Offensive line struggles in “sloppy” first preseason scrimmage

Ed Orgeron fully expected the defense to win the day when LSU held its first preseason game of fall camp on Saturday afternoon. Even with some recent injuries, that’s the side of the ball with Dave Aranda and most of the roster’s star power.

What irked the coach was the mistake-prone way in which the offense slugged through the first live scrimmage of camp. The offense — and the line in particular — had a number of miscues that Orgeron wants cleaned up heading into the second week of practice.

“On offense we had way too many mistakes,” Orgeron said at his post-scrimmage press conference. “We had way too many penalties. Way too many offsides. We had a couple series where we had two-or-three penalties back to back. Sometimes, when we executed, we made some good plays, but we shot ourselves in the foot with too many penalties.”

He continued: “It was a lot of jumping offsides and not being in sync. Really it was a lot of offsides and holding, penalties we need to eliminate.”

LSU cycled all four quarterbacks in with the first-, second- and third-string units through a variety of situational scenarios, according to Orgeron. He said LSU completed run-heavy and third-and-medium periods before moving the rest of the scrimmage inside due to inclement weather that added to the sloppy play.

Orgeron said he didn’t see much separation from any of the four signal callers and doesn’t have any plans to refine or trim down the competition in the coming week, instead choosing to let it continue to play out in the scrimmages to come.

“It’s a process and we still have two preseason games left,” Orgeron said. “We’re not pushing that. We’re going to let the process happen throughout camp. We haven’t gone through a lot of situations yet, so it’s still early.”

What’s clear is that whoever was under center was dealing with lots of pass rush whenever they dropped back to pass. From the stats Orgeron listed (printed below), three linebackers along accounted for five sacks and four quarterbacks hurries. None of them faced live contact in this scrimmage.

Garrett Brumfield didn’t take any reps at center Saturday, Orgeron said, but he will work there more going forward as LSU looks for answers up front. Adrian Magee and Austin Deculus, the two competing to start at right tackle, apparently struggled with speed rushers coming off the edge. Orgeron did credit tackle Badara Traore for scrimmaging despite missing some practice time due to a minor injury.

“Not good,” Orgeron said. “We didn’t play very well today. We made too many mistakes. We gave up too many sacks and had too many penalties.”

SCRIMMAGE STATS

Passing:

Justin McMillan | 8-13, 83 yards (long of 30)

Myles Brennan | 5-10, 94 yards (long of 36)

Lowell Narcisse | 6-14, 122 yards, 1 TD (long of 40)

Joe Burrow | 7-13, 118 yards (long of 37)

Rushing:

Nick Brossette | 10 carries for 36 yards

Clyde Edwards-Helaire | 9 carries for 17 yards

Chris Curry | 16 carries for 43 yards

Receiving:

Ja’Marr Chase | 3 receptions for 52 yards

Derrick Dillon | 3 receptions for 41 yards

Justin Jefferson | 3 receptions for 42 yards

Jonathan Giles | 2 receptions for 58 yards

Terrace Marshall/Drake Davis | One “long one” apiece

Defense:

Devin White | 6 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack, 2 QB hurries

K’Lavon Chaisson | 7 tackles, 1 TFL, 2 sacks, 2 QB hurries, 1 pass breakup

Damone Clark | 5 1/2 tackles

Michael Divinity | 2 sacks

Kicking:

Cole Tracy | 3-for-3 FG (1-1 from 45+ yards)

DID NOT PARTICIPATE

Cornerback: Greedy Williams and Mannie Netherly (unspecified)

Linebacker: Tyler Taylor (suspension), Micah Baskerville (foot surgery) and Parick Queen (unspecified)

Safety: Eric Monroe (unspecified)

About James Moran 1377 Articles
James Moran was Editor of Tiger Rag from August 2018 to October 2019. He previously served as the associate editor since 2014. He is a graduate of the LSU Manship School of Journalism.

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