By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE — If you want to see a sneak preview of most of LSU’s starters for its 2024 football season opener Sept. 1 vs. USC in Las Vegas, you’d better get to Saturday’s 1 p.m. spring game on time in Tiger Stadium.
The familiar names – quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, wide receivers Kyren Lacy and Chris Hilton, tight end Mason Smith, safeties Major Burns and Sage Ryan and linebackers Harold Perkins and Greg Penn III – probably won’t play more than three or four series.
“We want to see some of our frontline guys go out and compete and play,” LSU third-year head coach Brian Kelly said Thursday morning after his team’s 14th spring practice. “For us, they aren’t the most important players out there.
“There are key players on both sides of the ball we’re focused on that need to get a lot of work in this game. As the game unfolds, you’ll see a lot of them and you’ll know `OK, they’re really auditioning that particular player today.'”
Some of those positions and players include:
- The battle for backup QB: Nussmeier, a redshirt junior named the ReliaQuest Bowl’s Most Valuable Player after throwing for 395 yards and 3 TDs in a win over Wisconsin, is firmly entrenched as the starter.
But Kelly noted returning freshman redshirt Rickie Collins and Vanderbilt junior transfer AJ Swann are locked in a battle to emerge as QB2.
“When he’s in rhythm,” LSU co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Joe Sloan said of the former Baton Rouge Woodlawn star Collins, “he does some really good things.
“He’s just starting to manage the game, manage the play, go with the ball where it’s supposed to go where the defense tells us it’s supposed to go, to deliver it on time, and just seeing a lot of growth from that standpoint.
“AJ has played a lot of football and you can see when he’s comfortable. We do a lot of things on offense and when he’s comfortable he’s been really good delivering the ball on time. He has a really quick release.
“When he’s not comfortable is the biggest thing for him. He’s just got to continue to grow within the offense and that’ll be huge for him over the next couple of months.”
- Perkins again trying to play in the tackle box instead of playing to his strength of rushing off the edge: After a failed attempt to move Perkins from an edge rusher where he was an All-American as a freshman two years ago to a middle linebacker at the start of last season, new LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker believes the 6-1, 220-pound Perkins can play inside the tackle box filled with offensive linemen outweighing Perkins by 100 pounds.
“We’re not going to just put him in one spot and say `Hey, this what you’re gonna do,’’ Baker said of Perkins. “We have to start him there and he’s got to get really good at position. He also has the innate ability to come off the edge. We’re finding out this spring he’s a really good blitzer. He’s really good in coverage. So there’s not much that the guy can’t do.”
Perkins said he’s becoming more comfortable playing inside.
“I’m an athlete, that’s what I do,” Perkins said. “I’m a dawg. It ain’t really no excuses. You’ve gotta get the job done. Everybody looking at me, so I can’t come with no excuses. I’ve gotta do my part and play my role, and I gotta do it to a T.”
- LSU’s wide receiver depth: Senior Lacy, LSU’s No. 3 starting receiver last season and junior Hilton, the Tigers’ top pass-catcher off-the-bench, have proven this spring they’re ready to take the place of soon-to-be NFL first-round draft choices Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas.
“What has happened here more than anything else is he has found the right zone to be in as it relates to practicing and preparation,” Kelly said of Lacy who had 30 catches for 558 yards and 7 TDs last season. “He learned a lot last year watching the way Malik and Brian came to practice every day and perform.
“He’s said to himself `I can do this, too. I’m really proud of him. And happy for him because he’s going to have a breakout season.”
Hilton, who had 13 catches for 225 yards and 2 TD a year ago, caught the eye of anyone who watched a spring practice.
“I got injured my first two years and that kind of set me back,” Hilton said. “I’m now playing with more confidence. I feel like I belong.”
Transfer receivers CJ Daniels of Liberty (106 receptions for 1,954 yards and 21 touchdowns in 42 career games) and Zavion Thomas of Mississippi State, (40 catches for 503 yards and one TD last season) along with sophomore Aaron Anderson, freshman redshirt Shelton Sampson and true freshman Kyle Parker, will get plenty of spring game action.
“CJ just brings such a level of consistency,” Sloan said. “You can see the experience and how he plays. He’s an extremely smart player, and he’s physical, and he is strong through the catch. He’s going to be a huge piece of what we’re doing in the fall.
“Zavion is explosive. Earlier in camp, he hit a jet sweep. You can just see he has such a just a feel for space and holes. He’s made some really big plays down the field. He’s got a lot of speed.”
- Defensive secondary fixes after ranking 115th nationally of 130 FB teams in pass defense (255.6 yards per game allowed): True freshman PJ Woodland, a four-star 5-11, 160-pound cornerback from Hattiesburg (Miss.), is a mid-term enrollee who has rocketed up the depth to become a starter.
“PJ Woodland is a competitor,” Baker said. “He’s feisty. He’ll throw it in there. He’s physical and he can run. But more than anything for a freshman or high school senior, we’ve thrown him out there against our top receivers and he competes. He’s got the physical tools.”
Baker said all of LSU’s cornerbacks, including returning sophomore Ashton Stamps, Javien Toviano and Jeremiah Hughes and Ohio State transfer JK Johnson, have improved more than any other position group since the start of spring.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com
