It's the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Saving Seekers, we hear you. Seeking energy savings, always keep your energy prices under the price cap. With Next Pledge, your energy prices are guaranteed to always stay below the price cap. Satisfy those savings cravings. Check out our full range of tailored energy solutions at eonnext.com forward slash save. Eonnext, we make energy savings work. Next Pledge is a 12-month fixed-term trucker tariff with variable rates lower than off-chance price cap for standard variable tariffs. Direct debit required. Tees and seas apply. Hey everyone, this is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Locked On Podcast Network. If your group chat's been a little quiet lately, I want to invite you to come and join ours. If you sign up for the everyday air club, you get access to the members-only group chats for your favorite teams, plus national chats for every sport. Personally, I love watching folks talk a little smack in the NFC South trash talk chat. You also get an ad-free version of your favorite Locked On show and a whole lot more. You can check it out by tapping the everyday air club link in the show notes. LSU Scrimmage, Saturday in Tiger Stadium. I was there. I'll tell you what I saw. Locked On LSU. Here we go. You are locked on LSU, your daily podcast on the LSU Tigers. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Okay, let's get it. It is locked on LSU, your team every day. I'm your host, Matt Moscona. LSU for their ninth practice of spring, went into Tiger Stadium Saturday for a two and a half hour workout, two hours and 15 minutes thereabouts. Roughly nearly two hours of that was a scrimmage and the media was invited to watch. So I sat in the press box and watched the entirety of it. I charted the whole thing. I'll tell you what my biggest takeaways were. So the way we'll structure this episode here is I want to go through sort of the team periods, the scrimmage component of it, what my biggest takeaways were. And then I'll go to some of the other notes that I think you need to know. What is important to know as we start is they asked, first of all, there was no video or photography allowed. So we couldn't take pictures or video and they asked us not to like chart play by play and formations and all that and talk about it. Now, for me, if you're in every day or you follow my content forever, when I watch a game, I chart the whole game on a legal path. That's just how I do it. I have my own shorthand. So I did that for this practice. Now, I'm not going to go through every single play because there were 19 offensive possessions. The ones ran nine possessions. The twos ran seven possessions and the threes ran three possessions. I'm not going to run through every single play that, that they ran would amount to effectively an entire football game. So um, fear not, but I'm going to tell you what I think my biggest takeaways were from this. So before I go into Saturday, let me go back really quickly. So Tuesday, Lane Kiffin met with reporters and for me, the most impactful comment he made was when he was asked about the offensive line specifically. The question was about position battles at the offensive line. Bad group a year ago. We all know the whole drill. So Lane Kiffin was asked specifically about like positions up for grabs with the offensive line and listen how he answered it because he started talking about the offensive line. Well, that ain't what he wanted to talk about. Yeah. Obviously a lot of new pieces there with the guys coming in and retooling that room. I really liked how well they've worked with the coaches. We have some great line coaches, two of which have been in the NFL. And so I'm excited about how they're coming along. There's a lot of work to do. You know, if we were to play right now, which we're not, we'd be a defensive football team. That's what Saturday was obvious. And now that system's been in place. A lot of those players return comparable to the offense, but we're always going to look different every year based off of our players. And we're going to never say this is just what we do. And so we may put together teams that went in different styles and we've done that before. And if we were to play right now, we'd play to our defense because we have some great defensive players that are playing really well and tell the offense comes along, but we're not playing right now. Who would the question was about the offensive line? The answer was about, we're a defensive team and we're played to our strengths. And right now our strengths is our defense. We're not playing right now, but our strength is our defense. And that two and a half hour workout in Tiger stadium on Saturday, my goodness, did it amplify and magnify that this offense has a long, long way to go. I'm going to tell you this last year in fall camp before the 25 season, going out there and watching every minute of practice, they allowed, I said on this show and others that there was a grand Canyon style hasm between Garrett Nussmeyer and the backups. And if anything happened to Nussmeyer, LSU would be in trouble. And a lot of people didn't like that. I said that. Well, I was right. You saw it throughout the course of the season in 2025. And I'm here to tell you it's early, like Lane Kiffin said, but you better hope that Sam Levitt is everything that he was billed to be because right now landing Clark and who saw on long street, my goodness, they are not ready to lead an offense against that CC defenses nowhere close to it. I mentioned that LSU in the scrimmage. So when we went into tiger stadium, they began with the individual periods. They did a one on one. They did an individual period. They went into the scrimmage and the scrimmage was ones on ones, twos on twos, threes on threes, however they went it, 19 possessions. They ran 19 possessions, varying points on the field. Sometimes the offense started at 25. Sometimes they started at midfield. Sometimes they started at their own two with 98 yards ahead of them. Lane Kiffin was on the field with a headset on standing behind the offense. Charlie Weiss and the offensive coaches were up in the press box calling plays down using the headsets. So simulating a game. So this was a game like scrimmage. The offense, the ones took nine possessions. By the way, Landon Clark took five possessions with the ones. Who saw on long street took four possessions with the ones. So they did rotate. Here were the possessions, the result of the possessions for the ones. Downs, interception, downs, downs, interception, interception, touchdown, downs. Nine possessions. They scored one time and they threw three interceptions. The touchdown was a 95 yarder to Winnie Watkins. When LSU started the possession, the offense at their own two on first down, they had a three yard run and then a 95 yard touchdown pass. And the caveat there is this was later in the scrimmage. After that, when there was only one, two, there was only three more possessions. The rest of the entire scrimmage. And that was with the ones. It was who's on long street or through it. Watkins went over the middle, but in that series and that sequence, they had replaced the safeties. So Ty Benafield and to Marcus Cooley were not the safeties. The rest of the first team defense was out there, but the safeties were for him, the lane and Jace Thomas and the Hiendel lane tried to undercut the route. Watkins got behind him and made, made the receptions. Jace Thomas missed the tackle and then it was off to the races. It was a foot race between Winnie Watkins and the Sean Spears and Watkins ended up scoring on a 95 yarder. That's the only touchdown that the first team offense scored in nine possessions. And there were three interceptions, as I mentioned, the first interception was on the first play of the possession, Landon Clark from the 25 through an interception that PJ Woodland, it was intended for Malik Elsie under through it. PJ Woodland jumped in front of the route, made the interception. The other interception with the ones also Landon Clark throwing it. This was a seam route over the middle where he just sailed the ball right into the waiting arms of to Marcus Cooley. And then the final interception with the ones, this was Ty Benafield. It was a route seam route to the middle. This was again, Landon Clark, Clark through all three interceptions with the first team. Again, attended for, for 15, that's a Phillip Wright was intended for Phillip Wright over the middle, sailed it on a seam route right into the arms of Ty Benafield. Those were the three interceptions with the ones. Here were the possessions with the twos, seven possessions with the twos. Downs, interception, missed field goal, interception, touchdown, bumble, touchdown. So let's go through those. The interception with the twos, the first one, by the way, both interceptions with the twos were Aiden Andy and they were both incredible plays. The first one was a pylon route intended for Corey Barber, front left pylon from, and this was Huson Longstreet who threw it. And then Aiden Anding stepped in front, right at the pylon, made a beautiful play. That was the first interception that Longstreet threw. The second interception was also Aiden Anding, where it was around mid-19th century. Around midfield, excuse me, is at the 37 yard line. And the Dolphins' zone 37, so the minus 37, throwing toward midfield. And again, Huson Longstreet was throwing a ball to the right side. Aiden Anding dropped into a zone, read it beautifully and just jumped into the throwing lane Superman style and came up with the interception. Beautiful play. Now the disappointing part there is Aiden Anding came up injured and did not return. I'll come back to Aiden Anding in a second, the injury, but to file that away. So those are the two interceptions by Huson Longstreet, both with the twos. The missed field goal was a 56 yarder that's got Starzik missed. And the fumble was, as the offense was driving, it was, here it was, they were at the, they were inside the 20 yard line. And it was Huson Longstreet, so this was his third turnover the day. He was rushing, he was rolling to his left, tried a late option pitch to Dillon Jones, the Wisconsin transfer. It was, it was late in the process for him to try to pitch it. It was an ill advised decision. Ball hit the ground and the recovery was made by 28. That's Jace Thomas who made the recovery. Y'all is a bad day offensively. The touchdowns that the offense scored. I mentioned the 75 yarder. These, this was back to back possessions, by the way, the 75, excuse me, the 95 yarder to Winnie Watkins. The very next possession, the twos go out there and it was Landon Clark who threw the same route to Malachi Thomas, the tight end. Same thing from the right side, went to the middle, caught it under the, over the corner, under the safety, broke free and scored. It was 74 yards. So those were back to back possessions late in the, late in the, in the scrimmage. The other touchdowns in the game, there were a few rushing touchdowns with the three, as I mentioned, the threes scored. The threes had three possessions and they scored on all three possessions. The first touchdown was by, I don't know why Huson Longstreet would have been in there with the threes, but I wrote down six. Maybe that was Winnie Watkins, forgive me, but it was a rushing touchdown by six. I think it was Longstreet who scored the rushing touchdown there. If I had that incorrect, my apologies, but it was a rushing touchdown by six. Number two six is on the field. Then it was 85 had a touchdown grab a jump ball over 37. 85 was Josh Jackson, the transfer from McNeese. And then the final touchdown from the threes was, was 20 Rod Ganey. Rod Ganey had a 14 yard touchdown run around right end. That's it. 19 possessions. Your threes scored on all three possessions. So your ones in your twos had 16 possessions and they scored twice. They threw five interceptions and fumbled. So of your, again, 16 possessions by the first and second teams, you had six turnovers, a missed field goal and just two touchdowns. It was not a good day for the offense in this scrimmage. I do have a few more thoughts on what we saw in the scrimmage. So let me get to that and I'll empty my notebook here as we continue. It's locked on LSU, your team every day. This is Moving the Game Forward by Mazda. For those who know the score, never tells the whole story. After today's scrimmage, got to give a hat tip to Aiden Anding. Two interceptions, beautiful plays, both of them. One of interception right at the front left pylon where he undercut, jumped her out and then the other out in space on the left side of the formation, jumping into a throwing lane for an interception. Great play by the backup cornerback to come up with those two interceptions. There's more to these players than the highlights. It's the early mornings, the late night runs, constantly showing up for their squad on and off the court. The all-new Mazda CX-5 moves the same way, with more space to connect, a bold new design and more intuitive technology so you can stay connected to the road and every position you play. The all-new Mazda CX-5, more to move every side of you. 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Indeed, sponsored jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for. Skills, experience, location, so you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your post. And the stat that says it all. In the minutes since we've been talking, companies like yours have made 27 hires on Indeed. That's according to Indeed data worldwide. So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed unlocked on LSU. Indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Well, empty the notebook from everything else that I saw on the day. Maybe the most important part, maybe I buried the lead just getting to this now. But on Tuesday, Lane Kiffin told us that Sam Levitt would likely be done for spring. Well, not necessarily the case. Sam Levitt was out at practice on Saturday in Tiger State. Now he did not go through any of the 11 on 11 periods. But when they were doing the individual work at the beginning of practice, Levitt was doing that individual work. So helmet on Jersey on the difference. The other quarterbacks everybody else's includes he was in tennis shoes. So not doing anything to taxing. He did jog at times from station to station. So that's a very positive sign, I would say. Whit Weeks was also at practice on Saturday, not participating, but really engaged. Even when the threes were out there, he was standing on the defensive side at the line of scrimmage, imploring the defensive players, just doing everything he can to stay engaged with this team right now. Going into his senior season, he wants to maximize it. Obviously it was great to see Whit out there. Now, Deuce Gerald's who missed Thursday's, but he's still in the game. Deuce Gerald's who missed Thursday's practice when we were out there was not there during the individual work at the beginning. However, he did participate in the scrimmage, which is great to see. And Gerald's did come up with a big sack in the TFL in the scrimmage as well. One thing I neglected to mention were penalties. There were five penalties on the offense, two holding penalties, three false start penalties. The defense was flagged for an off sides on another penalty that I couldn't tell because the referee didn't have a microphone. So it wasn't overly penalized, but the offense again was penalized five times in the scrimmage. But over the course of two plus hours and 19 possessions, just five penalties for the offense. Again, three false starts and two holding penalties. You mentioned Gerald's was out there. That's sort of the notable personnel. Solomon Thomas, he is boot, he's left foot is in a boot and he was on a scooter. So Thomas missed the bulk of his freshman season with a foot injury. No word if this is a recurrence of that injury or a new injury, but it was something that caused Solomon Thomas to be out there in a miss. As missed fall, I should say spring practice up until this point. Also Augustus, the other offensive lineman, 74. Brady Augustus was out there also, but just in a jersey and not participating. Let's see. Again, I'm emptying my notebook here. There were two injuries during the scrimmage. We mentioned Aiden Anding. So on the interception, when he went sort of Superman, just like laid out, came up with a beautiful interception. He stayed down. Now this is disappointing because it was non-contact. And it felt like watching it, that it was foot ankle, that he wasn't putting any pressure on. They took his shoe, his cleats off, a watch through binoculars. They sat him on the training table. They put a boot on him and then fitted him for crutches. Hopefully this is just an ankle sprain. Maybe the landed funny yet and nothing serious. We have talked a lot about the cornerback position and sort of the lack of depth there. Anding showed very nicely for himself in this scrimmage. So you would love to make sure that he's okay. It's nothing too serious. But again, this just means it'll be more opportunity for some of the younger guys out there. By the way, the threes after Anding, we did get to see with the defensively with the threes. Haven Finney was one of the corners with the threes. And then also Craig Walton was the other Craig Walton, Jr. Who has listed his number 37 511 174 is a junior out of Camden, New Jersey. So Craig Walton was the other one running with the threes. At the beginning of practice when they went individual, a few things that I did jot down that I thought were interesting. They did a one on one period where a coach stands in the middle of the circle, the entire team and calls out two players to go one on one in front of the whole team. And so they called out Roman Mothershed and it was Roman Mothershed and Jacim Jackson. And they ran two reps against one another. The first Jackson forced an incompletion of the front left pylon. The second Mothershed broke to the back of the end zone was moving from the left, moving back toward the center of the end zone. And Jackson undercut the route and it looked like he intercepted the ball. Somehow the ball went through Jackson and Mothershed caught it for a touchdown. Really an incredible play by both guys. I don't know how Jackson didn't get the interception. Similarly, I don't know how Mothershed came away with the inter with the touchdown, which was really cool to see. You know, we did get to see what a lot of people have talked about, which is Trades Green moving all over the formation. We saw him attached. We saw him split out wide to the left. We saw him as the H back. I don't think this is any surprise. Trades Green is the best offensive weapon that they have and he is going to play and play all over the place. There were times we thought saw three tight end sets where Trades was split wide left. Malachi Thomas was an attached tight end. And then you had Zach Grace, the H back in the H back position. So you saw all three on the field at once. I think what it speaks to is the versatility and variety they'll have with this offense and with the personnel within this offense as well. Also of note, something we've been following is that first offensive line. We did see Bo Bordelon again working with the first team at left guard. So left to right, it was Seton, Bordelon, Braylon Moore, Aluba and then Weston Davis. That was your first offensive line. Your second offensive line left to right. The change was Sean Tompkins. The Baylor transfer was left tackle. Second team left tackle. It was Tompkins left to right Tompkins. Then, forgive me, 70 was Harper at left guard. Then Satterwhite, second string center, Chiquon Sprinkle, second team right guard. And then Darren Stray, the Kentucky transfer, second team right tackle. That seems to be where they're holding right now with those first two units on the offensive line. And I think by and large, they looked pretty good. As I charted some of the great defensive plays, Jordan Ross had a sack in the one-on-ones. D'Shawn Spears had a TFL with the ones. That was a really nice play. There was, trying to see the other. DJ Pickett was flagged for a passenger fear and that was one of the penalties against the defense. Pickett was flagged for a PI. And let's see if I have any other big plays charted that I thought were notable I wanted to get to. Sorry, I have one, two, three, four, five, I have six pages of notes from a two and a half hour practice. I'm trying to sort through all of it a little bit here. But all things considered, if you were to look at the big takeaways, I think it's number one, first and foremost, your defense is far ahead of your offense. It's not, listen to Lane Kiven's comments. It's not say the offense won't come along and you got to get Sam Leavitt back. But for now, you're a defensive team. And it's not just because your offense is struggling. Your defense is really, really good too. Number two, you got to get Sam Leavitt back. It's why you made the investment in him. He's a multi-year starter. He's been to a college football playoff. You got to get him back and he's got to be what you expected him to be when you signed him. I think this team right now is struggling to find legitimate game-breaking playmakers. I think Trayda's green is certainly that. I think Winnie Watkins' familiarity with this offense has been a major benefit to him. If I go back and actually count up all the plays that went to Watkins over the course of the possessions, he was easily LSU's leading receiver. And I think coming from Ole Miss and his familiarity is going to help Winnie Watkins. Where are the other playmakers? Harlem Barry could certainly do that. Dylan Jones has elevated. We've seen Malik Elsie take more reps with the ones. But I don't see Malik neighbors, Jamar Chase, you know, freshman, sophomore, Keshon Booty, like I don't see that game-breaking receiver yet. Maybe that guy will emerge. We'll see. But as of right now, don't see that guy. A lot of time still to go. I mean, it's their nine practices into spring of a totally remade offense. New coaches, personnel, terminology, all of it. You're not without your starting quarterback. I think you'd expect the defense to be ahead. But a long way to go for this offense still. Oh, I guess the one other thing we did get to see. Let me run through this really quickly. We did get to see the specialist. So this was notable. The, let's see, punt returners, Jase Brown in this order. Jase Brown, Winnie Watkins, Cray Wilson, Jabari Mack and Nizhore Granger. Those were your punt returners. Hayden Craig and Grant Chadwick both punted. Craig is lefty. Chadwick's righty. Craig went first. Chadwick went second. Silas Hall, snap for field goals. Mack Mulher and the Florida transfer, snap for punts. Scott Starzik missed three times on this day. He missed a 56 yarder wide left. He missed a 37 yarder wide right. So, and I thought it was interesting as we mentioned, Kiffin was on the field and Weiss and the other offensive coaches were in the booth. Okay. I think I've emptied my notebook. So an interesting day. We were also told by the way that we are going to have full access to practice for the remainder of spring. So there's six more to go. There are nine in the books with six more to go. And we were told on Saturday we're going to get to watch the entirety of practice the rest of the way. So Tuesday, they'll let us out there to watch the whole thing. We'll be back Tuesday and I'll tell you what I saw with that practice report. So in the meantime, do me a favor, please smash that like button, subscribe to the channel. If you're there on YouTube, if you're on podcast, please listen and subscribe on your favorite podcast app, Radis Leave Review. And the thing I always do ask as well is that if you are watching on YouTube, thank you sincerely for that. But even if you watch on YouTube, continue doing that, but please still open up your podcast app on your phone and go type in Lockdown LSU and just hit the subscribe button. That would be a massive help for us as we go and grow. Until next time, it's Lockdown LSU, your team every day. Introducing the all new Mazda CX-5, featuring more connection. Hey, Google, where's that nearest Pilates class? Safety that has your back. 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