LSU Fighting Tigers

[Colonel_Reb]

Here's a recap of the final spring scrimmage, held last Saturday. With Jacob Hester and Matt Flynn, they could be a fun team to watch for the next couple of years. Let's hope they get whiter still.

BATON ROUGE -- Wide receiver Dwayne Bowe hauled in three touchdown passes Saturday as the LSU football team wrapped up spring drills with a two-hour scrimmage before 3,000 fans in Tiger Stadium.

Head coach Les Miles elected to put the Tigers through a 100-play scripted workout that saw the first-team defense go against the second-team offense and the No. 2 offense scrimmage against the No. 1 defense for most of the day.

Seven starters did not see action either due to injuries sustained during spring drills or injuries suffered last season.

With the absence of the injured JaMarcus Russell, quarterbacks Matt Flynn and Ryan Perrilloux split repetitions and each got a chance to work with the first-team and second-team offenses.

"Both quarterbacks got equal reps all spring, and I think it's easy to see that there's real potential in the guys who played today," said Miles. "I think you're going to have to wait until the fall to figure out exactly how it's going to go. We don't really know how healthy JaMarcus is going to be and when his health returns fully."

Flynn connected on 12 of 26 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns, and Perrilloux finished 11 of 26 for 145 yards and one score.

"In today's outing I think our quarterbacks looked good," said Miles. "They missed a couple of throws, but overall really operated the offense well and made some nice scrambles. They got out and made some throws and runs on plays that certainly make a difference."

Perrilloux entered in the fourth series of the scrimmage and immediately drove the Tigers down the field for a 65-yard drive, culminating with a 30-yard rollout pass to Brandon LaFell.

He later engineered a 50-yard drive against the No. 1 defense, concluding with a 30-yard touchdown pass to Bowe in the corner of the endzone.

Bowe then made a one-handed touchdown grab three series later on a 35-yard strike from Flynn, also against the first-team defense. The two later capped the scrimmage with a 25-yard touchdown pass, which gave Bowe 126 yards receiving on the day.

"Dwayne Bowe showed why he's a really great go-to guy," said Miles. "He's a guy who can go up in the air and get a ball, and our quarterbacks look for him so regularly."

Miles also praised the efforts of the defensive line, specifically defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, who finished with three tackles and received the Jimmy Taylor Award for outstanding leadership, effort and performance.

"Glenn Dorsey stepped up, and with the graduation that occurred, he has the opportunity to take control of live play, and certainly he's done that," said Miles. "He's going to be a great leader and a tremendous player for us inside."

Linebacker Darry Beckwith led all Tigers with eight tackles and one sack. Freshman Jacob Cutrera, who enrolled at the beginning of the semester, made five tackles, and linebacker Ali Highsmith tallied four tackles and one sack for a loss of five.

Several reserve running backs saw valuable action due to the injuries of Alley Broussard, Justin Vincent and R.J. Jackson. Antonio Robinson made the most of the opportunity with 70 yards on 11 carries, including a 34-yard dash against the No. 2 defense.

Jacob Hester began the scrimmage with an 18-yard run and finished with 48 yards on 10 carries.

"Hester had a very strong spring at tailback," added Miles. "This is probably fewer touches than we've given him throughout the spring, and that's because we're very nicked at the position and we didn't want to get him hurt."

With the departure of Skyler Green on special teams, several skilled players went through some live snaps.

Chevis Jackson produced a 70-yard punt return down to the 13-yard line, and Trindon Holliday added a kickoff return of 66 yards.

2006 LSU Football Spring Scrimmage

Final Statistics

Passing
Player Att. Comp. Yards TD Int.
Matt Flynn 26 12 167 2 0
Ryan Perrilloux 26 11 145 1 0

Rushing
Player Att. Yards TD Long
Jacob Hester 10 48 0 18
Antonio Robinson 11 70 0 34

Receiving
Player Rec. Yards TD Long
Dwayne Bowe 7 126 3 35
Early Doucet 5 55 0 13
Carlos Rachel 3 35 0 16
Keith Zinger 2 16 0 11
Andrew Wright 1 31 0 31
Brandon LaFell 1 30 0 30

Defensive Leaders
Player
Darry Beckwith 8 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack
Jacob Cutrera 5 tackles
Ali Highsmith 4 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack
Tyson Jackson 4 tackles, 1 TFL
Ryan Willis 3 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack
Glenn Dorsey 3 tackles, 1 TFL

Punts
Player
Patrick Fisher 4 att., 155 yards, 38.8 avg., 50 long, 1 inside the 5-yard line
Brady Dalfrey 3 att., 170 yards, 56.7 avg., 70 long, 1 inside the 5-yard line

Spring Football Awards

Alvin Roy Fourth Quarter Award
Peter Dyakowski
Shawn Jordan
Ali Highsmith
Daniel Francis
Tyson Jackson
Herman Johnson
Alonzo Manuel
Craig Steltz
Luke Sanders
Justin Vincent
Steven Korte
Jacob Cutrera
LaRon Landry
Tremaine Johnson

Eric Andolsek Leadership Award
Jacob Hester
Matt Flynn
Brian Johnson

Mike Miley Leadership Award
Jonathan Zenon
Ali Highsmith
Chevis Jackson

Toby Caston Performance Award
Jonathan Zenon
Ryan Willis

Ralph Norwood Performance Award
Matt Flynn
Jacob Hester

Most Improved Award
Darry Beckwith
Ciron Black
Brett Helms
R.J. Jackson
Brandon LaFell
Ricky Jean Francois
Quinn Johnson
Ryan Perrilloux
Jason Spadoni
Craig Steltz

 

[whiteCB]

Good to see Hester get a couple of awards but still its disapointing to see that Antonio Robinson did better on the stat sheet than Hester. Hester needs to outperform every HB there is in order to start. So when he gets 22 yards less then Robinson it seems to me that the coaches will now be pulling for Robinson.

 

[Deus Vult]

Hester is developing nicely. Another to root for is Steve Korte, Jr.


Of course, JaMarcus Russell is a HUGE obstacle to LSU's offensive success. WIll Les Miles finally bench the big lug if he has another season like 2005. Yeah, I know LSU won 11 games -- in spite of JaMarcus!


QB Matt Flynn's Peach Bowl performance against Miami should have opened some eyes. If Flynn is ready and not a fluke, he should start at QB.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

I second that Deus Vult! By the way, welcome to Caste Football. I lived in northwest Louisiana for over 6 years.

 

[Guest]

On all the other sites I go to if I or anyone else ever vouch for Flynn to be the starter at LSU they all get all mad and offended. When i cite Flynn's performance against Miami they claim it is a fluke. They are all in love with another big black dumb as rocks qb and most of them are probably white...it makes me mad. I hope Flynn gets the starting nod this year and Hester gets to play HB.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

They could both get a chance to start, but if they don't put up world record numbers in the first game, they will be replaced by the idiotic mass that make up most of LSU's fans. They will scream for their collective white heads to be sacrificed in preference to having a coal black team to get drunk over.

Edited by: Colonel_Reb

 

[SteveB]

I hope these guys get a chance, but Les Miles is a Caste believer. His teams at Oklahoma St were almost completely black.

 

[Deus Vult]

What is amazing to me -- but probably all too typical in terms of it happening everywhere else big-time football is played -- is the blind worship of LSU QB JaMarcus Russell. Any objective observer can see that he is a very big, strong guy, sure, but not an elite QB. However, in certain local writers' columns and on some LSU fan sites (such as http://www.tigerdroppings.com), DuhMarcus is destined to be an NFL Hall of Famer. They speak in terms of DuhMarcus leading LSU back to another BCS National Title and being an early first round draftee as a redshirt Junior.

I don't see that at all in the guy's game. IMHO, the Tigers went 11-2 last year IN SPITE of DuhMarcus' limitations and mistakes. His irrational fans claim that "scouts drool" over Russell as a pro prospect. Who are these drooling scouts?

LSU Head Coach Les Miles and Offensive Coordinator Jimbo Fisher use the media to boost DuhMarcus Russell's fragile psyche, spewing crap about how extraordinarily talented he is, how his starting job is safe (despite Matt Flynn leading LSU to a 40-3 mauling of the Miami Hurricanes in the 2005 Peach Bowl), how LSU's is blessed to have Russell... ALl Matt Flynn does is kick ass and take names, but he may not get his shot because Fisher and Miles are trying to develop what may not exist.

 

[Triad]

When I last visited tigerdroppings.com during the football season, the majority of the posts I saw were pro-Flynn and against Russell. I would be surprised if Russell has won them over since the bowl game. The Posters also usually considered Coach Miles to be an idiot.

It is truly entertaining to check out the tiger rant on this site when LSU is losing a football game. The "fans" viciously attack the players and coaches as soon as something goes wrong. I was introduced to the site after the Tennessee collapse and couldn't resist checking it out during the rest of the season.


__________________
"It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry." - Thomas Paine

 

[Colonel_Reb]

What the real problem here is the LSU fans. I am convinced, until someone shows me otherwise, that LSU has college football's worst fans. I know many of them are good people, but the majority of the vocal fan base at LSU is horrible. They are the most fickle, arrogant, unrealistic, worst behaved bunch I have ever seen. It has been this way since at least 1990, maybe further back than that. I didn't follow LSU prior to that time, so I don't know for sure. Anyway, the local media is also a player in this behavior. They bring up topics and questions that you would never hear at most other schools. People get drunk and call up and rant on something they know nothing about. I listened to it for 6 years on WWL, Buddy D. included. Even the LSU postgame radio crew is very confrontational and fickle.

 

[Deus Vult]

Col. Reb, the late "Buddy D." was a proper gentleman compared to the bandwagon drivers in Baton Rouge radio, especially Jimmy Ott (the "Little Otter") and Buddy Songy. These guys are petty and low-class. So, they attract like-minded callers.

I'm not disputing your assessment of (a great many) LSU Tiger fans, though.

 

[Colonel_Reb]

Deus Volt, I didn't realize Buddy D. had died. He was more of a calm head than most others who commented on LSU football on WWL back then, but I remember him jumping on the bandwagon more than once. It seems that all of them, on different levels, tried to act as if they were head coach, while at the same time, judge, jury, and executioner about everything the coaches and players did. Because of the absurdity of most things they railed on, it really was hard to listen to for me. My most enjoyable times as an LSU fan were spent listening to the non-tv night games alone in our little used den, with the lights off and the radio on John Hawthorne's broadcast, with a vision of the game in my head.