This year’s offensive backfield for the Louisiana Tech football team won’t look much like last year’s.
Whether it’s figuring out the quarterback position, where returning starter Luke Anthony is still recovering from the major leg injury he sustained in last year’s regular-season finale, or the running back slots, Tech fans are going to be checking the roster often through the first few games to find out who’s handling the ball.
Saturday morning’s scrimmage was focused on those roles, and especially the running game due to the number of new backs joining the program. Head coach Skip Holtz and his staff are evaluating all positions, and tape from Saturday’s action will go a long way toward determining the pecking order on the depth chart with the Sept. 4 season opener at Mississippi State a couple of weeks away.
“I need to see them get tackled,” Holtz said. “I need to see them protect the football. We can simulate a lot of the passing game situations in practice work, but it’s very hard to simulate live tackling. So, today’s big emphasis was that.”
The 100-play scrimmage started with the ones (first-teamers) competing against the twos (second-teamers) in order to evaluate the depth chart on both sides. The team ended the scrimmage with the ones against the ones and the twos against the twos.
Another focus was sharp execution, with a Conference USA officiating crew getting its own practice in by working the scrimmage.
“It was a good evaluation on where we are from a penalty standpoint, an offensive standpoint and a defensive standpoint,” said Holtz.
“I don’t think either side really dominated the scrimmage. There were good plays on both sides, but there was certainly enough to be corrected on both sides that this could be a really productive day for us. I was proud of the energy they brought, the attitude and the effort they had out there on the field. They’re flying around. There were some good hits. It was a physical day, which it needed to be right now.
“We’re two-thirds through camp. We’ve gone through two weeks. We have a full week left to go before we get into game week, so this was a good evaluation of where we are right now. The biggest thing I would say if you ask, ‘Where are we?’ is we aren’t as consistent as we need to be on either side of the ball. That’s the thing we need to continue to work on and clean some things up. Today was productive. It helped us. We’ll be a better football team in the opening game because of what we did today.”
Senior wide receiver Isaiah Graham said it was a good experience having the refs at the scrimmage.
“Some of the young guys haven’t been playing with refs at the college level,” Graham said. “For them to get that experience was great. As an offense, we moved the ball well. We had our ups and downs. The defense also played good defense. They had their ups and downs. If you have a day where the offense is winning and the defense is winning, you can tell you’re going to the right spot.”
Sophomore defensive back BeeJay Williamson said the defense is coming together.
“The ones are doing a phenomenal job,” Williamson said. “Offense-wise, they are doing a phenomenal job. They are giving us the best looks we need for the season.”
After playing at MIssisippi State, Tech has a three-game home stretch beginning against Southeastern on Saturday, Sept. 11, at 6 p.m. inside Joe Aillet Stadium.
PHOTO: Photo by MaKenzie Owens
