BATON ROUGE - LSU’s 12th fall camp practice came and went Tuesday evening with a few familiar names missing from the field and a couple of others worth watching closely as the Tigers move deeper into preseason work.
The session was another full-padded practice at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility, held in the heat of the evening as No. 13 LSU pushes toward its opener against No.
23 Clemson. That matchup is 18 days away, with the Tigers set to open the Lane Kiffin era in Baton Rouge on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 6:30 p.m.
CT on ABC inside Tiger Stadium.
Media members were able to watch two periods of practice, and the team went through two individual position drills during the viewing window.
One of the more notable absences was sophomore running back Harlem Berry, who was not seen for the second day in a row. That stands out because Berry took part in LSU’s first preseason scrimmage and turned in a strong showing Saturday inside Tiger Stadium.
Since then, he has not been observed in practice. With Berry out, Caden Durham and Stacey Gage have been working behind Dilin Jones.
Junior defensive end Jordan Ross was also missing for a second straight practice. Before Monday, the 6-foot-5, 246-pound edge rusher had not missed any time during camp.
Ross has been one of the more active defenders in camp, working with the first unit opposite senior Princewill Umanmielen. In his absence the last two days, junior Dylan Carpenter has stepped into those first-team reps.
Another situation to monitor is sophomore cornerback DJ Pickett, who was in a gold non-contact jersey for the first time this preseason. He wore purple Monday during the media viewing period.
Even with the jersey change, Pickett didn’t appear limited while going through a couple of drills with the cornerbacks. Still, his status matters because LSU does not have much depth at that position.
At quarterback, junior Sam Leavitt put together a sharp showing during the portion open to the media. The quarterbacks and receivers worked on routes at different depths over a 12-minute stretch.
Leavitt was high on some of the intermediate throws but still finished 2-of-3 in that area, with one attempt to Jayce Brown going off Brown’s fingertips. He was spotless on the deeper throws, going 6-for-6.
His best completions were over-the-shoulder strikes to Jackson Harris and Malik Elzy on 35-yard passes near the pylons.
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