LSU has joined a prominent, and growing, list of college football programs to decide against playing a traditional spring game amid concerns about tampering.
The school will host an open football practice on April 12, followed by an autograph session for fans instead of a full-contact game.
Gates will open at 9:30 a.m. local time and the event will be free for fans to attend, per the school.
The decision by LSU to not host the usual spring football scrimmage follows several other high-profile programs to change course on the preseason tradition.
This isn’t the first, and likely will not be the last, we’ve heard about college football programs considering doing away with the spring football exhibitions in the transfer portal era.
Some coaches are concerned that they could be effectively giving other schools what amounts to a free try-out for players who could be poached away through the portal before the season begins.
Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule confirmed his intention to cancel the spring game in favor of a closed format, citing a concern about tampering from rivals.
“I hate to say it like this… because last year we were one of the more televised spring games, and I dealt with a lot of people offering our players a lot of opportunities after that,” he said.
Rhule added: “To go out and bring in a bunch of new players and showcase them for all the other schools to watch, that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”
There is also concern among some programs that, with the expanded College Football Playoff, seasons have grown longer, and playing a full game could wear down player conditioning.
That was a reason given by Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, whose Longhorns team played into January before being eliminated in the College Football Playoff semifinal round.
Still, most programs are going ahead with the spring football game, including Oregon and Clemson, both of whose coaches defended the concept despite ongoing concerns.
“I think it’s the best way for us to get better,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said.
“For me, it’s the right way to cap off the spring. As long as I’m here, we’ll be doing spring games.”
Clemson’s Dabo Swinney downplayed concerns some of his peers have about tampering.
“Ain’t nobody going to go look at the spring game, go, ‘Oh yeah, boy,’” Swinney said.
“They’ve got everything on everybody already. Canceling the spring game ain’t gonna stop tampering. We’re going to need a lot more help than that to stop tampering. And hopefully at some point that’ll happen.”
Whatever other programs end up deciding, LSU has apparently made its final ruling.
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