Practice Report from LSU

Miles: LSU's 2014 class 'can win a national championship'
Glenn Guilbeau, 5:19 p.m. CDT August 5, 2014
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BATON ROUGE – One would have thought the Beatles had just touched down on the LSU practice field Monday afternoon by the way a mob of photographers rushed the football player.

But it was only LSU freshman tailback Leonard Fournette causing the mania, and it's just getting started.

"Well, he's not played in a game," LSU coach Les Miles said of the consensus No. 1 high school tailback prospect in the country out of St. Augustine in New Orleans from last recruiting season. Miles looks forward to Fournette's first game and first day of practice in full pads on Friday.

"It's kind of like having Tiger Woods (in his prime) on a golf course with a putter," Miles said of non-contact practices. "I mean you just want to see him tee off, don't you? We'll have to put pads on before we can see him tee off. He's got great speed, acceleration, good vision, ball skills, and I would guess that once the pads get on that he'll be a physical back as well. We want to see how fast he comes around. I'll be able to tell you more when we get closer to the game, and we've had some scrimmages."

There are several other top flight freshmen who have already caught Miles' eye, including No. 2-ranked wide receiver Malachi Dupre of John Curtis High in the New Orleans area, No. 11 tailback Darrel Williams of John Ehret in the New Orleans area and No. 22 overall Louisiana prospect D.J. Chark, a wide receiver from Alexandria Senior High who is the fastest player on the team.

"Yeah, I think Malachi was a quality a.m. memory," Miles said after the first day of practice Monday. "There were some quality p.m. memories with Leonard being a nice jump cut burst (in the second practice Monday). Others were Darrel making a nice play, and Chark going up and getting one over the cornerback. We had fun."

Other true freshmen who have quickly made their presence known are No. 3-ranked safety Jamal Adams out of Lewisville, Texas, and No. 20 cornerback John Battle from Hallandale, Fla.

"I think what you see is some very, very talented guys, and some guys that learn quickly," Miles said. "How quickly they can assimilate college football at the very highest level? I don't know. But I can tell you this. They will eventually get there. And this class is that style of class that you can win a national championship with at some point in time, hopefully sooner than later."

LSU's 23-man class of 2014 was ranked No. 2 in the nation by Rivals.com.

"I was excited. I really wanted to see them the first day," Miles said. "There were a number of guys that really showed well, and some guys that not necessarily everybody's asking about either. So it's a good group. It really is."

At the same time, Miles is trying to be patient with the yearlings.

"Just understand this," he said. "It takes some time to run that route. It takes time to learn what the adjustment of that running course – the entry into the line – is."

FOURNETTE OFFERED IN 3RD GRADE? When a reporter told Miles it seemed like LSU had been recruiting tailback Leonard Fournette forever, Miles elaborated.

"We offered him when he was in the third grade," Miles deadpanned jokingly. "So that was the forever you're in reference to. It was the second semester of the third grade we offered him. He'd just taken a spelling test. Geography was one of the words that he had difficulty with."

NO QUARTERBACK INTERVIEWS: Reporters cannot interview true freshman quarterback Brandon Harris because of the no-freshmen interviews policy Miles carried over from former LSU coach Nick Saban entering the 2005 season. But Miles is also not allowing sophomore quarterback Anthony Jennings to be interviewed either during preseason practices as Harris and Jennings are in a close battle for the No. 1 quarterback job.

"I want them to relax and play football," Miles said. "They don't need to feel themselves encumbered with the feeling of the 'face of the program.' Or, 'I'm the quarterback.' I just don't want their progress to be interfered with the questions of, 'What do you think? How's it going? Where you at? Are you first or second team? Where are you?' I just want to say, 'Let's go play football. Let's work to serve our team.' Not let them worry about some of the consequences of the answers. We just kind of cut it for the quarterbacks if you don't mind."

Miles waives his no-interview policy of freshmen at times when a freshman plays particularly well in a game.

WHAT'S NEXT: Mostly varsity players will practice at 9:20 a.m. Wednesday with mostly freshmen at 3:45 p.m. Another split practice with mostly varsity at 9:15 a.m. and mostly freshmen at 3:45 p.m. will follow Thursday before the first full squad practice and first full pads workout at 9:25 a.m. Friday.

"Don't make too much of where this guy is or this guy is," Miles lectured. "This is designed so everybody's getting maximum reps. We may want this linebacker with this linebacker so he can see it being done extremely well. So don't spend a lot of time saying why he's here or why he's there. It is fully for a teaching purpose and for everybody to get really great reps."

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Nice start to hopefully a very satisfying season." -- Les Miles

 

Lord.....

 

Look at the picture and compare it to those taken last year. It is pretty obvious he has reduced fat significantly. His weight may not have changed as much if he added muscle to replace the fat.

 

Last year he was above the 350 range, they also haven't updated the roster as to heights and weights.

 

More like roid.

 

see red, here is an instance in which your link (where you got the wt info) is not as valid as this first hand info from Dad.

 

I posted this last year, July 29, 2013:

Guess some may have got this story before. I made a few games in Tx when Hunter was playing for Morton Ranch in Katy, Tx. In the same district is Katy Taylor High, the head coach there is a good friend of mine, Flint Risen. I asked Flint about Hunter, he told me the kid could play, also LSU did well getting him. The night I watch Danielle play, he was a TE and DE, also played Special Teams, everything he did, he did well. I remember one play one player from each team started fighting/pushing, Danielle got between them and pulled his teammate away. After having a talk with his teammate, the teammate went back to football. Flint told me that all they could do was try and slow him down, he knew there was no way to stop him. After I saw Danielle play a few times, I saw a player that could play both sides of the ball, had the frame to add weight and would be a good player at LSU.

A little about my friend Flint, he has a brother named Cody who played in the NFL for 11 years. During an NFL football game that Frank Gifford was on the broadcast team, Cody got something in his eye, play was stopped and his eye was flushed. Kathie Lee Gifford was at home pregnant and kept hearing Frank say the name Cody. When Frank returned home, Kathie Lee asked him if the child was a boy, what did he think about the name Cody. Well the baby was born and it was a boy, Kathie Lee Gifford did named her son after Cody Risien, coincidentally both Cody's were born on March 22.

 

From last years roster, Hawk was listed at 301 lbs., he stayed in the 290's, this year hes above the 300's, an hopes to stay there. Rasco was listed at 262#'s, the staff wants him in the 250's. Hawk will able to declare for the NFL draft after this year, gonna be hard to keep him, but on that side of the ball, he would be like La'el staying for his Sr year. On the other side, Hunter is one I'd like to see stick around. I count 14 Srs. in this class, still under the 85 this year.