LSU Spring Football continues as the Tigers wrapped up their first week with their first foray into tackling, and the media got their first glimpse of competition between first team offense and defense in the form of 1 on 1s between WRs and DBs. After the typical 20 minutes of photo and video, the media got to stay out there to watch for a few periods to see some of the competition before the rain started and moved everyone inside. We’ll get a full view of practice on Tuesday, but there was still a lot to take away from this limited snapshot.
Firstly, we saw a lot more rotation on the first team offense, as many different players are getting involved despite the initial starting 11 remaining unchanged. Transfers Nic Anderson, Barion Brown, and Destyn Hill all got time with Garrett Nussmeier today in the WR rotation, and the offensive line shuffled quite a lot from rep to rep. True Freshmen Carius Curne and Coen Echols got a chance at guard, and Virginia Tech transfer Braelin Moore took some reps at center.
The most interesting observation, however, was the increased percentage of 2 tight end sets today. Trey’Dez Green is the starter and is taking every first team rep, but Oklahoma transfer Bauer Sharp got on the field plenty today as well. Sharp is one of the many transfers taking big strides in the spring, and Coach Kelly made sure to acknowledge that today.
“The tight end position requires a couple of obvious things. They’ve got to be able to block and to catch the football. If they can do only one, they become a specialist. When we were looking to add to the tight end room, we wanted someone who could do both, and that’s what we found. When you pull a tight end out of the transfer portal, you need someone who can do both, and he can do both.”
LSU head coach Brian Kelly on Bauer Sharp
There were two final observations about the offense to mention. Firstly, Kelly got asked about Caden Durham and Kaleb Jackson as the presumed “starting running back room,” and he made a point to include Harlem Berry within that group. This suggests that the positive indications Kelly gave about Berry earlier in the week have seemed to continue. Secondly, there is a new update with the Ju’Juan Johnson situation. The record breaking high school QB has played many different positions at LSU in his first year, and he’s been under center throughout the spring so far. He still took reps primarily at QB today, but the red non-contact jersey he was wearing throughout the week was gone today, as Johnson took a number of reps at WR as well.
That fully fleshed out offense matched up with the defense today for the first time during a media viewing period, and the competition did not disappoint. Considering some of the defensive performances Tigers fans have had to deal with in the last two seasons, it might be refreshing to hear that the defense actually got the better of the offense in this encounter. After a dismal 2023 performance things got better in 2024 under first year DC Blake Baker, and the trajectory continues to be positive after what we saw today. The corners were in position to make PBUs, and the safeties had another successful day in what has turned into a good week for the unit.
“I would say I’m pleased. It’s only 5 practices, but there are a couple things I’m looking for. We are making tackles at or near the line of scrimmage, and we’re making open field tackles when in the 2nd level of the defense. We weren’t doing that, and have not done that on a consistent basis. We are playing the ball in the air now.”
LSU head coach Brian Kelly on the Safeties
The other big piece of news that came out recently was the announcement that LSU would be changing the format to the spring game this year. Instead of the typical full game format with evenly split teams, they will be having an open practice for fans to be able to attend, followed by an autograph session. Coach Kelly expounded on the reasoning for this change, as it gives the team more time for particular circumstantial work to get done, as well as the specific matchups the coaches want to see. There are certain things that might not pop up in a game that Coach Kelly wants to make sure got worked on during the spring.
“We were wedded to this idea that it had to all culminate in a spring game. I just think we took a step back and thought of it like OTAs. You get so many OTAs, and you use them up and make sure you get all the developmental work necessary. There are some teams I coach that may want a spring game, but I just think we’re at that point now where we don’t want to be wedded to having a spring game just because.”
LSU head coach Brian Kelly on the Spring Game
The biggest overall takeaway from this first week of spring ball is the positive impact the #1 transfer portal class in college football is having in Baton Rouge. With 16 new transfers on the team, keeping the team’s culture intact can be a concern, but that hasn’t seemed to be a problem so far. Many of the new additions are already finding playing time with the first team, signaling that this team has plenty of room to grow and improve as the spring continues.
“These guys are here to win a championship. You don’t hear a bunch of talking. It is business. They are here to win a championship, and they take their craft seriously, they go to work, and it’s really fun.”
LSU head coach Brian Kelly on the transfers
We will be back with another LSU practice report this coming Tuesday, where we will finally get a full view of practice for the first time in 2025.
