LSU won Saturday afternoon — and lost.
Fans and media received their first look at the 2014 LSU football team in the Tigers’ annual Spring Game Saturday. The game pitted a starter-filled white team against a backup-laden purple team in a full scrimmage that the white team won 42-14.
“I have to be honest, I really was encouraged by today,” said LSU coach Les Miles. “I think when you add that young class to this group and you mature that quarterback spot some more, we’ll be in a good position.”
That quarterback position quickly became the spotlight of Saturday’s game, when freshman early enrollee quarterback Brandon Harris showed why he was so highly recruited.
Harris’ day started with a fumbled handoff to running back Reshaud Henry, but the Bossier City, La., native rebounded in the second quarter when he swapped places with sophomore quarterback Anthony Jennings on the white squad.
Harris amassed 183 total yards and three passing touchdowns with the white team. He tacked on another 89 total yards and a rushing score while under center for purple.
Jennings struggled all day, throwing a pair of pick sixes to the opposing squad’s linebackers. Purple’s Deion Jones took the first interception back for a 67-yard score, while white’s Kwon Alexander returned the other back for 26 yards.
“[Harris] made a couple of nice plays today, but in the same vein, there were some mistakes made and things to be corrected on both sides,” Miles said. “We’re going to let the competition continue and see how this thing plays out.”
The Tigers opened up a strong vertical passing game on Saturday, with Harris going deep on the majority of his passes. But just because the quarterbacks were passing deep doesn’t mean the receivers were catching them — at least not early on.
Both sides failed to register a catch from a wide receiver until early in the second quarter when Harris connected with sophomore wide receiver Travin Dural for a 20-yard gain in double coverage.
Dural finished the day with 130 yards on five receptions and a pair of touchdowns — all of which were highs for either squad.
“Travin Dural had a hell of a day with a couple of nice receptions and a couple of nice plays,” Miles said.
But while Harris was putting on a show at quarterback, Miles said he wasn’t pleased with the production from the LSU running backs during the scrimmage.
Senior tailback Kenny Hilliard led the white team with 64 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries, but his lone score didn’t come until the closing minutes of the game.
Miles tried to remain optimistic about, though.
“We didn’t run the football as well as we’d like, but the defense tackled well,” Miles said. “At the end of spring, with the Spring Game, this is just what we needed.”