BATON ROUGE — LSU will go through the first of 15 practices this spring with a 1 p.m. workout at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility on Saturday.
The Tigers, winners of the BCS National Championship game two months ago in New Orleans, return 15 starters and 41 letterwinners from last year’s 13-1 squad. Among the key returnees for the Tigers include All-Americas Corey Webster and Skyler Green and All-Southeastern Conference selections in Ben Wilkerson and Marcus Spears.
Defensively, LSU returns seven starters from a unit that ranked No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense (11.0 points per game) and total defense (252.0 yards per game).
The Tigers will practice three times next week before holding their first scrimmage of spring practice on Saturday, March 27. The Tigers will take Tuesday off next week as they will travel to Washington D.C. to meet President Bush at the White House.
LSU’s spring practice concludes on Saturday, April 24 with the annual spring game, which will be held at 1 p.m. in Tiger Stadium.
In other Tiger football news, LSU has been ranked as a pre-spring top five team heading into the 2004 season by two publications. ESPN.com ranks the Tigers No. 2 behind Southern Cal in its pre-spring poll, while CBS Sportsline.com has LSU No. 4 in the nation.
Of LSU, CBS Sportsline.com says, “the team loses the heart of its defensive line, its best receivers and its quarterback. Any other team would be crying. The Tigers are reloading.”
EPSN.com claims, “Matt Mauck’s departure will affect the offense, but the Tigers won with defense. The defense still looks powerful.”