LSU football coach Les Miles has reiterated time and time again what he expects from his players this spring — a sense of physicality. The LSU football team showed off this physical nature once again as it concluded its second week of practice Saturday afternoon with a 130-play full-pad scrimmage.”I like our progress,” Miles said. “Our team understands what we are expecting from them. They want to be a physical football team.”Miles was once again impressed with the rushing attack for the second scrimmage in a row, as the team rushed for about 230 yards.He said junior running back Stevan Ridley collected 90 yards on the ground, while redshirt freshman Michael Ford racked up 80.”The emphasis is on the running game,” Miles said. “I say we are going to run the football; we are going to run the football.”Most of the 130 plays run by LSU came on first-down situations determined by Miles and his staff, although he did work in specific special team and short-yardage scenarios.”It was mostly a first-down scrimmage,” Miles said. “We got the third-down-and-long and third-down-and-short down routinely, but only as the script would dictate.”Although Miles reiterated a rush-first mentality, the lone touchdown on the day came on a long touchdown reception from sophomore wide receiver Rueben Randle.The defense had an interception, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble, much to the delight of Miles.”We’re looking to emphasize the opportunity for our defense to get takeaways,” he said. “I saw a lot of attempted strips and ball security by the offense. I was really pleased with how that went.”Senior wide receiver Terrence Toliver fully participated in the scrimmage, a week after breaking his left hand in an altercation outside of Reggie’s Bar in Tigerland, while senior running back Richard Murphy continued to be held out of contact drills.There is still no timetable for Murphy’s full-contact return, but Miles didn’t dismiss the idea of holding him out until the fall.”There is a chance that might happen,” he said. “We’ll see how these next two weeks go. He’s chomping at the bit, I can tell you that.”LSU has six more practices, including one scrimmage before the National L Club Spring Game on March 27 in Tiger Stadium.
 
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