BATON ROUGE — Les Miles put his Tigers through a rare back-to-back spring practice session here on Tuesday as LSU worked out in full pads here at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility.
LSU returned to practice on Monday afternoon following a week off due to spring break. LSU will hold its final practice session of the spring on Thursday followed by the spring game at 5 p.m. on Saturday in Tiger Stadium.
“Practice today was good,” Miles said. “This practice was kind of a precursor to a Saturday scrimmage and the guys went by this one a little bit. I don’t know that their focus was just how I wanted it to be. We got a little bit of work done, but I think we’re better than we practiced today. We’ll want to practice well on Thursday and carry that over to the spring game on Saturday.”
Miles said that senior running back Charles Scott returned to practice on Tuesday after missing Monday’s workout due to “some academic issues that he had to take care of.”
Miles noted that junior wide receiver Terrance Toliver sat out Tuesday’s practice after suffering a concussion during Monday’s workout. Tolliver is expected to play on Saturday.
One of the surprising moves on defense came Monday when senior Harry Coleman was moved from the safety position to the outside linebacker spot. Coleman, who started all 13 games for LSU at safety last year, joins the mix at the linebacker position that also includes Perry Riley, Jacob Cutrera and Kelvin Sheppard.
“It appears to me that (Coleman) can play the backer spot or that nickel spot just as comfortably,” Miles said. “He’s a very physical guy who will enjoy playing up front. He can tackle and we need an extra linebacker-type of body with all of the spread offenses we’re going to see.
“He is a team guy. It’s really whatever’s best for the team and he wants to help and improve the football team. There was never any hesitation. I think the quickness and toughness he has gives him the ability to play the position with quickness and athleticism.”
Looking ahead to Saturday, Miles said that the spring game will be played just like a regular contest during the first half before moving to a running clock in the second half. Miles said he and the coaching staff will split the teams on Thursday.
“It’s going to be game-like in nature,” Miles said of the spring game. “We’ll require certain special teams snaps and then at some pint in time when I feel like we’ve had enough we’ll go right to the play and put the ball down on the 30- or 40-yard line and run it from there.
The first half will be normal game clock and then the second half will be a running clock. I’m shooting for a 60-play participation. That would be 120 plays plus special teams and that would be a good go.”