LSU football had its final practice of fall camp Saturday, running through drills and scrimmaging in front of former players and families in Tiger Stadium.
With two weeks until it kicks off its first game against Florida State Sept. 3, LSU now transitions into normal practice and game preparation.
The team finished Saturday’s practice with a scrimmage following the normal warmups and drill work, giving one final look at how the first team offense and defense lines up before the first game. Here are some observations from the practice.
Denver Harris returns
Harris was absent from LSU’s team picture last week, and had missed three prior practices. Brian Kelly gave an update on Harris’ status Wednesday, saying that the sophomore defensive back was “handling some personal matters.”
Kelly also added that Harris could be back this weekend, which was the case at Saturday’s practice. At practice, he was running with the third-team defense, where he has spent much of fall camp.
Defensive back outlook
The defensive backfield has become one of LSU’s biggest concerns entering the season, and that continued despite Harris’ return. Sage Ryan ran with the first team at boundary corner, but left practice early with an apparent left arm injury. Ryan and Zy Alexander started with the first team during the scrimmage, with Duce Chestnut replacing the injured Ryan.
Ryan is now the second notable injury in the secondary after JK Johnson’s foot injury earlier in camp. Freshman Ashton Stamps also rotated with the first team at corner, but spent most of the scrimmage with the second team.
The defensive backs struggled against LSU’s wide receivers during one-on-one drills, but forced more incompletions during the scrimmage. Greg Brooks Jr., Andre Sam and Major Burns all rotated with the first team at safety.
Offensive takeaways
The biggest takeaway of the scrimmage was the running back play, highlighted by freshman Kaleb Jackson. Jackson had two touchdowns, one of them being a screen pass that he took over 70 yards to the endzone. Jackson still might be toward the bottom of the rotation given his lack of experience, but he stood out more than any other running back Saturday.
The first-team offensive line continued to impress, and saw freshman Zalance Heard get reps with the first team Saturday. Heard rotated in at right tackle, replacing Miles Frazier and pushing Emery Jones to right guard.
The wide receivers continued to impress against LSU’s secondary, with Malik Nabers, Kyren Lacy, Chris Hilton Jr., Brian Thomas Jr., Aaron Anderson and tight end Mason Taylor all getting targets among others.
Jayden Daniels took a more methodical approach when running the first team offense during the scrimmage, throwing more underneath routes than Garrett Nussmeier, who took a few deep shots, but couldn’t connect.
