BATON ROUGE – LSU opened the doors of the Charles McClendon Practice Facility to the LSU student body on Thursday as the Tigers held “Student Appreciation Day” here as they conducted their final workout prior to Saturday’s National L-Club Spring Game presented by Tony Chachere’s.
A crowd of over 400 students watched the Tigers workout in shorts and helmets as LSU put the finishing touches on what has been a very productive spring for the squad.
Following LSU’s workout, head coach Les Miles and the Tigers put a handful of the students through a workout of their own. A total of 20 students – 10 male and 10 female – took part in a passing contest, an obstacle course and attempted to catch punts from the jugs machine.
Miles and the Tigers closed the afternoon with a 45-minute meet and greet with the students as 2011 SEC Championship Posters were distributed along with the signing of autographs and the taking of pictures.
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“This was a lot of fun,” Miles said following the workout. “I think the players had fun and it appeared that the students enjoyed it as well. The LSU student body is a group that is very loyal. They are the first ones in Tiger Stadium on Saturdays during the fall and they are classmates of the players on this team. We wanted to repay their loyalty and their dedication to our program and this is just a small way of saying ‘thank you.'”
LSU student Ashleigh Keith said this was her first opportunity to see the football program up close.
“I thought it was a really great event,” Keith said. “My friend performed in the obstacle course and the punting, and it was really great. We had a lot of fun, and it was really cool to see what they do. I didn’t get a chance to go to any football games last semester, so this is my first case of football up close. I always watched all the games on TV, but I wasn’t able to go. I loved this event.”
The Tigers will take tomorrow off before returning to the field one final time this spring on Saturday in Tiger Stadium for the National L-Club Spring Game. Miles said Saturday will have the Tigers playing as game-like as possible in the first half followed by a running clock in the second half.
“It will be a game that we expect the players to go out and make plays,” Miles said. “We are going to put them in position to make plays. We look forward to seeing how they have developed this spring and this will give us a chance to see what our team may look like on Saturday’s going forward.”
Admission to the spring game is free. LSU will celebrate its 2011 Southeastern Conference Championship with a ceremony starting at 12:30 p.m. in Tiger Stadium with kickoff to follow.