BATON ROUGE — Spring football practice is officially underway at LSU as the Tigers went through their first practice under new head coach Les Miles with a workout in shorts and helmets on Friday at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility.
The Tigers practice again in shorts and helmets at 1 p.m. on Saturday before putting the pads on for the first time on Monday afternoon.
“It was a lot of fun,” Miles said of his first day on the field as LSU’s head coach. “It was nice to get out here and get a little better and get a feel for the team. We had some good work. It was a little sloppy, not what we wanted but it’s what happens in first practices. The effort was good and the enthusiasm was high.”
Miles said Friday’s first practice was an opportunity for both the players and coaches to get accustomed to one another on the football field.
“(It was about) getting the cobwebs out, getting us all on the field and all on the same page, understanding the logistics of practice and what we’re going to expect of them,” Miles said of the first practice. “We have new coaches with the players. I wanted to observe the whole practice, but that was kind of routine.”
The Tigers went through all phases of the game, including spending an early part of the practice on special teams. After a series of periods dedicated to individual work, the Tigers then used the remainder of practice in unit work with the offense going against the defense.
In all the Tigers went through 25 periods, each lasting five minutes. Miles said it was, “very similar to the Dallas Cowboys when I coached there and Michigan when I was there and Colorado. Really it was a very similar practice that I’ve been used to. This is how we do it.”
Miles said Friday’s practice and seeing his players for the first time on the football field met his expectations.
“I expected certain guys to have some ability and have talent and they were there,” Miles said. “I expected that we would have some mistakes, and certainly we did.
“I can tell that there’s talent here. I can tell that when we put it together we will have a good football team.”
The Tigers will have 14 more practices over the next five weeks, capped with the final practice in Tiger Stadium on April 16, which will be a controlled scrimmage with game-like situations.
“There is a lot to get done this spring,” Miles said. “You have to evaluate the talent, you have to evaluate the scheme. There is a lot of work to do before we finish this spring.”