The LSU football team returned to the practice field for the first time in 10 days Tuesday after breaking camp for the Spring Break holiday.
During his weekly press gathering, coach Nick Saban said he was pleased with the team’s performance, though he would have preferred a more sustained effort.
“I think everybody came out with a great attitude today about getting back into it,” Saban said. “It was probably a good decision to watch film yesterday, let the players get back and re-oriented to school and let them work out a little today.”
Saban said such a long layoff contributed to some sluggishness at the end of the practice.
“We got a little tired and did not sustain our intensity like we would like to in a practice,” Saban said. “That can be expected because 10 or 12 days off from carrying pads is a tough thing to come back from.”
Saban said he and his coaching staff continue to do some experimental things with several players on the team.
One of those experiments include testing out junior defensive end Brandon Washington along the offensive line.
“He was a starter on defense,” Saban said of Washington. “He was doing a pretty good job, but we’re just taking a look at him to see if that’s a position that he may be better suited for or maybe able to help the team.”
Several linebackers are also being placed in different positions within the linebacking corps. Darius Ingram is getting reps at inside linebacker while Kenneth Hollis is being tested along the defensive line in a down position.
“We just continue to do some different things,” Saban said. “We’re moving guys around to give them opportunities to evaluate and see what the best fit for us as a team to get the best guys on the field.”
The Tigers are now more than halfway through spring practice and will have one more scrimmage this Saturday before the annual Spring Game on April 24 in Tiger Stadium.
Saban said he and his staff have been pleased by the progress the defending Bowl Championship Series National Champions have made in the spring.
“I’m pretty pleased with the way we’ve progressed on offense,” Saban said. “I’m pleased with the way the quarterbacks have progressed and the young receivers have progressed. And the offensive line has come together pretty nicely. We’ve just got to keep working on depth there. At tight end, we’ve got some young guys and they seem to be doing OK.”
Much like last season, Saban said the defense still has some holes to fill.
“We don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle together right, yet,” Saban said. “We have some very, very young players that are filling in at some positions and some new players who really don’t understand the LSU way, don’t understand the system and don’t understand the scheme. I think it’s taken us a little longer to try to develop the kind of chemistry on defense we’d like to have.”
Note: Saban said the layoff gave the Tigers a chance to heal up some small nicks and, because of that, there were no injury problems at Tuesday’s practice.