The Baton Rouge community has been shaken by the shooting death of Alton Sterling, and the emotional toll taken on the LSU football team is now evident.

During LSU’s appearance at SEC Media Days on Thursday, head coach Les Miles opened up his talk on the main stage with a message about the mood of his football players and staff, and what he hopes to see transpire with his team moving forward.

Here’s what Miles had to say with his opening statement:

“I work in a place that is committed to providing our student athletes with an exceptional experience,” Miles said. "The tragic events of the last week, they have certainly taken the national spotlight, those areas include Baton Rouge.

"We have had several meetings. We met with the entire staff. It was not about our roles as coaches or staff, but more about who we were as people. I wanted to listen. I felt like it improved our communications.

"I have had two small meetings with leadership on my team. I broke that meeting into position groups. I felt like we brushed the surface of the issues. I don’t know if we got to the depth we needed. That has to continue, certainly at our place.

"When you look at what’s gone on in our country, and you look at the culture of a football team, people have to buy in and have to have great energy and have to work hard and do their job. When they do that, they come alongside a team effort. They are embraced by the team. They enjoy the position they have, and they are productive. That team is significant. If you have great talent, you can have a talented team, but you need everybody. I feel like our society is the same. We need everybody.

“If you look up and watch the representation of our country on live TV, you realize that change is necessary. It comes through all of us, everyone in the room. Certainly me. It’s inclusive. You reach for others, and you have to be respectful of their life and their opinion and who they are.

“I don’t know, personally, that I have processed the emotion that I see when the country is displayed as it is. What I would like to do is have our guys have a platform where they could affect change. I think they are wonderful men. They are constantly involved in roles. They are a student, they are a football player and they are role models. Society chases them. They want them at the party and in the magazine and they want their autograph. They are constantly barraged with 'whats the answer.' The reality is, you put them in position to have the greatest positive impact, because they are the future.

“(SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said) Sport has the way to unite people, and I agree with him. I hope that the Tigers do their best, and that happens in Baton Rouge, because Baton Rouge is home."