BATON ROUGE — Wednesday was a day of firsts for the LSU football team as the Tigers practiced in full pads for the first time and they did so as a complete unit, also a first for the squad here five days into fall practice.
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Wednesday’s morning session was the only workout of the day for the Tigers as LSU spent the afternoon in meetings followed by a workout in the weight room. The Tigers will practice twice on Thursday as they lead into the first scrimmage of camp, which will be held on Saturday in Tiger Stadium.
“The first (full squad) practice was excellent,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “Don’t get me wrong, we aren’t perfect by any means. They showed a lot of enthusiasm and we had a lot of fun, which is the way practice should be. There was great intensity and a lot of guys flying to the ball. It was nice to have the entire team together. The young guys adapted to the style of work ethic that we are used to here.”
Miles said he was impressed with the way in which the freshmen have adjusted to practice at the collegiate level thus far.
“It is more of the mental work,” Miles said of one of the biggest differences in college and high school practice. “The guys that have been here just understand how things are called, what’s going on and adjustments to the coverage. It takes some time, but our young guys have shown real improvement since they have been here.”
One area that Miles appears to be pleased five days into fall camp is that of the offensive line. The Tigers return three starters ? center Brett Helms, left guard Herman Johnson and left tackle Ciron Black ? from last year’s squad. Three other players ? Will Arnold, Lyle Hitt and Carnell Stewart – are in the mix for the starting spots at right guard and right tackle.
“We are set where we want to be right now, but we will look at again after Saturday’s scrimmage,” Miles said. “There are some positions up for grabs on first and second string. Guys that show their ability to learn and compete will make some headway right now. Some guys in the mix are true freshmen.”
“Anybody that is playing extremely well will have a shot at any of the five spots on the line. We have to see how quickly the second team guys put themselves in position to play a lot or be a starter. But there is some headway to be made right now.”
LSU returns to the practice field on Thursday with an 8:30 a.m. workout followed by a 3:30 afternoon practice. LSU will practice in full pads on Thursday morning followed by a shells (shorts and shoulder pads) session in the afternoon.
Les Miles Quotes
August 8, 2007
Opening statement…
“First practice was excellent. Don’t get me wrong, we aren’t perfect by any means. They showed a lot of enthusiasm and we had a lot of fun, which is the way practice should be. There was great intensity and a lot of guys flying to the ball. It was nice to have the entire team together. The young guys accommodated to the style of work ethic that we are use to here. Practice was just what we expected.”
On if there is a clear showing on how far behind the young guys are…
“It is more of the mental work. The guys that have been here just understand how things are called, what’s going on and adjustments to the coverage. It takes some time, but our young guys have shown real improvement since they have been here.”
On any adjustments he will make to the offensive line…
“We are set where we want to be right now, but we will look at again after Saturday’s scrimmage. There are some positions up for grabs on first and second string. Guys that show there ability to learn and compete will make some headway right now. Some guys in the mix are true freshmen.”
On what first team offensive line spots are up for grabs…
“Anybody that is playing extremely well will have a shot at any of the five spots on the line. We have to see how quickly the second team guys put themselves in position to play a lot or be a starter. But there is some headway to be made right now.”
On Chad Jones moving to the varsity practice yesterday…
“We wanted to get him in there and coach him. He has all the physical tools, natural ability, reaction skills and toughness. He has all the physical skills, we just have to get him playing our type of football.”
On what freshmen have stood out on the offensive line…
“I saw a number of guys playing well. I saw good blocks from (Ernest) McCoy, (Joseph) Barksdale and (Josh) Dworaczyk.”