The team officially broke camp today with a mid-afternoon practice and now the players get 48 hours off before returning to work for game prep.
Since fall camp is officially over, we draw an end to this blog. Please stay tuned to LATechSports.com for official coverage of Louisiana Tech Football. Go Bulldogs!
Tuesday, August 21
Another practice down and another closer to Kickoff 2012. Do you have your tickets yet? If not, get your tickets today!
Make sure you tune in to ESPN at 1:45 p.m. CT today to hear Coach Sonny Dykes talk Louisiana Tech Football on College Football Live!
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What a great turnout for our practice and Fan Day in Shreveport! We had so many fans pack the Club Level of Independence Stadium wanting to meet players and get autographs that I think the Fire Marshall isn't really happy with us right now. Oh well, once again the Bulldog faithful showed up in support of their program.
Today starts the closed portion of fall camp as the team has one final "camp" practice before Texas A&M game prep begins Tuesday. We ask that fans please stay clear of the Tech Practice Fields and Joe Aillet Stadium over the next two weeks.
After the Texas A&M game, practices will be open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for fans to get their mid-week fix of football.
If you haven't already done so, make sure you call the LA Tech Ticket Office at (318) 257-3631 or visit it online at LATechSports.com to get your season tickets today. Great seats are going fast!
Well, you can't say they don't care! Friday held a physical scrimmage and the players definitely showed they care! Tempers ran a little high at some points, great plays were made and the coaches continued to evaluate the talent on the field. It is fun to watch this team practice so hard!
Kenneth Dixon had the highlight play of the evening with a 10-yard run and then, after getting wrapped up by nine players in blue, he somehow broke free and ran for another 35-40 yards. Incredible! We can only hope he keeps his eyes focused on the end goal and not just a few fall camp highlights.
Make sure you join us in Shreveport tomorrow. It is the team's last open practice of fall camp (plus you can watch from the air conditioned comfort of the Club Level at Independence Stadium) followed by our Fan Day festivities in Shreveport with a meet-and-greet/autograph session.
Thursday, August 16
And on day 14, they rested! The team had a light, 30-minute workout today and then was given the rest of the night off as they head to a movie and restful evening.
Friday's practice will include a scrimmage. You won't want to miss that one as it will be the last open practice in Ruston during fall camp this year!
Wednesday, August 15
Wednesday's short scrimmage was a good glimpse at some potential good areas for this year's Tech team: the ability to gash anywhere on the field for the offense and the opportunity to create turnovers on defense. Not a bad set of areas to be good at!
If you couldn't make it out for today's short scrimmage, plan on coming out to the practice fields Friday for another one!
Tech's "GATA" defense seemed to dominate Tuesday and that was no surprise for many reasons. First, this defense is getting better every day and the secondary has really improved. Second, for as good as our offense can be, know that our defense gets to measure itself against that every single day ... and they still succeed. That is impressive. Lastly, the offense was mixing and matching and allowed some key players to get a little rest during Tech's demanding fall camp schedule.
The players looked like they took full advantage of their day off yesterday and came out refreshed and ready to go today. The offensive coaching staff looks to be having fun creating all sorts of combinations and configurations to put on the field.
Another great Fan Day (autographs and meet-and-greet) is in the books and we still have one to go! For all of you fans that couldn't make it out to Joe Aillet Stadium today, please make plans to join us in the Club Level of Shreveport's Independence Stadium on Aug. 18. Get there at 6 p.m. and watch practice from the Club Level then hang around as the Bulldogs will meet fans and sign autographs at 7:30 p.m.
Tech's running backs got a special treat after a good performance Saturday as former Louisiana Tech and NFL running back Ryan Moats stopped by to watch practice and talk to the position group.
Friday, August 10
Today's practice seemed like the day when the freshmen finally started to put things together. Several rookies made impressive plays during Friday's practice session. Ryan Higgins got a quick promotion as Zach Griffith is out, Jaydrick DeClouette and Grant Childress continued to improve at receiver and the young defensive backs showed their athletic prowess on the field.
Tomorrow's practice, originally scheduled for 8:30 a.m., will be held at 6 p.m. instead and will still be the team's first practice in full pads.
Only one headline today (see below) and it is a great story on DB Chad Boyd.
Louisiana Tech battled through a traditional Louisiana August afternoon Thursday, practicing for two hours in the mid-afternoon heat. Facing adversity, the leaders of the team took charge and propelled the Bulldogs through another good practice.
It was a big day for news (see headlines below) as the 2012 Football Media Guide was published, the Athletic Department announced the beginning of its Top Dog Rewards Program and it was announced that all three of Louisiana Tech's Pro Football Hall of Famers - Terry Bradshaw, Fred Dean and Willie Roaf - will be attending Tech's Aug. 30 season opener against Texas A&M.
Meanwhile as Coach Dykes left practice early for The Happening, associate head coach Rob Likens filled in for him for the daily practice report.
Enough testing, let's get to work! With mother nature bringing more projected thunderstorms to the Ruston area, Coach Dykes has changed today's and tomorrow's practice times in order to avoid continuous interruptions. Today's practice will be at 4 p.m. inside Joe Aillet Stadium with tomorrow's practice scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m.
... Well, despite us trying to beat the storms we still ended up practicing at 6 p.m. Today the defensive line showed up and had a good day. Little by little we are getting better. Still a lot of work to do.
In the meantime, lots of other big news. Tomorrow is The Happening, which is always a fun event. In addition, we confirmed today that all three of Louisiana Tech's Pro Football Hall of Famers - Terry Bradshaw, Fred Dean and Willie Roaf - will be in Shreveport on Aug. 30 to watch Louisiana Tech open the season against Texas A&M. Get your tickets now for Louisiana Tech's "Hall of Fame Game!"
Mother nature gave the Bulldogs a little test in maturity and focus this evening and it looks like the team passed that test with flying colors. Despite a 40-minute lightning delay, the team returned to work and continued to improve.
And one more great read that you should check out. Sports Illustrated profiled ESPN announcer Joe Tesstiore. Tessitore's first broadcast of a college football game was in 2004 at Joe Aillet Stadium when Louisiana Tech hosted Nevada. The most recent football game he broadcasted was Louisiana Tech's 2011 Poinsettia Bowl appearance in San Diego against TCU.
Well the pads came on and boy did the players start hitting! Some big hits were seen, heard and felt in practice Monday, almost like those guys have been waiting since April to lay a hit on somebody. The focus will now turn to still learning how to tackle while keeping everybody safe. The obvious goal is to get better every day while keeping as many people as possible healthy.
A little bit more consistent effort by the team today with a lot of back-and-forth between the offense and the defense. The team finished installing the offensive playbook; now comes the tweaks and minor changes that will drive defensive coordinators insane over the next five months.
Day two seemed to be a constant reminder of tempo and focus as returners readjusted to the pace of the offense and newcomers continued to learn how to practice fast. Andrew Guillot had a nice touchdown catch but was good just as often as he struggled. There seemed to be more dropped balls than normal but that is often an easy fix. That is also not a terrible facet of camp as the coaching staff is still installing the base offense.
The secondary, while still very young at some positions, definitely has more depth and athleticism than last year. Only time will tell if they will step up in game situations but it is easy to teach fundamentals and plays; it is much tougher to teach speed and athleticism.
A good first day in the book for Louisiana Tech. The team got camp off to a good start and the newcomers tried to adjust to the speed of practice on the fly.
Below is an embedded video interview with Coach Dykes. You can find links to plenty more video interviews in the column to the right.
Today is the first practice of fall camp. Per NCAA rules, the first three practices of fall camp must be in helmets only. Tech will practice at 6 p.m. this evening.
Louisiana Tech had 103 players report for fall camp today. There was a team meeting following check-in at Mitchell Dorm as the team went over several aspects of fall camp and the season including compliance, tickets, strength and conditioning, sports medicine and basic media procedures.
Watch what some of the players had to say about report day:
LATechSports.com provides exclusive, daily spring practice coverage direct from Ruston. Coverage begins with the first practice on Friday, Aug. 3. Louisiana Tech's 2012 season opener is on Thursday, Aug. 30 against Texas A&M in Shreveport's Independence Stadium.
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