Today was session No.10 for LSU's preseason practice. They let us through the gates at about 10:15 AM, got to watch a little over an hour, maybe an hour 15 to and hour and a half tops before they ushered us back inside. Got to see a lot of special teams work again, various offensive drills, some against air, I think we got maybe five to 10 minutes of actual 11-of-11 today when they were working on tempo and two-minute drill.
The first few things I want to note, I did make a separate post but just to make sure no one misses it. I know a couple of you have asked about the AC helmets, I did ask today about that and was told they were not wearing them and "I don't know if we will," I tried to get clarification or a little elaboration on that but couldn't get much more. so, it's unclear if/when they will wear them.
Maason Smith was dressed out but spent the majority of the time off to the side working out with a coach. He spent a lot of time taking individual reps on a blocking sled, I don't believe that he ever joined the team for actual defensive drills, but I could be mistaken. I didn't see him out there if he did though.
A guy we might not be talking about enough is Bradyn Swinson. I've now seen him make multiple plays off the edge in multiple practices now. He won reps against both starting tackles today including a sack against Will Campbell in 11-on-11. Definitely keep an eye out for him. If he keeps playing like this, he may find his way onto the field more often.
There was another minor dustup at practice today. Didn't turn into a full fledge team thing like the last one but during a session where the offensive line was lining up against the D-line they were rotating individual drills, similar to what they were doing the other day. They'd have the entire lines lined up against each other, but it was a one-on-one, position by position where most of them did two reps in a row, anyway this was well into the drill, but Redshirt freshman Tygee Hill was matched up with true freshman Paul Mebenga. The first drill, Hill bullied Mebenga into the backfield for some serious penetration on the rep, and when rep two came around he basically did the same thing, but towards the end of the play Mebenga tossed him to the ground, the play hadn't been blown dead yet, so I didn't really make much of it. Mebenga turned and was walking back to the line, away from Hill when Hill jumped up and ran behind Mebenga and swung on him hitting his helmet and knocking his helmet off, the two players then got into a shoving match, and it was quickly broken up.
Really just a dumb overall play by Tygee Hill who let his emotions get the best of him. The play was over, the offensive lineman wasn't boasting or anything just walking back to the line, and he hits him with his back turned to him. Would have been the easiest 15-yard penalty ever given in football and a likely ejection had it been a real game. Not a good decision at all.
The other thing I want to note is I know the coaching staff isn't going to tell us that the depth is settled and there are still a few more practices left in camp, but it really looks like Duce Chestnutt and Zy Alexander are going to be your 1 & 2 at CB, with Ashton Stamps and Latterance Welch as the 3 & 4. Again, far from over but every indication this week that I've seen points to that being the case. So we'll continue to monitor the situation as practice moves forward but don't be surprised if that's the two-deep at CB when it's all said and done.
