Sept. 21, 2010

Ask any member of Louisiana Tech's offensive line what they admire most about Jared Miles and the answer won't have anything to do with football. It also won't have anything to do with good grades, leadership skills or him telling funny anecdotes.

The first answer that will come out of their mouths is they admire his red beans and rice. And why not? This guy can cook!

It's hard not to believe a group of individuals who average over 300 pounds as they talk about how good Miles' cooking is. Quite the stamp of approval.

"We're always trying to get him to cook for us," said fellow offensive lineman Rob McGill. "Jared's a really good cook. We love whenever he wants to cook anything."

His cooking roots actually go back much farther than his football roots (Miles started playing football in eighth grade) as Lynnel Miles, Jared's mother, first inspired him to start cooking.

"I guess I get it from my mom," said Miles. "She'd cook and ask how it tasted. Of course, it was always delicious. When I cook, I want to get that sense of satisfaction that I cooked something good. I like seeing other people's reactions when they taste my food."

Miles admits he will use his off-field talents every so often, something his fellow offensive linemen revel in.

"I cook for (the offensive line) every so often," explained Miles. "I cook red beans and rice - that seems to be their favorite dish from me. I like cooking a lot. I can cook red beans, pastas, fried chicken, hamburgers and any kind of breakfast."

His red beans and rice seem to be his signature dish, not surprising from someone who was born and raised in the Crescent City. Red beans and rice is one of the most prominent dishes served in restaurants all across New Orleans.

Miles' red beans and rice did more than just fill up his and his teammates' stomach, however. It may have also helped him launch a potential career.

Search the name Jared Miles on YouTube and you will quickly come upon links to his television debut, summoning his inner Emeril Legasse in a short cooking show. Originally aired on Tech TV, Louisiana Tech's on-campus student run television station, Miles paired with fellow offensive lineman Corbin Best to host a segment of "Seasoned Holidays" where the duo taught viewers how to cook a delicious pot of red beans and rice.

Since then, Miles and Best have starred in their own cooking show on TechTV, dubbed "Frugal Fixings with Corbin and Jared."

"I have not had his red beans and rice, although he's had mine," said Louisiana Tech offensive line coach Pete Perot of Miles' cooking. "I've seen his cooking show on YouTube, but I have not had his red beans and rice. Yet."

It is a little surprising Perot hasn't had Miles' red beans and rice yet but perhaps the linemen is waiting to perfect his recipe before serving up a dish for his coach. Maybe then Perot will call him Chef Lumpy, having already given him the nickname "Lumpy" that Miles is now known by.

"I really don't know how exactly the nickname Lumpy came up," Perot said, laughing. "Just one day, because he's a little chubby and he shakes a little bit, I just started calling him Lumpy, and it became his nickname. He's funny about it. He takes everything as not being a personal thing. He just kind of laughs it off and is just a great person and a great guy."

While Perot doesn't remember the exact day, it stands out very clear in Miles' mind.

"The first time he called me lumpy - I had a little roll on my side," Miles recalled. "He came and grabbed my roll and said `Yeah, we've got lumpy here.' I remember that day - he gave everyone nicknames."

"I think he's a well-spoken guy. Anybody that ever meets Jared usually likes him, just off first impressions. The first thing you see when he says hello or when you say hello to him, there's always a smile on his face. That's a great impression of what kind of young man he is and what kind of family he came from." Offensive line coach Pete Perot

"When he came in to my high school, I was called into the office to talk to him," Miles said. "I came in and he was just sitting there smiling. It's just a Perot thing - he has a little smile or smirk, he grabbed my belly and said `We really want you, daddy.'"

It was Miles' size and power on the field that first caught the eye of Tech's offensive line coach that recruits south Louisiana for the Bulldogs.

"Jared was a kid that we recruited that was a real powerful guy," said Perot. "At that time, we were going to start running the offset I formation and things like that. I felt he had good enough feet plus he had power to knock people off the ball. That's what we really saw on the film that we watched. He played hard all the time and was always downfield blocking."

His work ethic on the field has also transferred off the field, where he is lauded by his teammates and coaches for his leadership in his words and his actions. Perhaps it is the adversity of a knee injury that he has overcome that has developed that leadership instinct. Miles hyper-extended his knee at Army in 2008, an injury that followed him through the entire season.

"It was obviously tough on him, but Jared is a really tough person and a strong individual," McGill recalled. "All you can do is just keep working and push on through it. I've been really proud of him. A lot of guys would just tank it after getting injured like that, but he's really come back strong."

The coaching staff also sees the leadership skills he brings to the team and the high esteem with which his teammates have for him.

"Jared has really become a great leader," said Perot. "The reason I say that is because he shows it by example and also by talking and getting guys going, working hard and trying to do all the right things."

"I think he's a well-spoken guy," Perot continued. "Anybody that ever meets Jared usually likes him, just off first impressions. The first thing you see when he says hello or when you say hello to him, there's always a smile on his face. That's a great impression of what kind of young man he is and what kind of family he came from."

Those leadership skills, like his talents in the kitchen, go back farther than football to his home.

"If I ever made a mistake, (my mother) would teach me how to do things the right way. From then on out, it was up to me to continue to do things the right way and not make those mistakes again," said Miles. "She's always my strong point. When we were struggling, she never showed that she was struggling and was always a source of strength for me."