LSU had to move its scheduled scrimmage inside Saturday due overnight showers that soaked the field at Tiger Stadium, but Ed Orgeron said afterword that LSU is right where it needs to be after a spring practice No. 9 that centered around live, “game-type” situations.
“It was a game-type situation,” the coach said. “It was dominated by the defense. I thought the defense was on fire most of the day.”
Red zone seemed to be a central theme of the scrimmage for LSU. Orgeron highlighted the play of defensive ends Breiden Fehoko and Rashard Lawrence as well as nose tackle Tyler Shelvin when it came to the running game, but noted that the offense actually threw the ball well in close.
“It’s one of the areas we want to get better,” Orgeron said. “I thought the offense threw the ball well down there. You could see improvement in our red zone offense.”
Shelvin is starting in place of the injured Ed Alexander this spring, and while Orgeron said “he’s coming” after a strong showing Saturday, he needs to see more before Shelvin can be considered a threat to Alexander’s starting job. He will be the backup and play in goal line sets, though, Orgeron said.
As for the quarterbacks, Saturday continued the spring-long trend of a different member of the trio seemingly taking a step forward.
Lowell Narcisse “was on” running the ball Saturday and may have rushed for 100 yards if LSU allowed quarterback contact, according to Orgeron. “I don’t know if the guys would have had him down,” he said.
That was after Justin McMillan shined in a previous scrimmage. Myles Brennan has been steady since a slow start to the spring, per Orgeron, and was the best of the bunch again when it came to throwing the football.
“We’re not ready to make a decision there yet,” Orgeron said. He added that the position as a whole will be easier to assess once the entire offense has been installed.
Here’s the rundown on scrimmage stats provided by Orgeron plus a few miscellaneous notes and comments from the press conference.
PASSING
Myles Brennan: 10-15, 93 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Justin McMillan: 3-11, 20 yards, 1 TD
Lowell Narcisse: 3-11, 65 yards
RUSHING
Nick Brossette: 17 carries, 34 yards, 3 TD
Lanard Fournette: 6 carries, 21 yards, 1 TD
Clyde Edwards-Helaire: DNP due to minor injury. Orgeron said he may return to practice on Tuesday. He and Brossette are LSU’s top two backs up to this point.
RECEIVING
Drake Davis: 2 catches, 50 yards, 1 TD (long of 40 yards)
Foster Moreau: 2 catches, 23 yards, 1 TD
Jonathan Giles: 2 catches, 21 yards
Brossette, Stephen Sullivan and Tory Carter: 2 catches
Justin Jefferson Racey McMath, Jacory Washington: 1 catch
Derrick Dillon: 1 catch | Broke a long kickoff return when LSU did live special teams work, per Orgeron.
DEFENSE
Patrick Queen: 6 tackles, 1 sack
Tyler Shelvin: 6 tackles, 2 TFL
Devin White: 5 tackles, 2 TFL
Jacob Phillips: 4 tackles, 1 TFL
K’Lavon Chaisson: 4 tackles, 1 sack
Breiden Fehoko: 3 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble | “He was very dominant today.”
Neil Farrell: 3 tackles, 1 TFL
John Battle: 3 tackles
Jontre Kirklin: 2 tackles, 2 PBU
Rashard Lawrence: 2 tackles, 1 sack
Todd Harris and Eric Monroe: the safeties have been moved to nickel back, Orgeron said, as LSU is “not sold” on what it has at the position.
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