Twenty-nine Newcomers Report For Fall Drills

BATON ROUGE — LSU head coach Nick Saban welcomed 29 newcomers to the 2001 football team, as each was put through a day of medical physicals on Monday.

Saban only spent about a half hour with the 23 scholarship athletes and six walk-ons, as they spent the majority of the day with team doctors, trainers and medical personnel.

“We certainly thought we got some quality players when we recruited them and signed them, and they did nothing to disappoint us today,” Saban said in a brief meeting with the media after the newcomers’ afternoon sprints.

However, the second-year LSU head coach left the door wide open for physical improvement.

“This class is like most freshmen classes: they don’t really understand the importance of conditioning, relative to being able to compete. They probably haven’t done the same amount of work to pay the price for success that some of the varsity guys have — those who spent all of the summer here to work. 

“I don’t think we have anyone that I would classify as in ‘poor’ condition, but certainly it’s pretty obvious that these guys didn’t do everything that we we would have liked for them to do or they did it part-time and not full-time,” Saban said. “I don’t think anybody’s in bad enough shape that we can’t whip them into shape sometime in the next three weeks of camp and get ready for the season opener.”

Twenty-three of the 27 signees who signed to play for LSU in February reported to campus on Monday. The only exceptions were Jonathan Banks, who Saban had previously listed as a “sign and place” (at another institution) candidate, and Nate Livings, who awaits final test scores and then approval from the NCAA Clearinghouse.

The remaining pair of LSU’s 2001 signing class — quarterback Rick Clausen and linebacker Philip Maxwell — enrolled for the spring 2001 semester and practiced with the team in Spring Drills.

Saban also reported that there were no serious problems that came up as a result of Monday’s physicals.

The newcomers will practice at 12:20 and 7:30 p.m. on both Tuesday and Wednesday before Thursday’s academic orientation, while also meeting twice each day. The varsity will report on Thursday and the first full-squad practice will be on Friday.

Other comments of note:

On the recent rash of football related deaths:

“We did a lot of things last year. We were being pro-active a year ago in changing the schedule and not practicing twice during the day, taking body fat and body hydration levels so that we knew how hydrated a guy would be (when he took the field). I think that when a guy has a problem with heat, it’s as much to do with what he does prior to going on the field that actually what happens on the field. You put yourself at risk of not being able to cool if you’re not properly hydrated when you go on the field. You’re going to dehydrate, get cramps and maybe not cool properly and cause yourself problems. How we educate the players to prepare to go out there is the most important thing that we try to do, and then we try to limit their workload to what we think they can manage.”

“There’s no amount of precaution that you can take when we have this kind of heat, and you can’t control what a guy does. We can take all of these precautions and still there may be something that happens that all of try to avoid. I know that our medical people work very hard to try to avoid (this situation) and hopefully our precautions will help in that regard. I’m sure all of the people who have had problems have done all that they could to avoid the situation as well.”

On evaluation of newcomers:

“It’s a little like pro ball to me: You’ve got to evaluate the rookies to find out if, at some point in time during the season, they’re going to pass up the old veteran. Or, do you keep the old veteran and get rid of the rookie because he doesn’t have the potential. I think that’s an evaluation that we have to get through this camp so that we know which guys we’re going to invest time in for this season. We’re going to invest time in all of them for their future and for our future, but which ones we’ll invest time in for this season (is what we’re looking for).”

2001 LSU Newcomers

Name	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Cl.	Exp.	Hometown	HS/College
Joseph Addai	RB	6-0	195	Fr.	HS	Houston, Texas	Sharpstown HS
Steve Arflin	OL	6-4	310	Fr.	HS	Jacksonville, Fla.	Fletcher HS
Bennie Brazell	WR	6-1	170	Fr.	HS	Houston, Texas	Westbury HS
Shyrone Carey	RB	5-8	190	Fr.	HS	New Orleans, La.	Shaw HS
Michael Clayton	WR	6-4	185	Fr.	HS	Baton Rouge, La.	Christian Life Academy
*Brad Cook	DB	5-9	175	Fr.	HS	Baton Rouge, La.	Catholic HS (BR)
Travis Daniels	DB	6-1	175	Fr.	HS	Hollywood, Fla.	South Broward HS
Ryan Gilbert	RB	5-11	190	Fr.	HS	Dallas, Texas	Hillcrest HS
Donovan Grayson	LB	6-4	230	Fr.	HS	New Orleans, La.	Karr HS
*Jacob Guidry	TE	6-3	225	Fr.	HS	St. Martinville, La.	St. Martinville HS
Kory Hebert	TE	6-4	225	Fr.	HS	Lafayette, La.	Teurlings Catholic HS
Marquise Hill	DE	6-7	290	Fr.	HS	New Orleans, La.	De La Salle HS
Brandon Hurley	DT	6-3	275	Fr.	HS	Monroe, La.	Ouachita Christian HS
David Jones	TE	6-4	240	Fr.	HS	Silver Springs, Md.	Springbrook HS
*Corey Meredith	CB	6-0	175	Fr.	HS	New Orleans, La.	John Curtis HS
Rudy Niswanger	OL	6-5	275	Fr.	HS	Monroe, La.	Ouachita Christian HS
Melvin Oliver	DE	6-3	255	Fr.	HS	Opelika, Ala.	Opelika HS
Dave Peterson	LB	6-2	240	Jr.	JC	Bristol, Fla.	Coffeyville CC
*Ryan Phillips	C	6-0	260	Fr.	HS	Baton Rouge, La.	Christian Life HS
Tim Pope	LB	6-2	225	Fr.	HS	Panama City, Fla.	Rutherford HS
Ronnie Prude	WR	6-0	190	Fr.	HS	Shreveport, La.	Fair Park HS
*Perrin Rittner	QB	6-3	210	Fr.	HS	New Orleans, La.	Jesuit HS
Marcus Spears	TE	6-5	280	Fr.	HS	Baton Rouge	Southern Lab HS
Brandon Washington	DE	6-4	275	Fr.	HS	Tuscaloosa, Ala.	Central HS
Andrew Whitworth	OL	6-7	315	Fr.	HS	West Monroe, La.	West Monroe HS
Ben Wilkerson	OL	6-4	275	Fr.	HS	Hemphill, Texas	Hemphill HS
Brandon Williams	DB	6-2	197	Fr.	HS	Port Allen, La.	Port Allen HS
Torran Williams	DT	6-4	295	Jr.	JC	Miami, Fla.	Dodge City CC
*Seth Wilson	TE	6-6	275	Fr.	HS	Winter Haven, Fla.	All Saints Academy
* Walk-on