I barely broke a sweat.
Between temperatures around 90 degrees (instead of 100) and the 12 minutes we got to watch the action, the elements didn’t drench my shirt on Day 1 of LSU’s fall camp. Most important in that equation is the limited time were allowed to watch. That was Lane Kiffin’s preference in Oxford, and it appears he’s taken that with him to Baton Rouge despite the generous access in the spring.
With just a pair of six-minute periods to observe, I decided to focus on Sam Leavitt on Wednesday as opposed to surveying as much of the roster as I could. There will be time for that.
Leavitt was in cleats and a full participant as expected. During spring drills, he wore tennis shoes as his foot healed. He was moving just fine although all we saw were light jogs between periods. He’s clearly getting the majority of the reps and running first. None of that is at all a surprise, but we officially got to see it Wednesday morning.
The team wore helmets, jerseys and shorts. I did not personally see anyone in a “no contact” jersey aside from the quarterbacks.
TOP TARGETS
Leavitt’s first pass of the day was a seam route to Trey’Dez Green down the middle of the field. Green never took a rep without Leavitt. Neither did Jayce Brown when the wide receivers joined the passing drills after spending a few minutes blocking while the tight ends caught passes.
I’m not going to draw sweeping conclusions from the first 12 minutes of camp, but it makes sense to me why Leavitt was working with Green and Brown. Those two could very easily be LSU’s two most targeted receivers this season.
ACCURACY ASSESSMENT
Leavitt misfired on a pair of 80 percent speed deep balls to Brown and Malik Elzy. If you’ve arrived at Tiger Stadium an hour before the game, you know the throws I’m talking about. The receiver is in a fast jog, and the quarterback just lays it up there. Both throws were a little bit long.
When the drills progressed to full speed, Leavitt was accurate on all the short and intermediate throws. The ball has plenty of zip, and it was on the money. His best throw of our short observation period was a deep corner route to Brown that was dropped right in the bucket over the inside shoulder.
Husan Longstreet and Landen Clark were not as accurate in practice No. 1. Both misfired on some shorter throws in limited reps.
RUNNING BACK REVIEW
Caden Durham took the read-option and RPO reps with Leavitt. Dilin Jones went second, and Harlem Berry was third. When the backs went to individual drills, Jones went through the gauntlet drill first.
I truly don’t think there’s a huge difference in who Kevin Smith sees as his top back and third back. This fall is important for all three to compete for time.
DEFENSIVE DEPTH CHART
Matt Moscona took the defensive field for us today. He gave me the first and second team defenses as they lined up this morning.
FIRST TEAM
DL: Princewill Umanmielen, Deuce Geralds, Malik Blocton, Jordan Ross
LB: Whit Weeks, TJ Dottery
STAR: Dashawn Spears
CB: DJ Pickett, PJ Woodland
S: Ty Benefield, Jhase Thomas
Of note, Geralds is going to get a look with the first team. That’s not new. He repped there for a good portion of the spring. Jhase Thomas instead of Tamarcus Cooley flanking Benefield was interesting.
Also, Pickett was in No. 5. That number hasn’t been issued since Jayden Daniels wore it en route to the Heisman Trophy. Pickett wore No. 3 as a freshman last season. Kiffin said following practice that Pickett was promised the No. 5 in recruiting and that he felt like honoring that promise was the thing to do.
SECOND TEAM
DL: Lamar Brown, Stephiylan Green, Richard Anderson, Dylan Carpenter
LB: Davhon Keys, Tylan Singleton
STAR: CJ Jimcoily
CB: Ja’Keem Jackson, Michael Turner
S: Tamarcus Cooley, Faheem Delane
Lamar Brown makes his debut on the second unit at defensive end. Anderson and Green form the two which puts Dominick McKinley with the third unit.
Our next chance to see the Tigers will be Thursday evening at 6:35.
