BATON ROUGE — LSU opened spring drills on Monday as the Tigers went through a two-hour workout here in shorts and helmets at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility.
The Tigers will have 15 practices over the next four weeks culminating with the spring game at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 11 in Tiger Stadium. LSU will practice again on Tuesday and Thursday this week before holding a scrimmage on Saturday.
“We had a typical first day of practice,” LSU coach Nick Saban said on Monday. “We have a lot of new guys and a lot of new faces making adjustments personnel wise. I was really pleased with the effort and the intensity the players put forth.
“We have good carry-over at some positions and we have a ways to go at other positions. That’s why we have spring practice. We want to see how many players that we can develop, get better, get more repetitions and do a better job of executing.”
Saban said he was pleased with the way the quarterbacks threw the ball on Monday. Junior quarterback Matt Mauck, who started LSU’s first six games last season before suffering a season-ending foot injury, practiced for the first time since last fall.
“Matt did fine today,” Saban said. “He wasn’t affected by his drops or by his ability to set and throw the ball. The one thing that he really can’t do is push off and accelerate and we don’t want him to do that right now. We’re trying to get him to play in practice in the confines of the position so he can develop some timing and confidence.”