By Hunt Palmer
After a day off for recuperation on Sunday, the Tigers were back at it Monday morning. The shoulder pads were on, and physicality bumped up a notch.
The first period of note was a one-on-on session where the wide receivers and tight ends worked against the secondary. That drill is designed for the offense to excel. Defensive backs don’t have the luxury of a pass rush or help defenders. Asking one man to cover the entirety of the field is a challenge, to be fair.
So, as expected, the offense dominated the drill. In 25 reps, only one resulted in pass breakup. There were some over and underthrows by the QBs, but the corners and safeties had issues getting into position and breaking passes up.
Ashton Stamps and Kyren Lacy faced off in a pair of quality reps. Both were receptions for Lacy, but Stamps was competitive. The Rummel product has been LSU’s best corner through a week of workouts. He had an interception in 11-on-11 later on.
Lacy also beat true freshman PJ Woodland on a great back shoulder throw from Garrett Nussmeier. Now emerging from the shadow of Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas, Lacy looks the part of a No. 1 option.
Chris Hilton has also had a very strong early camp. He ran by Sage Ryan for a catch and then beat Zy Alexander for another. Ka’morreun Pimpton showed some impressive hands, once making a catch from the ground after tripping on the defensive back. Later he roasted Da’Shawn Spears on a double move for an easy catch.
Trey’dez Green got in on the act, beating Jardin Gilbert for a catch and getting open a second time that resulted in an overthrow. “YOU HAVE TO LET HIM TOUCH IT. HE’S SIX-SEVEN!” Joe Sloan exclaimed.
I mentioned the interception Stamps hauled in during 11-on-11. He was in coverage of CJ Daniels. Nussmeier was late on the throw, and Stamps undercut it at the goalline.
The most impressive play from that period was Hilton catching a deep ball over Ju’Juan Johnson who was filling in for a gimpy Major Burns.
Having watched nearly 15-years-worth of practices at LSU, I don’t recall many periods where a position coach was working exclusively with the second team while the first group worked elsewhere. That happened with the offensive line today. Brad Davis worked with his second team, and he was demanding. “Come on, 5-star,” he blurted at Weston Davis condescendingly. He didn’t like Davis’s body language during the drill. Same went for Coen Echols at center. He barked at Echols to run from drill to drill. You can tell Coach Davis knows how close those guys are to the field. “You’re one snap away from starting!”
The specialists worked on kickoff. A host of Tiger speedsters worked on returns. Kaleb Jackson, Aaron Anderson, Josh Williams, Jelani Watkins, Caden Durham, among others.
As far as the health of the team, John Emery had to leave the field twice in frustration as his recovering knee gave him some issues. Major Burns came up lame after a coverage rep. He sat out the rest of the periods. Zavion Thomas did not practice. He was seen icing his leg on Friday.
Zy Alexander did ease back into action.
The Tigers return to the practice field Tuesday morning. It will be the final workout before full pads come on.
