Nelson Stokley’s injury derailed the 1966 LSU football season, and the team scuttled to a 5-4-1 mark, the worst of Cholly Mack’s young tenure. The injury forced McClendon to put the lightly recruited Freddie Haynes, “The Littlest Tiger,” into the starting lineup early and the team suffered accordingly.
However, the 1967 team promised to build on the hard luck of the prior year by granting the coach with a bevy of talented and experienced players. Freddie Haynes, the team’s leading passer and rusher, would return to a backup role, as McClendon got his senior quarterback back. He also returned the team’s top running backs, Tommy Allen and Jim Dousay, as well as his leading receiver, Tommy Morel.