BATON ROUGE, La. (August 10, 2012)--LSU announced Friday it has dismissed Heisman Trophy finalist Tyrann Mathieu from its football program for violating school and team rules.

The junior defensive back nicknamed Honey Badger was a surprising Heisman Trophy candidate last season as the Tigers won the Southeastern Conference championship and reached the BCS title game.

LSU lost the championship 21-0 to Alabama and Mathieu lost the Heisman to Baylor’s Robert Griffin III.

At a news conference Friday, coach Les Miles would not specify the reason Mathieu was kicked off the team.