The honeymoon is over for the LSU football team.
After a light opening weekend, the intensity ramped up considerably Monday evening for the Tigers’ third spring practice.
LSU coach Les Miles conducted the infamous “Big Cat” drill, pitting players against each other for head-to-head football combat as teammates raucously cheered the takedowns and punishing hits.
“Today was the first time we’ve really gone at it [this spring], and that starts with ‘Big Cat,'” said senior receiver Russell Shepard. “Coach puts a lot of emphasis on it, and it was cool to get out and bang around a little.”
The drill was an icebreaker before the team broke up into individual units for a partial-contact practice.
WIDE RECEIVERS AND SECONDARY ADJUSTING TO NEW COACHES
With the team in pads for the first time this spring, LSU’s two offseason coaching additions stuck to basics.
New defensive backs coach Corey Raymond largely focused on footwork with the secondary unit.
“I don’t think we stopped moving out there. It was high-tempo,” said junior safety Eric Reid. “Our scheme hasn’t changed. The words and vocabulary are the only slight differences.”
Junior cornerback Tyrann Mathieu finally took the practice field, seeing his first official action with Raymond in charge.
“He’s definitely hard on us,” said Mathieu, who missed the weekend practices while formally accepting the Bednarik Award in Atlantic City, N.J. “We’re absorbing his techniques — what he expects fundamentally — and trying to implement them into our games.”
Offensively, the Tigers’ receiving corps ran through several generic pass routes under the guidance of recently hired wide receivers coach Adam Henry, who spent five years with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders.
“It’s mostly basics right now, whether it’s route-running or catching,” Shepard said. “[Henry] told us to trust our ability. He said we’re one of the most athletic groups he’s coached. That’s a challenge to play at a pro level.”
TWO TIGER CHAMPIONS TAKE IN PRACTICE
While LSU may have fallen short of a national championship two months ago, two prominent members of LSU’s last title squad took in practice on Monday.
Matt Flynn, the starting quarterback on the Tigers’ 2007 BCS Championship team, chatted up former receiving target Early Doucet as they watched junior quarterback Zach Mettenberger run timing drills with his receivers.
Flynn, a four-year NFL veteran with the Green Bay Packers, is in town temporarily while he awaits a potentially lucrative offseason as a coveted free agent.
Doucet caught 54 passes for 689 yards and five touchdowns in 2011 with the Arizona Cardinals.
 
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Contact Chris Abshire at [email protected].