A few items from Thursday’s Tiger football practice . . .

** Workouts for next week’s New Orleans Bowl against Florida Atlantic began Thursday at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Wet grounds at the Murphy Athletic Complex forced the team to work out on the artificial surface at Rex Dockery Field and may send the Tigers back to the Liberty Bowl Friday.

** Speaking of fields . . . at some point the U of M athletic department must seriously consider renaming the practice fields at the Murphy Athletic Complex after longtime facilities coordinator Murray Armstrong, a fixture on the campus for five decades.

** The biggest roar from the players at Thursday’s practice came after offensive lineman/tight end Arron Bentley caught a screen pass and, behind his 290 pounds of momentum, leveled defensive back Michael Grandberry trying to make the stop.

** Former Tiger Rod Brown, who played linebacker in the early 1990s, said he’ll be in New Orleans for the BCS title game between LSU and Ohio State in January. Brown was a teammate of LSU assistant Larry Porter at Memphis. Porter played running back for the U of M and has worked under Les Miles since the two were at Oklahoma State.