BATON ROUGE — LSU coach Les Miles liked what he saw at practice on Friday as the fifth-ranked Tigers turned their attention to the season-opening contest against North Texas with a two-hour workout at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility.
“It was a good practice, the tempo was good, and things are going well,” Miles said following the workout. “The preparation is coming. We’re still not there, but I like the style of practice. The guys are going hard and they’re improving.”
The Tigers practiced outside for the first time since Tuesday when the Tigers held a scrimmage under the lights in Tiger Stadium. LSU then took Wednesday off before going indoors in a shorts and shoulder pad practice on Thursday. Prior to Tuesday’s scrimmage, LSU had spent most of the preseason in full pads.
“I think what we did is we worked them very hard until the Tuesday scrimmage,” Miles said. “We were in pads at every practice but one, and we scrimmaged in the break. Since that day we’ve backed off time, and we’re in shells. After you get them to a point where they’re playing hard, the tempo of practice is fast, and there’s an opportunity to back off.”
Miles likes how his team has responded.
“I saw a good practice, I saw guys hustling to get the ball and making plays. I liked today’s practice. I’m not saying it’s perfect in any way, but the style of practice was good.”
Miles will put his Tigers through a morning practice in Tiger Stadium on Saturday as LSU will simulate game-like situations, which includes having the scout squad wearing green and being positioned on the opposing sideline.
“We put some scout team guys in green jerseys today so we can differentiate, and really tomorrow’s practice will be offense versus North Texas and defense versus North Texas,” Miles said. “At times we will go LSU versus LSU, so we had to introduce the different color. Offense in white, defense in purple and scout team in green.
“When we go two-minute, we’ll go against each other. When we go into a specific game-plan regimen we’ll go against (the scout team).”
Miles noted that as the Tigers head into the first week of the season, the only two players who will miss the contest are running back Alley Broussard (knee) and linebacker E.J. Kuale (ankle).
“The team is healthy except for those two injuries,” Miles said.