BATON ROUGE — Les Miles and the LSU coaching staff will welcome 105 players to campus on Wednesday as the Tigers open fall camp in preparation for the 2009 season.
LSU returns 13 starters and 47 letterwinners from last year’s team that posted an 8-5 overall mark. LSU capped the 2008 season with a 38-3 win over 14th-ranked Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.
LSU will use Wednesday as a day of orientation as the team will check-in to West Campus Apartments in the morning, while the afternoon will be used for football-related activities. The players will undergo physicals with the training staff and team doctors during the afternoon as well as getting fitted for equipment.
LSU will hold its first practice on Thursday morning as the veterans will workout at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility. The freshmen, along with selected veterans, will practice on Thursday afternoon in what will be the first of four days of split-squad workouts.
The first two days of practice will have the team working out in shorts and helmets before adding shoulder pads in days three and four. The team will dress out in full pads for the first time on Tuesday, Aug. 11, which also marks the first full squad practice for the Tigers.
The Tigers open their fifth season under Miles on Sept. 5 when LSU travels to Seattle to face Washington at 9:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised to a national audience on ESPN marking the third straight year in which LSU’s season-opener will be nationally televised.