown on Friday.

The publication is also picking the Jim Grobe-coached Demon Deacons to finish second in the ACC's Atlantic Division behind Clemson.

Also, quarterback Riley Skinner will be on the cover of the regional edition of the magazine, which hits stores May 27.

BRIEFLY: Tennessee redshirt freshman offensive tackle William Brimfield has undergone ankle surgery. Brimfield hurt his ankle during the Vols' Orange and White spring game.

* The NCAA ruled Friday that transfer quarterback Ryan Mallett must sit out a year before playing for Arkansas. The Razorbacks had asked the NCAA to waive the requirement that Mallett sit out a year. Mallett transferred from Michigan after coach Lloyd Carr retired and was replaced by Rich Rodriguez.

BASKETBALL

VOLS' LOFTON HID AILMENT: Always the quietest member of Tennessee's team, Chris Lofton managed to keep the biggest secret of his life from his teammates and fans during his senior season.

The former guard, who struggled with his shooting through the first half of the season, had been treated for cancer after a random drug test last year tipped off school officials he had a tumor.

Lofton told reporters the testicular cancer was the hardest thing that he's ever gone through and didn't want it to overshadow his teammates during what turned out to be a history-making season for the Vols.

He decided to reveal what he went through once he realized it might help other people.

"Sometimes I wanted to tell all my teammates, but I just couldn't get it out to them," Lofton said Friday before the team's end-of-season banquet. "I thought keeping it to myself for the whole season and waiting until after the season to say it would be better."

Beating cancer was the hardest thing the Maysville, Ky., native has ever gone through, but it's certainly changed him.

For one thing, Lofton -- who admits he's a man of few words and often shies from the media as a player -- doesn't seem to struggle to talk about the treatments which weakened him so much last summer that he didn't work out or shoot a basketball until just weeks before the season started.

Next page >