BATON ROUGE — A short-handed LSU football team went through its first scrimmage of fall camp on Thursday in Tiger Stadium as the Tigers had five starters sit out or see limited action during the workout due to some type of nagging injury.
LSU will return to the practice field on Friday with a single afternoon session followed by two practices on Saturday and then one on Sunday.
“It looked a lot like a first scrimmage,” LSU coach Nick Saban said after the workout. “I think first of all, it is pretty obvious that we are dead-legged. This has been the best fall camp that we have had up to this point in terms of attitude and work ethic. Today, we just had a lot of guys that had little nagging things so they never got to participate.”
Among the players who saw limited action on Thursday were offensive guard Stephen Peterman (ankle), defensive tackle Chad Lavalais (ankle), defensive end Marquise Hill (spider bite), and running back Shyrone Carey (sick). Wide receiver Devery Henderson (hamstring) and Skyler Green (shoulder) sat out the scrimmage.
“We had a lot of players who are playmakers and really good football players that never played today,” Saban said. “The good news about that is it gave other players an opportunity to go out there and play and show what they can do.”
Among those were freshman running back Alley Broussard, who led all rushers with 54 yards on 12 carries. Running back Joseph Addai rushed for 45 yards on eight carries and caught six passes for 39 yards.
All five quarterbacks saw action on Thursday with juniors Matt Mauck and Marcus Randall getting most of the snaps. Randall completed 18-of-28 passes for 210 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including a 55-yard TD pass to Michael Clayton, while Mauck connected on 14-of-27 for 142 yards. Randall’s other TD pass came during the goal line portion of the situational scrimmage as he connected with fullback Brandon Nowlin for a 2-yard score.
“We wanted to get Matt Mauck and Marcus Randall some ample amount of work and I thought both of those guys did a decent job,” Saban said. “I was a little disappointed that we threw four interceptions out there today, which is a good thing for the defense, but not a good thing from a quarterback standpoint. We made some big plays out there today, both running and throwing.”
Another offensive highlight for the Tigers was a 53-yard pass from JaMarcus Russell to tight end Andrew Wright. That play would have resulted in a touchdown, but defensive back Nick Child stripped the ball from Wright at the 1-yard line and the ball went through the endzone for a touchback. Russell completed 4-of-10 passes for 81 yards during the scrimmage, while fellow freshman Matt Flynn was 5-of-7 for 46 yards and Lester Ricard 2-of-5 for 26 yards.
In limited action, Carey rushed for 17 yards on four attempts, including a 1-yard TD run that capped a 12-play, 65-yard drive led by Mauck against the No. 2 defense. Justin Vincent also scored on a 2-yard run, capping a 5-play, 45-yard drive led by Randall against the No. 2 defense.
Clayton, who also saw close to 15 plays at the safety position on defense, led all receivers with 116 yards and one TD on five receptions. Freshman Dwayne Bowe caught three passes for 39 yards and Craig Davis has five receptions for 41 yards.
Defensively, Corey Webster led the Tigers with a pair of interceptions, while Randall Gay and Kenny Hollis each picked off a pass. Webster also added five tackles and broke up three passes.
Other defensive standouts for LSU included freshman defensive back LaRon Landry with 10 tackles, linebacker Cameron Vaughn with nine tackles and linebacker Lionel Turner with eight stops.
On special teams, punter Donnie Jones averaged 45.7 yards on nine punts, while freshman Patrick Fisher had a 40.0 average on three punts. Placekicker Chad Gaudet connected on 4-of-7 field goals, including a 51-yarder, while Chris Jackson was 2-of-6.
“There was some really good hitting, but it was just not as crisp and sweet as you would like for it to be as a coach,” Saban said. “I am not disappointed with the effort. It is just that we didn’t have enough of our playmakers out there to get the kind of chemistry and unity we are capable of having on offense.”
In addition to the scrimmage on Thursday, Saban reported that freshman wide receiver Amp Hill is scheduled to undergo surgery on Friday to repair the medial collateral ligament in his right knee. Hill, who injured the knee in practice on Tuesday, is expected to miss a minimum of three weeks with the injury, but could be out longer, according to Saban.
LSU will hold another scrimmage next Wednesday before opening the season on Aug. 30 against Louisiana-Monroe in Tiger Stadium.
LSU Football — Fall Scrimmage No. 1
Rushing
Player Att. Yards TD
Alley Broussard 12 54 0
Joseph Addai 8 45 0
Barrington Edwards 11 33 0
Shyrone Carey 4 17 1
Justin Vincent 6 15 1
Passing
Player Att. Comp. Yards TD
Marcus Randall 28 18 210 2
Matt Mauck 27 14 142 0
JaMarcus Russell 10 4 81 0
Matt Flynn 7 5 46 0
Lester Ricard 5 2 26 0
Receiving
Player Rec. Yards TD
Joseph Addai 6 39 0
Michael Clayton 5 116 1
Justin Vincent 5 45 0
Craig Davis 5 41 0
Gino Giambelluca 4 58 0
Dwayne Bowe 3 39 0
Eric Edwards 3 37 0
Steve Mares 2 37 0
Junior Joseph 2 32 0
Brandon Nowlin 1 2 2
Punting
Player No. Yards Avg.
Donnie Jones 9 409 45.7
Patrick Fisher 3 120 40.0
Field Goals
Player FGA FGM Kicks
Ryan Gaudet 7 4 made 30, 51, 32, 37
Chris Jackson 6 2 made 27, 28
Defensive Leaders
Corey Webster 5 tackles, 3 PBU, 2 Interceptions
LaRon Landry 10 tackles, 1 FF
Cameron Vaughn 9 tackles
Randall Gay 3 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 interception
Kenny Hollis 3 tackles, 1 interception
Lionel Turner 8 tackles
Jason LeDoux 8 tackles
Ronnie Prude 6 tackles