BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers went through their tenth practice of the spring football season Wednesday afternoon at the LSU practice fields.
NCAA rules allow 15 workouts during the spring. The Tigers will wrap up the spring season on April 29 with the annual LSU Spring Game in Tiger Stadium beginning at 1:30 p.m.
The Tigers worked for about two and a half hours on Wednesday, their second practice after last Saturday’s scrimmage in the stadium.
“I think we had a little better practice today,” said head coach Nick Saban. “I thought Monday we did a lot of correcting of the mistakes we made in the scrimmage. We continue to put things in that always seem to create a little overload for some of the players. But I’m very pleased by the way the players responded today.”
A number of players are out of practice for various injuries, but Saban hopes they will return to the practice fields soon.
“It a was tough workday today and I think the players worked their way through it and I think we got better out there today,” Saban said. “We would like to get some players back out there on the field, but we’ve got a few guys that have some nagging injuries. We would like to get them cleared up so we can have as many guys out there to scrimmage Saturday as possible.”
Saban said again that he was pleased with the progress the team showed in last Saturday’s scrimmage, saying mistakes that were made were expected and correctable.
“I think most of it is knowing but not being able to execute it in a practical situation, because out there the players have to make the decision,” Saban said. “First, they have to recognize what the situation is, what the formation is if they’re defensive players and what the defense is if they’re offensive players. Then, they have to be able to communicate, apply and get confidence playing together with each other that each guy is going to do the same thing and that’s how you develop chemistry and respect. Most of it was not the players not knowing, but it was the players not executing which comes from recognition, communicating and being able to apply it.”
Saban praised several players on defense for their performance in the scrimmage, saying experience gave them an edge.
“Probably, the four guys that played the best on defense was (safety) Ryan Clark, (defensive tackle) Ty Barnes, (linebackers) Bradie James, and Trev Faulk. Well, those guys have a little more confidence and knowledge. They recognized things and were able to communicate. Other guys who had a little less experience at the position they were playing, it wasn’t that they didn’t know it, they weren’t able to apply it.”
Tickets for the LSU Spring Game are still on sale at the LSU Athletic Ticket Office at $5 for adults and $3 for LSU students and children 12 and under. Tickets for adults on the day of the game will be $10. All proceeds go to benefit LSU’s Academic Center for Athletes.