Scrimmage Notes:
The LSU Tigers had their scrimmage today in Tiger Stadium, and it was a good day for the running backs, especially freshman Kaleb Jackson, who put on a show and made his case among a loaded running back unit. First, he made a great cut and finished it with power as he bulldozed his way into the end zone with an 18 yard touchdown run. The second play turned out to be the biggest offensive play in the game as the Baton Rouge product caught a screen pass and turned it into a 75 yard touchdown.
The Baton Rouge native gave a glimpse of the raw, physical talent that he possesses and how he could be a big part of the Tigers’ offense in the future. Along with Jackson, Noah Cain got first team reps and accounted for the third touchdown of the scrimmage catching a touchdown pass from Jayden Daniels. Again, Logan Diggs, Armoni Goodwin, and Josh Williams were limited so it also allowed for Tre Bradford and Trey Holly to get a lot of reps at running back. Both backs also got a lot of targets coming out of the backfield.
On the defensive side of the football, the biggest winner had to be Zy Alexander. The former two time FCS All-American from Southeastern had a couple of PBUs on star wide receiver Malik Nabers and he also made a big defensive play when he forced a fumble on Mason Taylor and recovered the fumble. It was a good day for the former Loreauville quarterback as he is starting to cement his case as one of the starting cornerbacks heading into Florida State.
The secondary had a lot of eyes on it during the scrimmage, but handled their own against the talented receiving core. The starting defensive backfield included Alexander and Sage Ryan at cornerback, Greg Brooks at nickel, and Major Burns and Andre Sam at safety. Ryan made some nice plays and Andre Sam saved a touchdown by having a nice PBU. However, while Ryan was making a tackle, he hurt his shoulder and didn’t return back to the scrimmage. In his place was Syracuse transfer Duce Chestnut. With the secondary already not being a deep unit, there will be a lot of questions on how serious Ryan’s injury is moving forward.
Denver Harris returned back with the team and was getting reps with the third team. Freshman standout Ashton Stamps and Laterrance Welch proved to be the next guys up at cornerback.
Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmeier both led touchdown drives.
Daniels completed seven of 13 passes for 59 yards and a touchdown pass to Cain. He also ran twice for 18 yards including a 15 yard scamper on third down to move the chains against the first team defense.
Nussmeier completed five of eight passes for 112 yards with 75 of those yards going to Kaleb Jackson on the screen play.
True freshman Rickie Collins had one drive orchestrating the third team offense. It was a rough outing for the talented freshman from Woodlawn High School in Baton Rouge as he was sacked a couple of times and threw an interception at the end of practice.
The leading receiver was Mason Taylor. Although he fumbled in the scrimmage, he still showed why he was such a reliable outlet for Jayden Daniels last season with four catches for 33 yards.
Five star freshman Jalen Brown made a catch and then proceeded to make Duce Chestnut miss where he ended up getting over 20 more yards.
The most surprising top performer from the scrimmage was third team safety and Kennesaw State transfer Welton Spottsville, who had a sack during that drive and picked off Collins to end the scrimmage on a high note for the defense.
On the offensive line, the biggest news was that Lance Heard was getting first team reps at right tackle making the starting five from left to right: Will Campbell, Garrett Dellinger, Charles Turner, Emery Jones at guard, and Heard at tackle. It looks like the two former Neville Tigers are working their way to book the edges of the offensive line. There was also the conventional first team look we have seen at times with Miles Frazier at right guard and Emery Jones at right tackle.
The second team offensive line had Bo Bordelon at left tackle, Kimo Makane’ole at left guard, DJ Chester at center, Marlon Martinez at right guard, and Zalance Heard at right tackle.
The first team skill position players were Noah Cain and Tre Bradford at running back, Malik Nabers, Kyren Lacy, and Brian Thomas Jr. at wide receiver, and Mason Taylor at tight end.
On the defensive side of the football during the scrimmage, Maason Smith sat out that portion of practice, but was active around the sidelines and was working the exercise bikes. The starting defensive line had Saivion Jones at end, , Ovie Oghoufo at Jack, and Mekhi Wingo and Jacobian Guillory at defensive tackle. The two linebackers were Harold Perkins and Omar Speights with Greg Penn III getting first team looks as well. There were a couple of occasions in which Perkins lined up on the edge as a pass rusher including one time in a pass rushing situation with Bradyn Swinson and Saivion Jones on his side as well. Swinson got some first team looks, but for the most part, he and Jaxon Howard were getting second team looks at jack with Paris Shand getting second team reps at defensive end. On the inside, Jalen Lee and Jordan Jefferson made up the second team defensive line while the Weeks brothers were behind them at linebacker.
The scrimmage was at the end of practice and resulted in 43 plays. Both Daniels and Nussmeier worked two drives while Collins had one drive.
Practice Notes:
The majority of the practice that the media got to watch was orchestrated like a normal practice. All the players either were working with their position coaches or working on special teams.
The Tigers have been working a lot of their time focusing on special teams. Both Damian Ramos and Nathan Dibert were working on field goals and extra points. Damian Ramos made a 47 yard field goal while Nathan Dibert’s 47 yard attempt pulled to the right. Both kickers made their attempts prior to the 47 yard attempts.
Dibert was getting the first looks at doing kickoffs while Jay Bramblett and Peyton Todd got punting opportunities. Returning punts was Aaron Anderson, Kyle Parker, and Gregory Clayton while Anderson, Jalen Brown, and Noah Cain were returning kicks.
The quarterbacks, wide receivers, and defensive backs got a lot of work in 1v1 and 7v7 situations. Nussmeier connected on a beautiful deep ball to Aaron Anderson as Major Burns was trying to cover the Edna Karr speedy receiver product during 1 on 1s.
During 7v7 and red zone, Jayden Daniels and Malik Nabers were both clicking on all cylinders as they connected for a couple of scores. Meanwhile, Shelton Sampson brought in an insane one handed grab by the front pylon in the end zone, and Nussmeier hit Chris Hilton right only where Hilton cam make the catch in the right back corner of the end zone.
Check out all of the LSU Fall practice reports below!
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