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LSU GOES THROUGH FIRST SCRIMMAGE OF PRESEASON CAMP
BATON
ROUGE – LSU held its first scrimmage of the preseason here Wednesday as
the Tigers went through an abbreviated 56-play workout indoors at the
Charles McClendon Practice Facility.
The Tigers used the
first half of Wednesday’s session as a regular practice followed by the
situational scrimmage. The scrimmage saw LSU focus on redzone and tight
zone situations as well as working on all phases of special teams.
Statistics were not released.
LSU will have its first full-scale scrimmage of camp on Saturday morning in Tiger Stadium.
“I
certainly enjoyed the work,” LSU coach Les Miles said following the
workout. “We were sloppy, we had penalties and we’re not playing
exactly how we’d like. But what we can do is run the football and throw
it with some understanding, and our defense is very difficult to
handle.
“I like where we are at. Again, we are not
ready to play a football game, but we certainly will be. Boy that
defense looked awfully good at times. Offensively we looked
awfully good at times. It’s a work in progress, but we have some
weapons.”
The scrimmage featured a combination of 1s vs. 1s and 1s vs. 2s at different times.
Offensively,
the Tigers primarily ran the ball, but appeared to be very effective
behind senior quarterback Zach Mettenberger when they did throw it
during the scrimmage.
“I think we are throwing the ball
better than we have,” Miles said. “I think we are still pounding the
rush, and that’s the difficult issue for defenses. We probably
ran the football more than we threw it today, but when we threw it, we
threw it for completions and very well.
“So we still enjoy
handing the ball off, and I think that’s what’s making our passing game
really difficult to deal with. And, I think (offensive
coordinator) Cam’s (Cameron) given some expertise in that area of the
game that we needed.”
Miles singled out the offensive play
of its wide receiving corps, which is led by a pair of juniors in Odell
Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry.
“Odell Beckham had a big
day and (Jarvis) Landry had a big day,” Miles said. “We ran the
football well with Kenny Hilliard and Alfred Blue each having some
really nice carries. The offensive line is a little nicked, but playing
very well.”
Defensively, Miles said he was pleased with the play of the defensive front, led by junior Anthony Johnson.
“Anthony
Johnson is very tough to block and the ends played hard and
aggressive,” Miles said. “I like us. I think we’re coming.
Anytime you see a partial scrimmage, a situation where you are down
tight to the goal line, it becomes hard to figure out what was a long
drive and what wasn’t. But we didn’t have a turnover.
That’s the offensive good news. And defensive, wish we’d had
some.”
LSU Football Notebook
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Freshman Melvin Jones has switched sides of the ball and is now working
out at both tight end and fullback.
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Redshirt freshman linebacker Trey Granier has left the team and is
expected to transfer to an in-state FCS school. Miles said of Granier,
“he’s a quality person. He did everything we asked him to do, and
he did it very well. We just have a different path at this point
and we wish him the very best.”
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