The annual LSU spring game isn't just a chance for the Tigers to showcase their skills for fans and coaches, but also the next generation of players in Baton Rouge.
And head coach Brian Kelly expects some assistance in the form of past Tigers greats returning to town to help court prospects in attendance on Saturday.
"All of our alums have been great about coming back throughout the year to help us recruit," he said.
There will be a player panel, he said, along with a crawfish boil after the game. But who all will be in attendance? Kelly initially indicated that Heisman trophy winner Joe Burrow would be in attendance, but a few questions later indicated that it was a joke. Burrow was in attendance for the 2022 Spring Game, the first under Kelly, along with several teammates from the 2019 title team. But it sounds like we'll have to wait and see if he ends up at Tiger Stadium again this weekend.
“If he is [coming], he hasn’t told us," Kelly said. "And if he is, he would not want me to tell.”
NATIONAL L CLUB SPRING GAME
- WHO: Tigers offense vs Tigers defense
- WHEN: 1 p.m. (central), Saturday, April
- WATCH: SEC Network+
- LISTEN: LSUsportsnet.live
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MORE FROM BRIAN KELLY
WHAT ARE SOME SPRING GAME EXPECTATIONS
“I didn’t want to get too far ahead in a sense of not focusing on the attention to detail necessary to build the solid foundation of a program. But at the same time you want to see cleaner election. You want to see preciseness on your offense and a confidence when you have a returning quarterback or two. ... Last year we were trying to figure out who the five offensive linemen were and we’ve got a pretty good sense of what that looks like. I think we go into this and the first unit should like a first unit, top offense in the country. You should go into the spring game going ‘uh huh, that looks pretty good.’
"And defensively, the ideal situation would be, the guys that they took out of the portal, they’re going to help. That those are really good additions, and so I think if we walk away [with] those two observations, I would feel good if you guys would write that stuff, if that’s what you end up writing.”
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MAASON SMITH ... NOT QUITE YET
LSU's star defensive tackle Maason Smith is participating in all the on-field drill work for the Tigers as he aims to return from a season-ending ACL injury. But don't expect to see him on the field at the spring game. It's just "not worth the risk," Kelly says.
“There’s no advantage from that perspective, so we’ll give him more time to get his leg stronger and to the point where his first contact will be in August, and I think that’s probably the prudent thing.”
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HOW HAS JAYDEN DANIELS DEVELOPED
This time a year ago, the LSU quarterback question was still very much unsettled between Myles Brennan, transfer Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmeier. This year there's no question it'll be Daniels under center after leading the Tigers to an SEC title game appearance, with Nussmeier entering as the clear backup. Daniels is "thicker" and stronger, his coach said, with the ambition of building on a strong junior season this year.
“This is much more about veteran presence now than acclimating to a new program. I think that’s really the difference here. So now you’ve got a guy that’s helping the freshmen tight ends. Listen, sit down on this route, don’t drag, sit down, I’ll get you the football, those kind of nuances. It’s harder sometimes to explain it, but you can kind of sense it and see it. … There’s just a different presence to him."
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AND WHAT ABOUT NUSSMEIER?
“He’s really good. He’s had a great spring. He’s gotten a lot of work with the first team and when he’s been in with that first group, he’s excelled.
"I think that all you can do is make sure that when they’re given the opportunity, it’s fair. And we couldn’t give him a fair chance if he was just running with an offensive line that has, really, three guys that we moved over from other positions. So he had to get a lot of that work with the first team and I think he excelled as well. So I think all that we’ve done is built the quarterback position up that we have two really, really good quarterbacks.”