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LSU’s spring game lets last year’s No. 4 RB show his stuff

BATON ROUGE, La. — Last year’s No. 4 running back for LSU got a chance to show his stuff in Saturday’s spring game, and accounted for 197 yards and three touchdowns as the White team, with most of the starters, beat the Purple team 38-10.

Richard Murphy rushed for 145 yards on 11 carries, scoring on runs of four and 70 yards. Murphy also caught two passes for 52 yards. He took a swing pass and turned it into a 53-yard touchdown.

“I’m getting anxious to play, but I’m being patient,” said Murphy, who ran for slightly more than 200 yards in 35 carries last season. “I feel like if I get in open space, I can make something happen.”

Murphy’s 4-yard scoring run in the first two minutes of the second quarter and Colt David’s extra point tied the score at 7. Just before halftime, Murphy broke off his 70-yard scoring run to put White team ahead 21-10.

The second half was played with a running clock. Murphy caught a pass out of the backfield from Jarrett Lee and ran untouched for his 53-yard touchdown reception with 5:10 remaining in the third quarter.

“I wanted to see Murph today,” LSU coach Les Miles said. “He can be pretty elusive as a runner.”

Quarterback Ryan Perrilloux didn’t plaly. He was suspended from the team before spring drills and, though reinstated two weeks ago, was not allowed to practice.

Lee and Andrew Hatch divided snaps with the first unit at quarterback throughout the spring. Lee and Hatch played with both teams Saturday.

“The young quarterbacks came in and did the things we asked them to do,” Miles said. “They managed the game pretty well. A couple of times they started out on the wrong foot.”

Playing with the No. 1 offense, Lee completed six of eight passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns and Hatch completed five of seven passes for 87 yards and one touchdown.

Working with the second unit, Lee hit on one of five passes for ten yards and Hatch connected on eight of ten passes for 97 yards and one touchdown. Hatch was sacked twice, once for each team. He also threw an interception while with the second team.

“I enjoyed the way Hatch managed the game at the start,” Miles said. “Lee got started differently. Then, both turned around. Lee started to have some good plays and hatch got greedy and made a bad throw.”

Besides Murphy’s three touchdowns, the White team scored on two pass plays — a 12-yarder from Hatch to Brandon LaFell and a 57-yarder from Lee to Demetrius Byrd. David kicked a 23-yard field goal for the White.

The Purple team scored on an 8-yard pass from Hatch to Jared Mitchell and a 42-yard field goal by Andrew Crutchfield.

© 2008, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

       1 Comment

Posted by wjackson on April 7, 2008 at 7:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Mr. Murphy, Meet Mr. Berry. (In open space) : )

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