LSU Practicing With High Energy, Says Safety Tamarcus Cooley

By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter

LSU’s defense crumbled last weekend when it faced Vanderbilt’s efficient offense.

The Tigers gave up 399 total yards as quarterback Diego Pavia rushed for 86 yards with two touchdowns and passed for another 160 and a touchdown.

LSU sophomore safety transfer Tamarcus Cooley said the Tuesday that the Tigers did not meet their standard.

“We didn’t play like ourselves. Got to do better as a unit. Just little mistakes we have,” he said. “I’m not going to speak on everybody else and speak on myself. I probably could have covered better or made more tackles.”

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Since the win against Florida on Sept. 13, LSU’s defense hasn’t looked like the same aggressive unit and struggled to contain quarterbacks, unlike in the opener at Clemson. Both were defense-dominated 20-10 and 17-10 wins.

“Really just continue to play how we used to play,” Cooley said of the plan. “Kind of like the Clemson game. We haven’t really been practicing the same, so I would just say get rid of our old habits and just tackle with pursuit.”

Practices have improved as No. 20 LSU (5-2, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) prepares to host No. 3 Texas A&M (7-0, 4-0 SEC) on Saturday (6:30 p.m., ABC).

“It definitely changed. Today, practice was perfect,” he said of Tuesday’s workout. “That’s how our practice should be on our end. “We had energy on both sides and special teams, so it should be like that all the time.”

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LSU likely has to win out to reach the 12-team College Football Playoff.

“I wouldn’t say it’s pressure. I would just say we got to control what we can control and just fix the bad habits that we had and play as a team and just strive,” Cooley said.

The Tigers’ defense will be challenged once again by a dangerous dual-threat quarterback in Marcel Reed, who rushed for 63 yards on nine carries and scored three TDs off the bench to beat LSU last season.

“Just stop the run on his end,” Cooley said. “I would just say pursuit and just getting him down when we got to get him down. Just hold our ground.”