Kicker has them all fooled on scoring run

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Louisiana State kicker Colt David has done a lot with his feet, but he had never run with the ball -- not even in high school or Pop Warner.

Never, that is, until Saturday.

Making the most of a trick play called “Roxy,” David showed impressive speed in a 28-16 victory over South Carolina, taking an over-the-shoulder flip from holder Matt Flynn and gliding 15 yards across the goal line. The defenders didn’t have a chance of catching him.

“A couple of the other specialists and I joke about, ‘Man, I’m going to get laid out if we ever run that,’ ” said David, a crushable 5 feet 9 and 173 pounds. “But I was a little surprised. I thought I might have to beat one person or something, but it worked out beautiful.”

Much as the play pained him, South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier had to agree.

“It worked perfectly,” he said. “Obviously when they work, they’re a good call.”

Actually, it was LSU’s second razzle-dazzle play of the drive. Earlier, in a bizarre formation, undersized receiver Trindon Holliday squatted sideways mere inches behind massive left guard Herman Johnson, then popped up and took a handoff after the ball was snapped. He gained 11 yards on the play.

“It was hard for them to see me,” said 5-5 Holliday, who was dwarfed by 6-7, 356-pound Johnson.

Resort to the LSU playbook for the name of that ruse.

It’s called the “Sugar Bowl Shuffle.”

-- Sam Farmer