BATON ROUGE — First-year LSU coach Les Miles welcomed 105 players to campus on Saturday as the sixth-ranked Tigers went through a physical examination, were issued equipment as well as going through an NCAA compliance meeting and an academic seminar.
The Tigers wrapped up their first day back on campus with a unity council meeting with the head coach followed by a team meeting on Saturday night.
“It’s a great day,” Miles said on Saturday afternoon. “It’s time to get the team on campus and start getting better. I think the summer went well. We had two men that failed the conditioning test, one of which was operated on and the other just needs to lose a little bit more weight.”
Miles said the Tigers were put through their conditioning test on Friday, July 29. The test consisted of 16 110-yard sprints. Miles said he was pleased with his team’s performance in the conditioning test and gave the following explanation for testing his squad’s condition a week ago, rather than on reporting day.
“If you can eliminate a 110 test where the entire team has to run 16 110s on a day before you practice, you eliminate having to start your two-a-day practices in a deficit. They did have a great summer and they passed.
“If you’re worried about conditioning your team so you can start preparing your team, you are at least one step behind. If they report in shape, you can start working on being the best team you can be as opposed to getting them in shape. We feel that this is a step in the right direction.”
The Tiger veterans will practice at 9 a.m. on Sunday, while the freshmen will workout for the first time on Sunday afternoon.
“We are going with two separate practices, one for the upper classmen and veterans and one for the younger guys,” Miles said. “The schedule allows us to specialize and coach the younger guys individually much more. When the newcomers’ practice comes in the afternoon, they will have already gone through the morning meeting.
“They will have heard it once, and then in the afternoon meeting, they will have heard it twice. When the youngest guys get on the field, they will have met twice about the same information before their practice. I feel that this is the right way to do it with them.”
The Tigers will have four days of split squad practices before practicing as an entire unit for the first time on Thursday.
Miles used his opening remarks in his press conference to comment on the death of former LSU women’s basketball coach Sue Gunter, who passed away on Thursday.
“The athletic community is certainly saddened by the loss of Sue Gunter. She was a great coach and really provided the athletic community with the exact representation that we wanted. I never really had an opportunity to know her well and it’s my loss. I can only tell you that everyone speaks so highly and so regularly of her.”