Ridley highlights scrimmage

Published 12:17 am Sunday, August 12, 2007

BATON ROUGE — Matt Flynn’s 34-yard touchdown pass to Early Doucet, Stevan Ridley’s 64 yards rushing and Kirston Pittman’s three sacks highlighted LSU’s first scrimmage of fall camp Saturday as the Tigers went through approximately 100 plays in Tiger Stadium.

Saturday’s scrimmage featured the first and second units each going live for 18 plays followed by approximately 20 snaps that were “thud” (no tackling to the ground) in nature. The remainder of the scrimmage featured special teams, which included all phases of both the punting and kicking games.

Other phases of the game that the Tigers spent time on during the scrimmage included the two-minute drill as well as the goal line offense.

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“We had a good workout,” LSU coach Les Miles said following the scrimmage. “It’s what we needed at this point. We need the heat, and we need to be in the stadium. Considering it was the first go and a scrimmage of length, I think the team responded very well. We were sloppy at times and had a couple penalties that we probably should not have had, but overall we did not have a turnover.

“We ran just under 100 plays. We taxed them, ran them and conditioned them after the scrimmage. It was the ending to a good week for us. That was the 10th straight practice. We had a short walk through this morning indoors. It was a long week, so we’ll take a much needed break tomorrow and enjoy fan day.”

Flynn, who worked exclusively with the No. 1 offense, directed the Tigers on a two-play, 40-yard scoring drive against the No. 2 defense during the live portion of the scrimmage.

The drive featured Flynn’s 34-yard TD pass to Doucet. Flynn finished 5-of-9 for 97 yards and a score. He also added eight yards rushing on two carries.

Doucet led all receivers with three catches for 70 yards.

Other offensive highlights for the Tigers during the workout had freshman quarterback Jarrett Lee taking the No. 2 offense 65 yards for a score against the No. 2 defense during the two-minute drill. Lee, who completed 5-of-6 passes during the drive, hit Trindon Holliday with a 30-yard strike for the score.

The Tiger running game was highlighted by Ridley, a true freshman, who picked up 64 yards on nine carries, most of which came against the No. 3 defense. Other rushing leaders for the Tigers had Charles Scott with 24 yards on seven carries and Keiland Williams with 20 yards on nine attempts.

“We probably should have run the football a little more efficiently in our first scrimmage,” Miles said. “But, overall I thought we ran pretty well considering. It was a nice first outing.”

Defensively, the play of Pittman highlighted what was a stingy Tiger defense. In addition to his three sacks, Pittman added two other tackles, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry.

“He’s a guy who paid a tremendous price,” Miles said of Pittman. “He’s been injured and operated on a number of times, and this is easily the best camp for him. He’s strung together as many practice opportunities without injury since I’ve been around him, and we certainly hope that continues.”

Pittman hasn’t seen action for the Tigers since the 2004 season after missing the 2005 season with a foot injury and all of 2006 with an Achilles tendon injury.