Metteberger Shines In First Spring Scrimmage
Saturday?s scrimmage featured close to 100 plays and saw the Tigers work mainly on 1st-and-10 situations. LSU also spent time working on different phases of special teams. LSU will practice on Monday and Tuesday of next week before going through its second scrimmage of the spring on Thursday. LSU will take off for spring break on March 29 and will return practice on April 9.
?It was a productive outing,? LSU coach Les Miles said of the scrimmage. ?We got a lot of quality film to judge our team by and see our improvement. I really challenged this team to make improvement in every practice. It was our sixth practice and a practice that we really needed to perform well in in Tiger Stadium.
?I thought we played well on both sides of the ball. We tackled well and we had only one turnover on an interception that should have been caught. I saw only one missed tackle all day. We were certainly not perfect. Something we need to improve in is pre-snap penalties. By in large this was a very good start to the spring.?
Mettenberger looked to have command of the offense throughout the day and was nearly flawless during the two-minute drill portion of the scrimmage, leading the Tigers down the field for a touchdown as time expired. Mettenberger completed 6-of-8 passes, including a 35-yard TD strike to Jarvis Landry, during the two-minute drill.
?(Mettenberger) made a couple of intuitive throws today,? Miles said. ?He saw things very quickly and got the ball out of his hand. Guys anticipated the catch and down the field it went. He looked good and 20-of-30 to start is really nice. Two series were against the second team but the rest of the day was against the first team defense.?
Sophomore Stephen Rivers completed 4-of-11 passes for 48 yards, while true freshman Anthony Jennings was 5-of-11 for 54 yards and true freshman Hayden Rettig was 4-of-6 for 61 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Landry led all receivers with 10 receptions for 141 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including the 35-yarder from Mettenberger during the two-minute drill portion of the scrimmage. Junior Odell Beckham caught six passes for 75 yards and Travin Dural had four receptions for 72 yards. Terrence Magee and John Diarse caught the other TD passes, both coming from Retting.
In the running game, Jeremy Hill and Magee led all rushers with 60 yards apiece, while Kenny Hilliard added 37 yards and Jennings 25 yards. Hill added a rushing touchdown for the offense.
Defensively, the Tigers were led by linebacker Lamin Barrow, defensive tackle Ego Ferguson and defensive end Jermauria Rasco. Barrow had seven tackles, Rasco added four tackles, including one for a loss and Ferguson had two sacks.
LSU will wrap up spring practice on April 20 at 2 p.m. with the annual National L-Club Spring Game in Tiger Stadium. Admission to the spring game is free.
