Today marked spring practice No. 7 for LSU and it was our first expanded look at practice as they allowed us to view almost the entire outside portion of practice. Got to observe nearly two hours of practice today. Working through my notes, here's what I've got for today's News & Notes.
A couple of Quick Thoughts
News & Notes - Special Teams Notes
News & Notes - Defense
A couple of Quick Thoughts
- The first thing I want to comment on is the organization in practice. I can't point out what it is, but things just seemed so much more organized with the drills, the communication between the coaching staff and from the staff to the players. They were maximizing reps, wasting very little if any time between reps.
- Another thing that stood out to me was the communication between the staff and the players. In particular on the defensive side of the ball. Blake Baker, Corey Raymond, Jake Olsen were all very vocal when coaching the LB's/DB's during seven-on-seven portions of practice.
- Brian Kelly talked about wanting to focus on the running game and was more focused with play selection in the running reps over packages. He talked about losing Jayden Daniels who "Was" the running game last season. So, there's been a heavy emphasis on the running game this spring.
- It looks like the new base defense will feature four linemen, two true LB's and four DB's with a "Star" essentially a fifth DB.
- Saw Jaboree Antoine out at practice checking things out. He was chopping it up with Sage Ryan on the sideline during team session. Ryan was commenting on his length.
- Kyren Lacey and Chris Hilton JR were again getting first team reps at WR.
- Aaron Anderson got some reps with the 1's today and worked with the 1's throughout the majority of practice from what I saw. He replaced Kyle Parker, who worked primarily with the second team offense today.
- Emory Jones was back at practice today and was dressed, though he was not participating in any contact drills. He did work on positional stuff with the OL groups but was not in on any of the team stuff that had contact. BK did not comment on Jones or note an injury of any kind, but he did say that he and Brad Davis know what they're getting out guys like Will Campbell and Emory Jones and he wants to get a lot of the younger guys more reps this spring.
- Tyree Adams and Bo Bordelon shared reps with the 1's at RT. Tyree Adams was getting the bulk of the work with the first team.
- Adams/Bordelon were also getting second team reps at LT and RT respectively.
- Second team OL was Tyree Adams, Paul Mebenga, Coen Echols, Ethan Calloway and Bo Bordelon left to right.
- CJ Daniels, Zavion Thomas and Kyle Parker were getting the second team reps at WR. It's clear that nothing is being given to the WR transfers and that they'll have to earn their way to a starting spot.
- Josh Williams and Kaleb Jackson were 1 & 2 respectively at the RB position, walk-on RB Malachi Lane was getting the third team reps behind them.
- Josh Williams looked really good with the ball in his hands, showing off some shiftiness and power. There was one point in practice when they went from no tackling into tackling and He gained about 5-6 yards before being swarmed by the defense, but he powered through and appeared to have broken what looked like four to six tackles, but I think the refs on the field blew the play dead for forward progress because they brought the ball back, but it was about as impressive a 5 yard gain as you'll see.
- Malachi Lane actually put together some nice reps in the No. 3 spot. I don't expect come fall he'll be this high up the depth chart but given the shortage of RB's right now he's getting his opportunity to shine.
- I'm not going to sugar coat things for the QB's. They looked good against air with no defense, but there was some inconsistency when we got to the team sessions and honestly, I want to say a big part of that was due to the defense. I'll have more on some individual plays later.
- No surprise but Garrett Nussmeier got all the first team reps.
- Rickie Collins was getting the reps with the second team. AJ Swann was working primarily with the third team, but I think he got some second team reps in as well.
- Colin Hurley rounded out the QB group and got the reps behind the top three.
- Third team receivers were Shelton Sampson Jr., Javen Nicholas and Khai Prean.
- The hierarchy at TE looked much like what we saw last season. 1. Mason Taylor. 2. Mac Markway, 3. K. Pimpton
- Third team OL was Kahyree Lee Jr, Christian Stamps, Braden Augustus, Joseph Cryer, Kobe Roberts left to right. Christian Stamps made a nice play during team drills (more on that further down).
- The early part of practice saw the offensive line working on pad level and power blocking before transitioning to combo blocks. The running backs were working on foot work, cuts and catching the ball out of the back field. TE's were working on blocking while the defense worked out on field two and the QB's were on field 1 throwing against air.
- Got to see the QB's work on bootlegs/roll outs throwing on the move to quick outs toward the sideline to assistant coaches.
- The QB's and WR's went through a couple of drills where they were working on quick passes. No defense here but everything was quick, crisp and on target. The primary focus for the WR's was to catch the ball and immediately turn up the field and run. Coaching staff had them working very fast with tempo during these drills, getting several reps in. The QB's and WR's were all sharp during this session, didn't see a single dropped pass everything was on target and caught, granted these were all short crossing routes/hitches five yards or less. But the key takeaway here is they were doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing, and they were doing it with tempo.
- Watched a few QB/RB read option reps. Not sure how many of these we'll see with Nussmeier and Swann, but Joe Sloan was working with AJ Swann on the disconnect coaching him on his hands/placement and keeping two hands on the ball. On Swann's next rep, Sloan praised the transfer signal caller's improvement after being coached up.
- Working against the scout team, Garrett Nussmeier hit Chris Hilton on a deep post.
- Nussmeier hit CJ Daniels on an out route to the right sideline for about 20-25 yards.
News & Notes - Special Teams Notes
- One of the first things we saw as we walked onto the practice field was special team reps. Damian Ramos was working on PAT/FG's working backwards after each make. He was drilling them down the center of the uprights. I didn't see a single miss from the portion I was able to observe.
- Peyton Todd seemed to be getting the reps at first-team punter.
- Badger Hargett was getting the reps behind Todd.
- At punt return we saw Zavion Thomas, Aaron Anderson, Kyle Parker and Javen Nicholas all getting reps. Zavion Thomas appeared to be the No. 1 from what I could tell.
- Looked like Whit Weeks and Major Burns were on punt coverage in the first team, that's something that stood out to me.
News & Notes - Defense
- Sage Ryan was back at safety again. His role this spring appears to have shifted back to more of a traditional safety than a CB/Nickel role and let me tell you, he really put together an impressive practice. I'll have more individually as I work through my notes, but he telegraphed the plays extremely well and put himself in prime position to make plays over and over. I think he ended the day with three interceptions on the day, one of them he took back for a pick-six. He had a really, really nice day, probably the best day out of anyone on the field that I saw.
- Ashton Stamps and Javien Toviano were getting most of the first team reps at CB.
- At safety it was Sage Ryan and Jardin Gilbert.
- Major Burns was the "Star" getting 1st team reps. BK talked a little about him moving to that new position saying they want someone that can play man, play zone, and tackle. They feel he fits what they're looking for in that position and it gets him closer to the line of scrimmage.
- Bradyn Swinson and Sai'vion Jones were at DE/Edge with the first team defense.
- At DT we saw Jacobian Guillory and Jalen Lee getting the first team reps, but I saw Preston Hickey find his way in for a few reps with the first team as well.
- Greg Penn III and Harold Perkins were the LB's with the first team.
- Jyaire Brown and PJ Woodland got the majority of the second team reps, but there was some movement here between a different guys.
- Da'Shawn Womack and Paris Shand were seeing the reps at DE/Edge with the 2's.
- Kimo Makane'ole and Shone Washington were getting the interior DL reps with the 2's. Preston Hickey rotated in at times.
- True freshman CB PJ Woodland had a pretty solid day, he made a few plays defensively in the reps we were able to see. He broke up a pass on one play and on another play read a screen play perfectly and would have absolutely annihilated an RB on a swing pass had it been full contact (still no tackling at that point in practice.)
- Corey Raymond pulled Jyaire Brown off to the side and was coaching him up. I missed what happened, but Brown did something Raymond didn't like that he was trying to get corrected.
- True freshman Dashawn McBryde was impressive today. He's been all over the place making multiple plays and defensive stops from the safety position.
