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LSU Fall Scrimmage!!! Article for you guys to READ for your betting SAKE
Receivers stand out in LSU's scrimmage
Defense missing several players projected to start
Sunday, August 16, 2009 By James Varney
Staff writer
BATON ROUGE -- With the defense handicapped by the absence of three probable starters, the LSU offense got the best of the team's first scrimmage Saturday at Tiger Stadium, according to Coach Les Miles.
Several players were mentioned after the scrimmage for competent performances, but none seemed to sparkle, judging from Miles' remarks. He labeled the outing "half scrimmage, half practice."
The proceedings were closed to the media and the public, but they were open to select boosters.
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Sophomore quarterback Jordan Jefferson played well and moved the chains, but he also made a mistake on reading the safeties that led to an interception that killed a solid scoring chance, Miles said.
Jefferson completed nine of 14 passes, and Jarrett Lee was 7-of-14.
The first and second units each got 25 snaps, and the third team got a handful or reps. Sixteen plays were dedicated to special teams.
Seniors Charles Scott and Keiland Williams and junior Richard Murphy reportedly got most of the carries from the tailback spot. Miles said celebrated freshman Russell Shepard took six snaps from the tailback position.
In the past week the staff has stressed Shepard will be used in a variety of offensive packages. In practices Shepard has run drills as a quarterback and as a wide receiver, and Miles said Shepard played three positions in the scrimmage.
The receiving corps was perhaps the sharpest unit on the field. Miles singled out senior Brandon LaFell, junior Terrance Toliver and freshman Rueben Randle for good catches, and he said senior R.J. Jackson was also in the mix. He also said senior Chris Mitchell and redshirt freshman Chris Tolliver played well, which indicates the competition for the No. 2 and No. 3 receiving slots behind LaFell is producing marked improvement in the overall unit.
"We were sharp on offense at times; a little mistake here and there cost us in performance," Miles said. "I think the offense won."
But that was a qualified victory because three defensive starters, senior defensive end Rahim Alem and senior linebackers Jacob Cutrera and Perry Riley, were held out. Riley appears the most seriously dinged of the bunch and has missed several practices with a left shoulder ailment, but Miles said he expects all three back on the field when LSU resumes preseason camp Monday with two-a-day practice.
The offense is also grooved in its third year under coordinator Gary Crowton, and new defensive coordinator John Chavis has not yet implemented all his schematic wrinkles. In other words, the offense wasn't facing the best defense LSU can put on the field or anything like the defense LSU should have in place for its opener on Sept. 5 at Washington.
With Riley and Cutrera out, the first linebacking corps was junior Kelvin Sheppard, senior Harry Coleman and sophomore Ryan Baker. But freshman Barkevious Mingo also played, and Miles predicted additional reps for players such as him will help the Tigers as the Southeastern Conference season unfolds.
Chavis has made the same point. In a perfect world, he said, he would like to have 28 defenders "SEC ready."
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Originally Posted by TheSystem
