Lonn Phillips Sullivan
Aug 16, 20214 min
by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
@LonnPhillips
Some of the info at the top is from former Tiger T-Bob Hebert of 104.5, a member of the iconic 2007 & 2011 teams, who was there at the closed scrimmage:
-This LSU defense is for real: they're back....don't doubt that. Despite the offense & defense going back and forth throughout fall camp thus far, it doesn't mean either unit is really struggling....it just means great football players are going to battle: some will lose and some will win....
On the overall, we're seeing Defensive Coordinator Daronte Jones' vision come to fruition, thanks to his fantastic communication efforts, his knowledge of the game & the way his players relate to him.
There's one thing though to really be watchful of: LSU were without Derek Stingley Jr (as we knew they'd be), Dwight McGlothern AND NOW Eli Ricks is down, too.
McGlothern's injury seems to be the worst, Stingley Jr's knock is worse than we thought but he still should be fine for Week 1, while Eli Ricks is now supposed to return "next week in some capacity."
This is very worrying, as LSU went out there w/ Darren Evans & super senior Lloyd Cole (who did grab an interception this past week) over Raydarious Jones, who we expected to get the starting nod.
-Maason Smith was absent from the scrimmage, we're trying to find out why and work our sources, now.
-To add to the injury woes, OL Garrett Dellinger has gone down as told to us by a source very very close to the team. He is out with, what was first told to us, "a torn labrum", but LSU Odyssey reports it as a "shoulder injury of a possibly serious nature". Though a torn labrum cannot be ruled out.
-Safety Major Burns grabbed another interception!
-The former Tiger made sure to single out DE Ali Gaye, calling him "a monster".
-Due to Ty Davis-Price being held out for Saturday's scrimmage, "the young running backs and John Emery looked great!"
-Armoni Goodwin scored a touchdown & ran the ball well, beating defenders.
-OL Xavier Hill got time with the 1st team, then was moved around on the 2nd string from left tackle, left guard and right tackle. He's going to be an extremely important piece to the offensive line's cohesion and durability, both now and in the future.
From Coach Ed Orgeron:
-QB stats from Saturday's scrimmage:
Max Johnson Finishes 11/19 for 127 yards & 1 TD Garrett Nussmeier 11/17 for 225 yards & 3 TDs
(additional stats not from Coach O: Nussmeier finished with 2 interceptions)
-Scrimmage was mostly dominated by the defense & "The quickness of the defensive line" was apparent: Ali Gaye, Neil Farrell & Joseph Evans had great days.
"Today was Ali's first day back, going full speed. There was a lot of 3rd down passing situations where they could pin their ears back."
-Coach Raymond was called "coach of the day" by Ed Orgeron, talking about how well the back-up cornerbacks played during the scrimmage.
From LSU Odyssey:
CBs Lloyd Cole (super senior, fringe member of the 2019 team) and last year's JUCO transfer Darren Evans played most of the snaps, backed by walk-on Everett Girard (#32) and freshman DeMarius McGhee (#26).
-Pig Cage played high quality reps and looked solid in the secondary, dislodging a few passes.
No word on where Raydarious Jones was....he was one of the players we had circled as someone to watch this scrimmage, getting a rare opportunity following his nice play during the Spring Game (1 interception and a few pass breakups).
-RECEIVERS:
"Our freshmen caught the ball well."
-Jontre Kirklin 5 catches
-Kayshon Boutte: 4 catches
-Brian Thomas Jr: 5 catches
-Evan Francioni: 4 catches and 1 TD, looked really good
-Malik Nabers: long TD catch
"I think as the year goes on, we'll find out who the other guys, the #2 guy is...."
ON COREY KINER:
"Corey Kiner made 2 or 3 guys miss...and then jumped over a defender....same type of stuff we saw in high school."
ON LBs:
"You know we talked about that today. Damone Clark & Micah Baskerville is doing very good. Buggs is doing very good and Jared Small is all over the place. They're gonna be considered starters...hopefully we can play all four."
NOTES:
-According to T-Bob Hebert, safety Derrick Davis Jr responded to his "hype cooling off" last week, and made some of the best plays from the secondary. That's fantastic news to hear and just what we were hoping for.
-Garrett Dellinger's injury could be anything from a separated shoulder to a torn labrum, but one thing that is common throughout: he obviously suffered a bad shoulder injury. We'll find out the extent from the scans.
-After a few rough outings, LT Cam Wire rebounded over the last few practices....but during Saturday's scrimmage, Andre Anthony & B.J Ojulari made him work......harrrrrrrd.
This is the second high profile "lukewarm" outing from LSU's starting left tackle....then again, practicing every rep against the best DL in America should make our struggling OL formidable against opponents.
-Malik Nabers scored a long, diving touchdown.
-TE #88 Evan Francioni was one of the stars from the Saturday scrimmage, barreling through tackles on a brilliant catch and run TD.
-LB Micah Baskerville was all over the field, following up his interception during midweek practice by producing an all around brutal display. He stuffed plays in the backfield, blocked passes over the middle, and made one on one stops in space.
LB1???
by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
@LonnPhillips
Copyright 2021 Uninterrupted Writings Inc
SHOUTOUTS: Thank you a very amazing certain former Tiger!!!! He is my absolute Calrissian, smuggling me out the ultra Tiger deets!