“I think we moved on pretty fast. On Monday, everybody’s head was up. We know what we have to do. Our main focus is to still make the playoffs and that hasn’t changed. As long as we focus on the things that we need to do, it might be a little harder of a path now, but we are up for the challenge.”
LSU TE Mason Taylor
3. Caden Durham, Ju’Juan Johnson getting touches in the backfield:
After a promising performance by running back John Emery Jr., the Tigers running back room received a devastating blow during the week when it was announced that Emery would be out for the season because of a torn ACL. What was an already thin running back room has gotten thinner now as Josh Williams, Kaleb Jackson, and freshman Caden Durham are now the only three scholarship players at the position. The Nicholls State game is a great opportunity for the highly regarded freshman Caden Durham out of Duncanville High School to get some carries against the Colonels.
“He ( Caden Durham) had a good week. He will certainly be involved. We try to tailor made the offense for the three running backs and giving them the kind of plays that they feel comfortable with and setting the offense accordingly to those guys. We feel good about where we are at. Obviously, we would love to have John, and maybe, we will investigate moving forward if there is another candidate at that position, but that is where we are at right now and we feel good about it.”
LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly
It turns out that the Tigers were looking at a candidate to be the fourth running back, and that is Ju’Juan Johnson. After getting lost in the shuffle a little bit in the secondary, the athletic Johnson, who had a legendary prep career as a quarterback for the LCA Knights, will be moving to get snaps at running back.
“We moved Ju’Juan Johnson to running back. He is getting some carries and touches this week. He gives us the fourth back and just gives us some balance there. He is an exciting player. He can do a lot of things. We feel that we can shuffle some things on the defensive side of the football and begin to get him involved. Obviously, there is going to be a learning curve on some things, but I think he can do some things for us this weekend.”
LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly
4. Golden Opportunity to solidify LSU Wide Receiver Depth:
Going into the season, the LSU wide receiver room was heavily talked about being a deep unit despite the losses of 1st round draft picks Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. The wide receiver room will get to test this theory on Saturday as they will be without two of their top receivers in Chris Hilton Jr., who is out with a bone bruise, and Kyle Parker, who suffered a UCL injury against USC.
With two of LSU’s top receiving targets out, this is a big game for the other receivers besides Kyren Lacy, who is undoubtedly WR1 for this team. Aaron Anderson had a strong performance against USC and was Garrett Nussmeier’s third favorite target behind Lacy and tight end Mason Taylor. If Anderson can continue to build on that performance, he can definitely have a role in the Tigers offense. Zavion Thomas and CJ Daniels also will have their chances too, but Brian Kelly did admit that Saturday’s game is going to be a big one for Shelton Sampson Jr. to emerge.
“The guy we got to get ready is Shelton Sampson. He’s got to be able to play for us and we got to put him on the field. This is a big week for him and the next couple of weeks coming up. He’s got to get in our rotation because it will allow some pieces to slide around. He becomes a focal point moving forward.”
LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly
5. LSU continuing to work on areas that plagued them against USC:
LSU was good enough to win against USC, but perhaps its biggest opponent was itself with the Tigers committing 10 penalties for 99 yards. Most of those penalties were preventable as they came from some of the Tigers’ most veteran guys including Will Campbell, who had two false start penalties, Kyren Lacy, who had an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a touchdown catch the led to USC points, and Major Burns , who also had an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that affected the field position for the Tigers after a fourth down stop. Cleaning up those penalties and having a clean game against Nicholls State would be a step in the right direction.
Brian Kelly also talked about working to have that killer mindset to close a ballgame out. LSU failed to do that and they did so by not playing complementary football. Playing against a program that can be overlooked, it is even more important to stress about the little things that separate the difference from good programs to elite programs.
“We’re still working on that every single day. It happens when you put in the work, and it means so much to you that, under no circumstances, can you let someone take it away from you.”
LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly on having a killer mentality
The #18 LSU Tigers (0-1) will kickoff against the Nicholls State Colonels (0-1) at 6:30 tomorrow on the SEC Network
Make sure to visit our website after the LSU/Nicholls State game for complete coverage of the Tigers’ home opener!
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