Tiger football fans got to see a glimpse of wide receiver Michael Clayton playing defense when he played some safety in LSU’s loss to Texas in the Cotton Bowl New Year’s Day.
Clayton played sparingly at safety in Saturday’s scrimmage, but on his first play made his mark. A safety blitz was called and Clayton, a solid tackler with great speed, was able to rush a throw from the quarterback.
When Clayton was not in on defense, another offensive player was also getting a few looks at safety. True freshman Justin Vincent, stuck behind the solid depth at running back, is getting a look at defense.
“We’ve really spent almost no time with Justin Vincent on defense,” LSU head coach Nick Saban said. “We really wanted to give him the opportunity to play running back, but we also want to figure out before spring ends if he has any potential to play on defense.”
This coming week, Saban said, the coaching staff will invest some time in teaching Vincent some of the nuances of defensive back.
“[This way] when we do give them a chance, it’s not going to be what he knows and what he doesn’t know, but maybe could be about what kind of a player he could be because he has a little knowledge base,” Saban said.
Saban said he would rather not use either on defense, but he might have to in order to get Vincent on the field.
Saban said if Vincent did play defense, he would most likely get a look at strong safety.
Ricard getting a look
Besides the two quarterbacks who will more than likely contend for the starting job in Matt Mauck and Marcus Randall, redshirt freshman Lester Ricard got many of the reps Saturday.
While he was only 1-of-8 — several drops hurt his line — the 6-foot-4, 195-pounder’s arm caught the eye of Saban.
“He can throw the ball,” Saban said. “We gave him the most reps with the twos. Lester is the guy we wanted to look at [Saturday] with the [second-time].”
Saban said the plan was to give Ricard one-third of the work with the second team and some with the third team to see how he responds.
“I thought he did make some good throws and some good decisions,” Saban said. “He had some balls dropped.”
Consistently please!
Running back Shyrone Carey had a solid first scrimmage, rolling up 101 yards on the ground on 10 carries and making himself a candidate for the starting job.
Head coach Nick Saban said he wants to see consistency from Carey. He said Carey had a good game against South Carolina last season, rushing for 68 yards on six carries.
“I thought last year when he played against South Carolina, he was very effective,” Saban said. “There’s a lot of proving to do. He played well in that game, and he got hurt, and he was out for three weeks.”
Saban Quotable
“I’m excited about the kind of team that we can have. I’m excited about the young players that we have coming in. I’m excited about working with some of the players that we have to try to get them better.”
Etc.
The kicking game will also get some looks.
Saban said he was pleased with how the kicking game looked in Saturday’s scrimmage.
Redshirt freshman Andre Boagni is the most likely replacement for John Corbello, who finished his four years of eligibility last season.
Boagni hit 3-of-5 on field goals in Saturday’s scrimmage, making kicks from 22, 27 and 30 yards out. . .
The Tigers will continue spring practice, practicing Monday, Wednesday and Friday before scrimmaging Saturday once again.