LSU football has reached the midway point of fall camp, and the Tigers got their first extended look at the team in a scrimmage Saturday night inside Tiger Stadium.
Head coach Lane Kiffin came away encouraged by what he saw, particularly from LSU's first-team defense.
“I thought the first (team) defense played extremely well,” Kiffin said. “Gave the offense a lot of pressure and (did) really good in coverage, so that was great to see.”
The first-team offense struggled early before finding its rhythm later in the scrimmage, something Kiffin said was important for the Tigers to experience.
LSU ran approximately 170 plays, with about half involving tackling, giving the coaching staff plenty of opportunities to evaluate the roster.
“We played for a long time,” Kiffin said. “I think 170 total plays, so that was really good to see to get a lot of information on our guys, and half of it being tackling helped us on some evals too.”
The media was not allowed to watch the scrimmage, but LSU football released a 27-second highlight video from the scrimmage on its social media channels.
One brief clip appeared to show starting quarterback Sam Leavitt scrambling toward the end zone.
The video was later removed, but Kiffin offered his own assessment of Leavitt's mobility Monday.
Leavitt missed the end of last season after suffering a Lisfranc injury that required surgery, making his health one of the biggest storylines surrounding LSU heading into the 2026 season.
“He's moved great,” Kiffin said. “We knew obviously what an athlete he was, especially two years ago on film. But he moves around great, got out of a lot of trouble with some great pass rush and great pressures that came at him.”
Kiffin also confirmed sophomore running back Harlem Berry broke loose for a long touchdown run during the scrimmage.
Berry, a former St. Martin's standout, is entering his second season at LSU after arriving on campus as one of the nation's top running back prospects.
Kiffin said Berry is beginning to show more physicality as he adjusts to the college game.
“I think we gotta remember Harlem's young,” Kiffin said. “When he got here one year and coming from a smaller league before that. And so there's some transition in that, and everybody nowadays just expects everybody to be an impact player immediately. And, so I think he started to run the ball more physical.”
