LSU did a little bit of everything well in the annual spring game as spring practices came to a close Saturday. The offense racked up 622 yards of offense, with 399 coming through the air, and the defense returned two interceptions for touchdowns.
On the offensive side, the focus was on the quarterbacks. In the battle to replace Zach Mettenberger under center, freshman Brandon Harris made quite the first impression by throwing for 195 yards and three touchdowns in the second quarter. Just for good measure, Harris rushed for 75 yards on six rushing attempts. One of those carries was good for a touchdown as well.
“He made some really big plays and nice passes, but he also made some mistakes,” head coach Les Miles said after the game. “I really think he made four to five major errors in the scrimmage, but he improved through the adversity. If we can eliminate the mistakes and play to the advantages, that’s what he’s looking to do.”
Anthony Jennings got his chance to run the offense as well, completing nine of 17 pass attempts for 157 yards and a touchdown, but Jennings was also intercepted twice.
“I think when we throw a menu of plays that we’ve thrown all spring long and then we limit the menu, I think there’s a pretty consistent theme to the defense to intercept some of these throws,” Miles said when asked about Jennings. “We’re going to let the competition continue and see how this thing plays out. It serves us to say that there’s some talent at that spot. We really think that we’ll develop quite nicely.”
One of the top offensive performances of the game was turned in by wide receiver Travin Dural, who recorded five catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns. Kenny Hilliard led the ground game with 16 carries for 59 yards and a touchdown.
The two defensive touchdowns were scored by linebackers Deion Jones and Kwon Alexander.