After a painful loss to Florida State in the season opener, the 14th ranked LSU football team plans to give a more spirited effort on Saturday night in the home opener against the Grambling State Tigers.
Following the 45-24 loss to the Seminoles, Coach Brian Kelly lamented the lack of urgency, especially in the second half, when FSU scored 31 unanswered points.
Kelly said on Thursday night the intensity at practice this week was at a more acceptable level. The second-year coach continues to put blame on himself for that disastrous second half.
We can expect more energy from the Tigers on Saturday night, what else can we expect?
The right side of LSU’s offensive line struggled against Florida State. In the preseason, five-star recruit and freshman offensive tackle Zalance Heard took snaps with the first team. Kelly said it would not have been fair to the former Neville star to play him last week, but they intend to give Heard some snaps with the first-team on Saturday.
If you remember last year, after a poor performance by the offensive line in the loss to Florida State, Emery Jones as a freshman got some playing time in week two against Southern and then made his first career start the following week at right tackle against Mississippi State. Jones ended up starting 12 games last year.
Could we see Heard see significant snaps on Saturday at right tackle, with Jones at right guard against Grambling State. If Heard plays well, he could force himself into the starting line-up.
Kelly also said on Thursday that redshirt sophomore wide receiver Chris Hilton deserves to play more. Hilton has only nine catches during his LSU career. But multiple drops by Kyren Lacy last week, might give Hilton an opportunity to be one of the top three receivers.
There’s a good chance former Rummel star Logan Diggs will make his LSU debut on Saturday night. Diggs battled injuries in the preseason, and running backs coach Frank Wilson didn’t think Diggs was ready to play in a game last week.
But Kelly said Diggs is getting a lot of work this week as he’s getting up to full speed.
Armoni Goodwin is another running back that could play Saturday after missing the season opener with an injury. Kelly said Goodwin has been upgraded to probable for the home opener.
Defensive tackle Maason Smith is expected to get about 30 snaps in his first action since game one of the 2022 season. Kelly said the hope is that maybe next week Smith gets 40 to 45 snaps so that he’s available to play fulltime in his third game back from a torn ACL.
And the question every LSU fan wants to know, will linebacker Harold Perkins move back to the outside where he was an All-American player last year? Kelly said they are evaluating it and linebacker Omar Speights said on Wednesday night that you can expect to see Perkins back on the outside, and Greg Penn getting playing time at inside linebacker.
So there you go Tiger fans, it looks like your wish will be granted.
