By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE — LSU starting junior linebacker Greg Penn III knows what it feels like when the odds aren’t on his side.
Two seasons ago, he was a wide-eyed freshman on a 4-4 Tigers team led by a lame-duck head coach. That LSU team headed to Alabama as a 28-point underdog to play the defending national champion and No. 3 ranked 7-1 Crimson Tide.
“It was a crazy game,” said Penn, who’ll play in his third Tigers-Tide tiff Saturday night at 6:45 in Tuscaloosa. “A lot of people didn’t think we had a shot.”
The Tigers did have a shot but lost 20-14 in a battle that could have scuttled Alabama’s chances of returning to the national title game.
It was a game LSU could have possibly taken to overtime, but already-fired head coach Ed Orgeron took a fourth-and-goal gamble from the Alabama 7 with 6:46 left, which failed. He could’ve let placekicker Cade York kick a 24-yard field goal to cut the score to 20-17.
If that had happened, York, who made 15 of 19 field goals 50 yards and beyond in his three-year LSU career, would have had a chance to tie the game with a 47-yard goal as time expired. Instead, LSU’s only choice was for quarterback Max Johnson to launch a pass into the end zone intended for Brian Thomas Jr. that was batted away incomplete.
A couple of months after that game, LSU had just 39 scholarship players, an interim head coach and no quarterback available when it lost to Kansas State 42-20 in the Texas Bowl.
With Johnson already decided to enter the transfer portal and backup Garrett Nussmeier deciding to not play to preserve his freshman redshirt season, the Tigers were forced to play wide receiver Jontre Kirklin, a former high school QB, as the starting QB.
In Tuesday’s LSU players media availability, Penn recalled Kirklin’s postgame comments of throwing two TD passes in the game’s final four minutes, including an 81-yard scoring strike to Chris Hilton Jr. as time expired.
“Shoot, we’re Fighting Tigers.” Kirklin said. “We’re not going to back down from nobody. If we’ve got 11, we’re going to go play.”
Penn is using those words this weekend as a team mantra when the 14th-ranked Tigers (6-2 overall, 4-1 SEC West), handicapped by having to rely on a trio of little-used true freshmen cornerbacks and a sophomore, face the No. 8 Tide (7-1, 5-0 SEC West).
“We just gotta go out there and fight like Tigers,” Penn said. “You’ve got to love it. It is what it is.”
Upperclassmen have offered this week loads of encouragement to true freshmen corners Ashton Stamps, Jeremiah Hughes and Jason Toviano, and sophomore Laterrance Welch.
That collective college game experience of the foursome is 41 games with 1 start, 23 tackles, a ½ tackle for loss and 2 pass breakups.
“Those young guys are doing a great job (in practice), Penn said. “We’re trying to make their job as easy as possible. They’re doing a good job communicating out there. We just want them to go out there and play fast and play with confidence.”
Here’s a brief look at each cornerback:
• Ashton Stamps, 6-0, 188, Fr., New Orleans Archbishop Rummel: Was rated only a 3-star prospect. Had 65 tackles and 9 pass breakups last season as a high school senior, despite being targeted 10 times. Added 10 pounds of muscle in summer workouts. He impressed coaches and teammates with his intelligence. Had an outstanding preseason camp with the Tigers, breaking up passes and collecting interceptions. “Ashton is going to be a very good player,” Hilton said in the preseason. “We saw a (practice) play on film in which he rerouted the receiver, then dropped back and then made the pick. That’s something you don’t see every day from a freshman.” Stamps has played in six games, including a start against Ole Miss when he re-aggravated a groin injury. He sat out the Auburn and Army games and returned to practice this week.
• Jason Toviano, 6-1, 201, Fr., Arlington (Texas) Martin High: Was rated a 4-star prospect by Rivals, which also tagged him as the fourth-best high school cornerback in the nation last season when he had 38 tackles, 2 interceptions and 2 forced fumbles. Has played sparingly in all 8 LSU games, mostly as a reserve safety. Has 6 tackles.
• Jeremiah Hughes, 6-0, 187, Fr., Las Vegas (Nevada) Bishop Gorman: From the same high school as current LSU senior basketball forward Mwani Wilkerson, he’s a 3-star prospect who was moved from wide receiver to defensive back as a junior. Was rated as one of the top five high school players in Nevada last season. Has played in all 8 LSU games this year as a backup corner. Has 3 tackles.
• Laterrance Welch, 6-1, 193, So., Lafayette Acadiana High: Was rated in 2021 as a high school senior as a four-star cornerback by ESPN, 247Sports and Rivals. Ranked No. 12 nationally at his position by ESPN. Played in 13 games as an LSU freshman last season, mostly on special teams. Has played in six LSU games this season with 6 tackles, a ½ TFL and 1 PBU.
“These guys are inexperienced,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly of his young group of cornerbacks. “But they are really good players and they’ll get out there and compete for LSU.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com