On the first day of August in South Louisiana, the weather and the action at LSU Football Ops was heating up as the media got the chance to watch the entire practice. With 19 more practices after today, there is still a lot of football that needs to be played out in order to get better answers on which guys will either start or get the most playing time in the Purple and Gold, but there always has to be a start somewhere.
There was a lot to keep track as there were either a lot of new faces out there or familiar names with new jersey numbers so keeping track of where everybody is at will get some taking use to. However, there were the familiar places and newcomers that immediately stood out.
Unsurprisingly, Garrett Nussmeier was taking the first team reps, but once again, he was in total command and was confident as he hooked up with Kyren Lacy and Shelton Sampson on deep throws. The QB2 spot is going to be a position battle throughout fall camp, but today, Rickie Collins looked like he had the upper hand as he was making the right reads and made some tight window throws. AJ Swann was taking the third team reps, but head coach Brian Kelly knows that this is going to be anybody’s race.
At running back, Kaleb Jackson indeed looks like all the earlier reports about him being at 235 pounds. With his unique blend of burst and power, the Liberty Magnet product has a chance to be RB1. Head Coach Brian Kelly has said that they are keeping Josh Williams limited even though he is getting the RB1 reps just because they know what they have in him and to keep him as healthy as possible going into the season. It was a refreshing sight to see John Emery Jr. make his return with a new jersey number at 22 after tearing an ACL last season. Kelly has said that Emery Jr. and even cornerback Zy Alexander are both full go for fall practice, but they are still a ways before being 100% ready to roll for the season.
The wide receivers continue to shine no matter who is out there. Kyren Lacy has carried the momentum from the spring to the fall with a big catch over freshman Michael Turner, who was actually in really good coverage, but Lacy just stole the ball away from him. Like it was with some of his predecessors, Lacy is taking full ownership of the responsibilities of being WR1.
The wide receiver rotation looked like this as Lacy, Chris Hilton, and CJ Daniels are running with the first team while Zavion Thomas, Kyle Parker, and Aaron Anderson were with the second team. It is also to note that Shelton Sampson Jr. made a big contested catch as well while freshmen Kylan Billiot and Jelani Watkins have been getting their feet wet and getting some reps. It is also of note to say that both Hilton and Thomas have changed their number as Hilton is now 3 and Thomas is now 0. There are plenty of mouths to feed when it comes to the wide receivers.
That can also be said about the tight ends as Mason Taylor is clearly TE1, but it looks like that he has made some strong strides as he has gotten bigger over the offseason. One name that a lot of people had their eyes on as far as a freshman that can be an impact player on the offensive side of the football is Trey’Dez Green, who at 6’7, 245 pounds, caught a couple of passes today. Kelly has been overly impressed with what he has seen to this point with the former five star recruit.
Mac Markway and Ka’Morreun Pimpton are two other great options at the tight end position, which will receive a lot of targets this fall.
The Tigers are expected to have arguably the best offensive line group in the country as the starting five is pretty much intact with Will Campbell at left tackle, Garrett Dellinger at left guard, DJ Chester at center, Miles Frazier at right guard, and Emery Jones at right tackle. Kelly wants to see continued progress at the center position just because that’s the one position on the offensive line that does not return a full time starter. It is also important to sure up the two deep just in case there is an injury on the offensive line. The second group consisted of Tyree Adams, Paul Mubenga, Coen Echols, Christian Stamps, and Bo Bordelon.
One of the biggest questions entering fall camp was how was the interior defensive line was going to look like. The two defensive tackles that were getting starting reps were Jacobian Guillory and Wisconsin transfer Gio Paez. Behind them, it was Kimo Makane’ole and Shone Washington. Five star freshman Dominick McKinley was one of the ones that was getting a lot of reps and is expected to get an increased workload.
At the edges, one of the biggest surprises was that Bradyn Swinson was not on the practice field. Because of that, the two starting defensive ends were DaShawn Womack and Saivion Jones. Behind them was Paris Shand and Gabriel Reliford. Shand is also one of the noteworthy number changes as he is now number 0.
At linebacker, Harold Perkins and Greg Penn III were with the first team unit. Penn also has a jersey change as he is now wearing number three. Perkins continues to show improvement in coverage as he came up with an interception during 11v11. Backing Perkins and Penn up is the Weeks brothers with the second team defense.
Cornerback is going to be one of those position groups that may have a different starter each time that we are out there. Sage Ryan and Ashton Stamps were taking first team reps while PJ Woodland and JK Johnson were taking second team reps at corner. Stamps has looked bigger since spring and had a great day today even picking off Nussmeier early in practice. After earning majority of his reps at safety in the spring, the plan is to cross train Sage Ryan.
Woodland continues to impress as he made a great read on the football and got an interception today, but Kelly wants to see more consistency from him.
Zy Alexander was back on the field and has the green light if he wants to full go, but didn’t participate in practice today. Meanwhile, Javien Toviano has been reinstated by the program after a legal issue, but also did not practice today.
Finally, Jardin Gilbert and Jordan Allen were the two starting safeties while Major Burns was playing the STAR role. Also, Kylin Jackson and DaShawn Spears were getting second team reps at safety while true freshman Ju’Juan Johnson was competing at the second string STAR position.
We will continue to update you with all the latest that is going on during fall camp for the Tigers. For all of our coverage, continue to stay locked in with www.gridironfootballusa.com!
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