The LSU Tigers wrapped up spring football with the Annual L-Club Spring Game inside Tiger Stadium on Saturday. For those keeping score, Purple Team defeated White Team 17-14. It may be hard to tell exactly what we learned about the LSU football team from a scrimmage in which the offensive playbook was ot fully revelaed, where quarterbacks were not allowed to be touched much less sacked and where there was no one on the special team units besides the punter and punt return specialist.
That being said, there are few things that can be taken away from the final day of Tigers spring football.
Stingley is ready to start NOW
Derek Stingley Jr. may very well be the most hyped freshman since Leonard Fournette or even Patrick Peterson. It appears that the freshman out of the Dunham School is going to live up to the hype.
Stingley, who enrolled early and even practiced with the team during the bowl week, handled punt return dutires for the Purple Team, but his biggest moment, and for that matter, the msot-buzzed about moment of the spring game came in the first half as a starter for the first-team defense.
White Team quarterback Joe Burrow threw a deep ball, the classic 50-50 ball, near the end zone to sophomore wide receiver Terrace Marshall Jr. who was covered by Stingley.
Stingley managed to pull the ball out of Marshall’s hands for the interception, and moments later Stingley ran to midfield without his helmet celebrating the big play.
LSU quarterback Joe Burrow said after the game, “I told you he was pretty good, huh?”
Even though LSU returns Kristian Fulton at cornerback don’t be surprised if in the season opener it is Stingley lining up as the Tigers’ No. 1 cornerback.
Curry could be a factor
LSU entered spring looking for someone to replace feature back Nick Brossette.
The Tigers have two star freshmen (John Emery and Tyrion Davis) coming in this fall and both are expected to be part of the backfield platoon with Clyde Edwards-Helaire who was second on the team in 2018 with 677 yards and 7 touchdowns.
Edwards-Helaire started for the first-team offense (White Team) in Saturday’s game and rushed for 57 yards on nine carries, while also catching four balls for 22 yards and coughing up one fumble.
Chris Curry though may have something to say who becomes the Tigers feature back in 2019.
The 6-foot, 219-pound redshirt freshman had double-digit carries for the second-team offense (Purple Team) and scored two short-yardage touchdowns. Curry also produced one of the crowd-pleasing plays when he leveled sophomore safety Kenan Jones on a long run.
It was the kind of play that once had Orgeron compare Curry to NFL All-Pro Marshawn Lynch.
“We’ve got a ways to go but that’s what we saw in recruiting.”
Burrow to Jefferson
LSU quarterback Joe Burrow’s favorite target in 2018 was Justin Jefferson.
Jefferson led the Tigers in receptions (54), recieving yards (875) and receiving touchdowns (6) in 2018 and that chemistry with Burrow was evident again on Saturday. Jefferson was targeted three times and caught two balls for 17 yards but none more impressive than the 10-yard touchdown pass he hauled in the first quarter.
Burrow rolled out of the pocket and found Jefferson behind All-American safety Grant Delpit, rocking the famed No. 7 jersey.
Dee Anderson had a nice game as he had three catches for 57 yards for Team Purple, Stephen Sullivan meanwhile had an up-and-down game for Team White as he had three catches for 39 yards in the first half but also two bad drops, and Ja’Marr Chase had a couple of good catches as well for the Tigers.
LSU has plenty of depth at wide receiver but the leader of the corps is without a doubt Jefferson.
Depth at nose tackle
Nose tackle may be a strength for LSU in 2019.
This spring, sophomore Tyler Shelvin and early-enrollee SIaki Ika have been competing to replace Ed Alexander as the Tigers’ man in the middle.
In the opening quarter, Shelvin, a former star at Northside High and Notre Dame High, recovered a Clyde Edwards-Helaire fumble which was caused by Michael Divinity Jr. and helped set up the first touchdown for the Purple Team.
Ika meanwhile sacked Purple Team quarterback Myles Brennan twice in the first half and also stuffed running back Lanard Fournette for no gain on a short run up the middle.
When asked about Ika, Orgeron said that it was a “dominant performance” and that “It looked easy to him.”
Ika had four tackles, with three tackles for a loss and two sacks.
Regardless of who takes the starting job, expect both players to get significant playing time in the fall.