Miles Puts Tigers Through 2nd Scrimmage

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LSU’s defensive units and running backs stood out in the Tigers first full-scale scrimmage of the spring on Thursday afternoon inside Tiger Stadium.

by TigerRag.com

(Photo by Matt Deville)

“The defense is a little ahead of the offense at this time,” head coach Les Miles said. “The defense played well. They gave up some big plays, which were the exception. RB Richard Murphy had a nice run against the first-team defense. Other than that, Most of the afternoon was tough sledding for the offense, which is the way it’s supposed to be early in the spring.”

LSU’s defensive scored two touchdowns on interception returns by LBs Kelvin Sheppard and Lydell Smith. Sheppard returned his pick 50 yards for a score, while Smith’s was a seven-yard return to the end zone.

The LSU running back corps gained over 150 yards on the ground with Murphy colleting 94 of those, including a 40-yard touchdown run.

“Richard Murphy had a nice day. He had a 40-yard run against the first-team defense and picked up some tough yards,” Miles said. “RB Stevan Ridley looked like he played well. Our running backs showed well. I guess that we probably had close to 150 yards rushing so that wasn’t bad.”

LSU’s No. 1 offense went head to head with the No. 1 defense for 14 live plays during the scrimmage and the No.1 and No. 2 offensive and defensive units each saw 48 live plays.

Jarrett Lee and Andrew Hatch both took snaps at quarterback with the No. 1 offensive unit. Lee was 10-13 for 100 yards and Hatch was 8-12 for 70 yards.

“We were sloppy in our execution,” Miles said. “It didn’t look like the style of offense that we’re used to that can sustain drives down the field, but that’s significant of the eight practice of the spring. We certainly hope we get better as we’re going for the rest of the spring. We turned the ball over a little bit more than we would have liked, but most of that was the third team. For the first significant scrimmage, it was what we expected.”

LSU will take the next 13 days off of the practice field for spring break.