RUSTON - Following a light Monday morning walk through at Joe Aillet Stadium, Louisiana Tech head coach Jack Bicknell said he was pleased by what he saw on the film of Saturday's intra-squad scrimmage.

"I was impressed by what I saw," Bicknell said. "Defensively, I thought we worked hard the entire scrimmage, especially our defensive line. It was obviously a very hot, very tough scrimmage. All in all, I was happy."

One of the positions that Bicknell has been watching closely since fall practice opened in early August is that of the Bulldog offensive line, which lost three starters to graduation, including a pair of three-year starters in Shawn Murff and Damian Lavergne.

And although Bicknell admits the inexperience of the group has him a little concerned he realizes that this year's offensive linemen have the potential to be solid once again.

"I'm actually very excited about our offensive line," Bicknell said. "It has been a work in progress as we have been trying to get the right guys in the right positions. I feel like we have some good players. Obviously, some of them haven't been through the battles so there will be some growing pains.

Bicknell said that seven players are vying for the five starting positions with Lester Brown (left tackle), Aaron Lips (left guard), Marcus Stewart (center), Adrian Gonzalez (right guard) and Jordan Lang (right tackle) currently sitting at No. 1 on the depth chart. However, senior Michael Gilmore, who started all 12 games at right guard last year, and Clarence Casey are both battling to move up into a starting role

"There is still some competition going on for starting jobs," Bicknell said. "I think we have seven guys who I feel like are ready to go if needed. Again, things could change by the end of the week because there are some battles going on for a couple of the positions. We just want to make sure we have the five best guys."

The challenge of opening any season with potentially four new starting offensive linemen is tough enough, but starting the year against one of the top defenses in the country is what Tech is up against.

"Starting (the year) against a team the caliber of Miami will be quite a challenge for (the offensive line)," Bicknell said. "That's not usually the way you want to start out a year but that is what we have and we are excited about it. (Miami) has some new guys on their (defensive line) so it will be a new experience for some of the players on both sides.

The Bulldogs completed two-a-days on Monday and are scheduled for a single evening practice session Tuesday.