Joe Burrow shines in LSU scrimmage

BATON ROUGE – Joe Burrow threw for 160 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead LSU as the Tigers held their second preseason game of training camp here Saturday in Tiger Stadium.

Saturday’s scrimmage was treated as “game like” as possible with the exception of no live punting and kickoffs. The final portion of the scrimmage focused on the two-minute drill and overtime.

“A lot of great things went on,” LSU head coach Ed Orgeron said. “We had great preparation all week and having Joe (Burrow) back, the offense looked really good. The offense came out and moved the ball pretty well and the defense responded and did a good job of stopping the offense during the second half (of the scrimmage.)”

Burrow completed 13-of-24 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns, while Myles Brennan was 13-of-25 for 260 yards and a TD. Burrow led the Tiger offense to a touchdown during the two-minute drill. LSU kicked field goals to end both overtime opportunities.

“Joe showed leadership and the ability to move the ball and to throw the ball to the right receiver,” Orgeron said. “He showed his ability to escape pressure in the pocket. I thought Myles (Brennan) had a tremendous day. He moved around in the pocket and made some big throws.”

John Emery led all running backs with 68 yards on 11 carries, while Tyrion Price-Davis rushed for 20 yards on 13 attempts.

“I thought both of those guys looked outstanding,” Orgeron said. “We wanted to play our young running backs today so they handled most of the carries. We wanted to give them the ball and see what they had. I thought they did a good job.”

Orgeron said running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire and wide receiver Justin Jefferson were both given the day off. 

In the passing game, Racey McMath led all receivers with six catches for 58 yards, while Jaray Jenkins caught four passes for 73 yards. Ja’Marr Chase had five catches for 45 yards.

Defensively, the Tigers had six sacks during the workout.

In special teams, freshman Cade York connected on 7-of-8 field goals, including a 51-yarder. York also kicked a 51-yard field goal in last Saturday’s preseason game.

“We had a lot of special teams and did a lot of substitutions,” Orgeron said. “It was outstanding today on the sideline. Coach Mac (Greg McMahon) did a great job of making it game-like. I thought those guys came out to play.”

The Tiger defense played without three key starters in K’Lavon Chaisson, Grant Delpit and Kristian Fulton.

“They’re very close and I think if we had to play a game today, we could have pushed it and all three of those guys could’ve played, but we didn’t want to do that,” Orgeron said. “We’ll be going into ‘game mode’ next week. They’ll be taking all the first team reps. They should be healthy enough to do team, pass rush, and go over the things we need to do.”

The Tigers have one final preseason game remaining, which takes place next Saturday in Tiger Stadium. Orgeron said next week’s preseason game will be helmets only and the team will simulate a game-type scrimmage.

“The next time we go live is going to be on game day,” Orgeron said.

The Tigers will take Sunday off from football-related activities and then return to practice on Monday afternoon.

LSU opens the 2019 season on Saturday, Aug. 31 against Georgia Southern in Tiger Stadium. Tickets for the Georgia Southern game as well as season ticket packages for the entire 2019 home slate and multi-game packages along with parking passes are still available and can be purchased online at www.LSUtix.net.

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