Nicholls’ Lyons impressing with hard-nosed ways
April 4, 2012
Ali Taylor Blaisdell
April 11, 2012
LSU football coach Les Miles promised fans all winter that the Tigers would throw the ball more in 2012.
If Saturday afternoon’s spring game was any indication on the upcoming season, Miles will make good on his promise.
Playing before a crowd of more than 33,000 fans in Tiger Stadium, LSU’s white team scored a 24-17 victory over the purple team.
More important than the meaningless final score was the stat line of first-year starting quarterback Zach Mettenberger.
In his first official action as the team’s No. 1 quarterback, the junior completed 14-of-25 passes for 270 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
His play caught the attention of both Miles and his teammates, who were pleased with the effort.
“I think that Mettenberger has really improved and continues to,” Miles said. “[It] was really a pretty good day for him.”
“He’s doing pretty well. We have a certain type of chemistry and connection, and I think today it just showed,” sophomore receiver Odell Beckham agreed. “I didn’t know that we were going to throw the ball as much as we did. Zach came out here and he was throwing the ball well, and it just worked for us. You have to love that as a receiver, that’s what you play for. … It was a good day.”
The first thing LSU fans noticed in Saturday’s game is that Mettenberger isn’t afraid to sling the football down the field.
The 6-foot, 5-inch quarterback completed several bombs during the spring game, taking advantage of the single coverage afforded by the Tigers’ defensive backs.
Mettenberger hit sophomore Jarvis Landry on a 54-yard strike in the opening quarter of the game. He followed that up by hitting Beckham on a pair of bombs. One went for 53 yards. The other was a 49-yard touchdown strike.
Beckham and Landry each had huge games for the white squad, which was predominantly made up of LSU’s starters.
Landry caught six passes for 120 yards. Beckham added three catches for 115 yards.
“We hang out a lot together,” Mettenberger said of his relationship with his receivers. “We’re a bunch of good friends and I don’t think we need to improve there. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing.”
Miles agreed and added that he expects to see the Tigers air the ball deep down the field all throughout the 2012 campaign.
“We will challenge anyone to play a single high coverage against us,” Miles said with a smile. “If they play a double high, then frankly we will have the opportunity to run the football so pick your poison.”
All of the talk in Saturday’s game rested on Mettenberger’s big right arm.
But Miles said credit is also due to the Tigers’ youthful defensive backs. They didn’t do a poor job keeping the junior’s numbers in check.
Miles said he was pleased with the way the Tigers’ backline defended the pass in Saturday’s game.
Sure, the youthful purple team, comprised of mostly underclassman reserves, gave up big chunks of yardage down the field.
But they also recorded two interceptions off Mettenberger, including one in the end zone to kill a promising drive.
Sophomore Ronald Martin recorded that pick. The other came by freshman linebacker Lamar Louis, who took the pass into the end zone for a touchdown.
On the other side of the field, the white team’s defensive backs, comprised of more polished standouts like junior cornerback Tyrann Mathieu and junior safety Eric Reid were dominant, limiting purple team starter Stephen Rivers to just 6-of-17 passing with 75 yards.
Reid also recorded a pick-6 of his own to help the white team in victory.
“Our passing game is much improved from last year, so the offense was able to show that today,” Reid said. “At the same time, the defense was able to show that they can defend against it.”
Saturday’s spring game also was a showcase for the open competition that will take place at halfback for LSU.
Junior Alfred Blue led all rushers in the game with 73 yards on nine carries, playing for the white team.
His teammate, junior Spencer Ware, also had a big day, pounding for 51 yards on eight carries.
On the purple side, Patterson native and Tigers sophomore Kenny Hilliard recorded 40 yards on eight carries, while true freshman Jeremy Hill rushed six times for 37 yards.
Miles said he urges fans to not read much into the halfback statistics from Saturday’s game because Hilliard and Hill faced the first-team defense, while Blue and Ware faced the reserves.
He added that when Michael Ford returns this fall, the Tigers will have a wealth of riches at the position.
“We are going to be a talented running team and it is going to go to the guy who is the best first,” Miles said. “The thing that was good today was that there was not a turnover with our running backs. We carried the ball well. With that being said, there will be competition at that position.”
With spring practices over, the Tigers will now turn their attention to summer workouts.
The team will work on conditioning throughout the coming months in advance of fall practices in late July or early August.
The talk leading up to the season will remain about Mettenberger.
But the Tigers can rest more easily knowing the quarterback passed his first test.
He plans to be better when he takes the field in his first game action as a starter.
“I thought I had a lot of good passes, and I missed a couple,” Mettenberger said. “That’s something that I’m going to look into later today when we look at the film. I think we did well in the passing game today. I’d just like to hit a little more.”
LSU junior quarterback Zach Mettenberger fires a pass during this past weekend’s spring game.
