Fundamentals a Major Area of Focus for LSU Football During Fall Camp

The minute details can sometimes be the difference between winning and losing in college football. For LSU, hammering home the fundamentals has been just as important as solidifying gameplans and implementing schemes.

Coach Ed Orgeron knows better than most that you can be as prepared as possible for an opponent and if you don't do the little things, it'll cost. That's why with two weeks out until the Tigers first game of the season against Mississippi State, the program has put an emphasis on tackling.

Some college programs have elected not to allow hitting during practice but with only three padded practices a week (Monday is typically a non padded day), Orgeron said it's important to have that balance of contact and non-contact to help prepare for the actual games. New COVID-19 practice guidelines allow the Tigers to practice 25 times before their season opener against Mississippi State.

To accommodate those rules, LSU will really only have two full throttle practices on Tuesday and Wednesday before the weekly scheduled scrimmages on Friday. Hitting and fundamentals are a big part of those more competitive practices.

“We hit every day in practice that we can, but we also stay fresh,” Orgeron said Tuesday in a Zoom call with the media. “I think it's not a matter of if you hit or you tackle. It's a matter of how long you practice and how many times you do it. But we need full-speed work.”

LSU recently held its first preseason scrimmage of fall camp and finished it’s second scrimmage on Friday afternoon. The purpose of the scrimmages is to not only get that game feel and run through various game like scenarios but to also have the live contact hitting for players to grow accustomed to.

The pounding of a grueling, physical SEC schedule is something that needs to be prepared for which is why Orgeron believes it's vital to have hitting in practice. During last week's first scrimmage, Orgeron admitted there were some botched tackles and missed opportunities, something the team was working to clean up this week.

“We had some missed tackles in preseason game No. 1,” Orgeron said. “But we've got two more preseason games before our live game. Hopefully we can eliminate them. I know we can't eliminate all of them. But we're going to hit pretty hard today, and we're going to hit pretty hard Wednesday.”

This second preseason scrimmage will tell us whether or not the team has rectified some of the issues Orgeron mentioned on Tuesday.