BATON ROUGE — Craig Nall led LSU’s Purple team to a victory over Josh Booty and the LSU White team in the annual Spring Football Game, 24-21, Saturday afternoon in Tiger Stadium.
“I think that we had a really good spring,” “Commissioner” Nick Saban said after the game. “I think that a lot of our goals were accomplished this spring. The players seemed to respond well with the coaches at their positions. We had a lot of players make significant improvement. I think in the scrimmages we showed a little more effort, a little more intensity and a little more toughness.”
Nall passed for 215 yards on 14-of-25 attempts and two touchdowns, while Booty was 19-of-36 for 257 yards and three touchdowns.
Eric Edwards had seven receptions from Booty for 111 yards while Josh Reed led the Purple team with four catches for 89 yards.
Elice Parker led the Purple team in rushing with 83 yards on 16 carries. Domanick Davis led the White team with 57 yards on 16 carries. Neither scored a touchdown as all five offensive touchdowns came in the air. The Purple’s Walter Moreham scored the other touchdown on an 86-yard fumble return in the third quarter.
“We did some good things,” White quarterback Josh Booty said.” We were really limited as far as the gameplan and what we could do. We could only run 10 or 15 passing plays and 10 or 15 running plays. I thought we ran the ball a lot better this spring than last spring.
“I feel good. I feel really good throwing the ball and my mobility has gotten a lot better as well,” he said. “My accuracy has gotten a little bit better and that has a lit to do with this team, but it’s also because I know I’m a better quarterback.”
The Nall-led Purple team drove 85-yards down the field on 14 plays to score the game’s first points on a 20-yard field goal by Kris Kessler. The Purple Tigers had first and goal from the seven yard line, however, a pair of runs by Elice Parker netted only four yards and a pass to Robert Royal in the end zone was batted away, setting up the field goal.
Down 3-0, the Booty-led White team matched Purple’s drive with a 72-yard drive down to the three-yard line. However, Booty was hit by the pulling right guard and fumbled the ball to kill the drive. Before the fumble, Domanick Davis ran 26 yards on third-and -12 from the 29 yard line to keep the White drive alive.
Davis carried six times on the drive for 42 yards. He also caught an 11-yard pass from Booty on third and six. The White team was four-of-four on third-down conversions on the drive with no points to show for its efforts.
On the second play of the ensuing drive, Nall was intercepted by White’s Robert Davis on the 36 yard line. This time, Booty hit his brother Abram on a six-yard out pattern in the end zone for the first touchdown of the game. John Corbello hit the PAT for a 7-3 lead in the second quarter.
The Purple team bounced right back from the interception on the next drive as Nall hit wide receiver Reggie Robinson on an inside seam for a 49-yard touchdown. Kessler’s extra point gave the Purple team a 10-7 lead at halftime.
The third quarter was plagued by turnovers for the White team, as the Purple team’s Walter Moreham stripped Davis of the ball at the 15 yard line and ran 86 yards for a touchdown and a 17-7 lead.
On the next play from scrimmage for the White team, Booty was intercepted by Fred Booker. However, the Purple team went three and out before Kessler missed a 41-yard field goal.
In the fourth quarter, the Purple team took a commanding 24-7 lead on a 37-yard touchdown on third-and-13 from Nall to Josh Reed in the right corner of the end zone with 9:38 left to play.
With just under three minutes to play in the game, the White team benefited from a poor punt by Purple’s Russ Cockrell to score a touchdown on a 14-yard pass from Booty to Blain Bech on a corner route. Corbello scored the PAT to cut the lead to 24-14 with 2:54 to play.
Edwards continued to shine catching the ball, setting up the touchdown with a 31-yard reception.
After getting the ball right back with a successful onside kick, Booty’s pass to Abram Booty was intercepted at the 33 yard line.
With 1:22 left to play, the White team got the ball back one last time and drove 45 yards on six plays in less than a minute to cut Purple’s lead to 24-21 with 26.3 seconds left. Booty again hit Bech across the middle of the end zone from 28 yards for Bech’s second touchdown of the game.
There would be no onside kick this time, however, and the game ended on a missed pass from wide receiver-turned-quarterback Josh Reed to quarterback-turned wide-receiver Craig Nall.
AWARDS:
- Strength and Conditioning Awards: Muskingum Barnes, Domanick Davis and Josh Reed
- Eric Andolsek Leadership Awards: Fred Booker and Trev Faulk
- Mike Miley Leadership Awards: Robert Royal and Louis Williams
- Toby Caston Spring Performance Awards (Outstanding Defense): Bradie James and Ryan Clark
- Ralph Norwood Spring Performance Awards (Outstanding Offensive Player): Bob Wynne and Reggie Robinson
NOTES:
- The game clock included tenths of a second when there was less than a minute remaining in the half.
- The following players did not participate in the Spring Game:
#6 QB Rohan Davey (knee surgery)
#89 WR Ed Dangerfield (knee surgery)
#73 OT Rob Sale (pulled calf)
#41 RB LaBrandon Toefield (ankle)
#75 OG Trey Langley (elbow) - The following player was injured in the Spring Game:
#90 DT Terry Phillips (knee)
| Purple | White | |
| Score | 24 | 21 |
| First Downs | 17 | 17 |
| Rushing | 8 | 5 |
| Passing | 7 | 12 |
| Penalty | 2 | 0 |
| Rushing Attempts | 25 | 20 |
| Yards Gained Rushing | 90 | 67 |
| Yards Lost Rushing | 28 | 11 |
| Net Yards Rushing | 62 | 56 |
| Net Yards Passing | 225 | 257 |
| Passes Attempted | 26 | 36 |
| Passes Completed | 14 | 19 |
| Had Intercepted | 1 | 2 |
| Total Offense Plays | 51 | 56 |
| Total Net Yards | 287 | 313 |
| Average Yards per Play | 5.63 | 5.59 |
| Fumble Returns — Yards | 1-86 | 0-0 |
| Interception Returns — Yards | 2-9 | 1-1 |
| Punts (Number — Average) | 3-19.0 | 4-41.8 |
| Fumbles — Lost | 0-0 | 2-2 |
| Penalties — Yards | 2-10 | 6-48 |
| Possession Time | 27:07 | 32.53 |
| Third-Down Conversions | 3-of-10 | 4-of-8 |
| Fourth-Down Conversions | 0-of-0 | 1-of-1 |
| Sacks: Number — Yards | 2-7 | 2-15 |
Individual Leaders
|
Purple |
||||
| Rushing | Att. | Net Yards | TD | Long |
| Parker | 16 | 83 | 0 | 18 |
| Nall | 5 | -19 | 0 | 6 |
| Burnham | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Angelette | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | 2 | -3 | 0 | – |
| Totals | 25 | 62 | 0 | 18 |
| Passing | Comp.Att.-Int. | Yards | TD | Long |
| Nall | 25-14-1 | 225 | 2 | 49 |
| J. Reed | 1-0-0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| Totals | 26-14-1 | 225 | 2 | 49 |
| Receiving | No. | Yards | TD | Long |
| J. Reed | 4 | 89 | 1 | 37 |
| Robinson | 3 | 61 | 1 | 49 |
| Royal | 3 | 36 | 0 | 15 |
| Lillie | 3 | 18 | 0 | 8 |
| Domingeaux | 1 | 21 | 0 | 21 |
| Totals | 14 | 225 | 2 | 49 |
| Punting | No. | Yards | Ave. | Long |
| Cockrell | 2 | 64 | 32.0 | 37 |
| Team | 1 | -7 | -7.0 | Blk. |
| Totals | 3 | 57 | 19.0 | 37 |
| Field Goals | Made | Att. | Long | Miss |
| Kessler | 1 | 2 | 20 | 41 |
|
White |
||||
| Rushing | Att. | Net Yards | TD | Long |
| Davis | 16 | 57 | 0 | 26 |
| J. Booty | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Banks | 1 | -1 | 0 | – |
| Totals | 20 | 56 | 0 | 26 |
| Passing | Comp.Att.-Int. | Yards | TD | Long |
| Booty | 36-19-2 | 257 | 3 | 31 |
| Receiving | No. | Yards | TD | Long |
| Edwards | 7 | 111 | 0 | 31 |
| Banks | 3 | 34 | 0 | 19 |
| Myers | 3 | 31 | 0 | 16 |
| A. Booty | 2 | 17 | 1 | 9 |
| Bech | 2 | 40 | 2 | 26 |
| Davis | 1 | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| Discon | 1 | 13 | 0 | 13 |
| Totals | 19 | 257 | 3 | 31 |
| Punting | No. | Yards | Ave. | Long |
| Jones | 3 | 126 | 42.0 | 53 |
| Miles | 1 | 41 | 41.0 | 41 |
| Totals | 4 | 167 | 41.8 | 53 |
| Field Goals | None | |||
Drives:
| Team | Qtr. | Time | Scoring Play | Drive | Score |
| P | 1 | 4:29 | Kessler 20-yd. FG | 14-85 | 3-0 |
| W | 2 | 5:53 | A. Booty 8-yd from J. Booty | 5-35 | 3-7 |
| P | 2 | 2:56 | Robinson 49-yd from Nall | 5-75 | 10-7 |
| P | 3 | 8:37 | Moreham 86-yd fumble return | none | 17-7 |
| P | 4 | 9:38 | Reed 37-yd. from Nall | 10-85 | 24-7 |
| W | 4 | 2:54 | Bech 14-yd. from J. Booty | 3-45 | 24-14 |
| W | 4 | 0:26 | Bech 26-yd. from J. Booty | 6-45 | 24-21 |