BATON ROUGE — Sweltering conditions outside forced the LSU football team inside on Wednesday as the Tigers continued to prepare for Saturday’s contest against Arizona with a two-hour workout at the Charles McClendon Indoor Practice Facility.
The Tigers will workout again on Thursday followed by a walk-thru in Tiger Stadium on Friday afternoon. LSU will depart for Tucson at 3 p.m. on Friday. Saturday’s contest is slated for a 9 p.m. CDT kickoff and will be televised by a national audience by TBS Sports.
“It’s been extremely hot, hotter than I can ever remember,” LSU coach Nick Saban said after Wednesday’s workout. “We went inside and worked good and had better energy and it worked out okay. I am not big on going inside and I think everybody knows that. I like to practice outside and practice on the grass but I think the players were pleased to get a break today and to be able to go inside.”
Saban said the wet bulb globe temperature, which is a device used to measure air temperature, humidity and radiant heat, has registered close to 90 degrees each of the last three days.
“The last two practices that we had on Monday and Tuesday the wet bulb was almost 90 degrees and that is getting up there,” Saban said. “We’ve had a significant number of guys in the last few practices need IV’s. Typically once we get into season schedule that is uncommon for us. I just felt like we would have a tough time getting our team back, with their energy or hydration level, if we went out there and worked again today.”
Saban said the Tiger secondary, which will be without the services of defensive back Randall Gay (broken arm) continues to get ready for Saturday’s contest.
“They did a lot better today,” Saban said of the freshmen defensive backs. “They are working hard. We just can’t afford to lose any more players in the secondary.”
Saban added that freshmen Jesse Daniels would likely play as LSU’s fifth defensive back and that Adrian Mayes, LaRon Landry or Michael Clayton could play in dime situations (sixth defensive back).
“We are preparing Michael to play both ways” Saban said. “There is a better chance for him to play this week on defense than last week.”
“Overall, the preparation for the game has gone well. I think that Arizona played really well in their first game and were dominant. It is going to be test for us going on the road for the first time and being able to overcome all the distractions that you have when you make a road trip, especially the first one, and this will certainly show something about the maturity of our team.”