BATON ROUGE – LSU went through its first scrimmage of fall camp here Tuesday morning as the Tigers held a 75-play session at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility.

Associated Press

The scrimmage was the only scheduled practice for the Tigers on Tuesday. LSU will workout twice on Wednesday, one time on Thursday and twice on Friday leading up to Saturday’s scrimmage in Tiger Stadium.

“This was the first tackling practice that we have had and it was a good ‘go’”, LSU coach Les Miles said following the scrimmage. “We went through a pre-practice and then 75 or 80 snaps with 50 live (snaps). There is some strong potential in this team, but we are a ways away. We are not smooth yet on offense or defense, and we need to play smarter.

“As I look back on the last couple years, this practice was virtually the same. There is plenty of work to do, but there was progress.”

The first scrimmage of fall camp featured different situations, including emphasis on third downs, redzone offense and defense, as well as the two-minute drill. The scrimmage also had the 1s (offense vs. defense) squaring off for a portion of the workout.

“We went 25 (snaps) on each team and then went (special) teams for an extended period,” Miles said. “The (special) teams were all thud-live except for tackling. It was a pretty good ‘go.’ Except for penalties, turnovers and sloppy play, it was great effort.”

Miles and the coaching staff also mixed in different special teams situations throughout the scrimmage, including kickoff coverage and kickoff return, field goals as well as punt coverage and punt return. 

“There were some things that we did well,” Miles said. “(Andrew) Hatch handled the offense pretty well. We ran the football well at times and the defense was sticky at times. There were some good things but not necessarily the error-free football that I am looking for.”

Among those players who Miles singled out for their play during the scrimmage included sophomore running back Richard Murphy, junior running back Charles Scott and sophomore quarterback Andrew Hatch.

“Murphy had a couple of nice runs today and so did Charles Scott,” Miles said. “Those would be the two guys who carried the ball really well. Stevan Ridley blocked a punt and looked like he made some plays.”

Murphy busted runs of 15, 10, and 8 yards, while Scott had a long carry of 14 yards, which went to the 1-yard line during the redzone portion of the scrimmage. Other offensive highlights during the workout included Hatch completing a 15-yard pass to Richard Dickson for a touchdown; quarterback Jordan Jefferson scrambling for 15 yards on a broken play; and Hatch completing passes of 15 yards to Brandon LaFell and Demetrius Byrd on the same drive.

“(Richard) Murphy had a couple of significant carries for 20 or 30 yards,” Miles said. “Charles Scott had a couple carries for 20 or 30 yards. (Andrew) Hatch broke one for 15 (yards) on a broken play, and the young freshman quarterback broke one for about that (15 yards) on a broken play.”

Defensively, junior Ricky Jean-Francois paced the group with a pair of sacks and a quarterback hurry, while Tyson Jackson added a sack and a hurry and linebacker Perry Riley intercepted a pass during the two-minute drill. Other defensive highlights included sacks by Al Woods and Lazarius Levingston, and a forced fumble by Brandon Taylor.

The Tigers will practice five times before scrimmaging Saturday in Tiger Stadium as the squad looks to continue to make steady progress to the season opener against Appalachian State.

“We just have to continue to develop, continue to get better, make sure we are paying attention to detail and doing the right things,” Miles said.