By Hunt Palmer
Each week we dive into the Pro Football Focus grades for LSU. Saturday night’s thriller was eye opening for a number of reasons. There were standout performances and a noticeable trend on defense that we expected to see.
Brian Kelly said following LSU’s final non-conference win that “the rolling is going to stop” in the secondary. That meant that LSU was going to tighten the rotation. The tightening was evident on Saturday night.
LSU’s defense played 87 snaps in the game. Ashton Stamps and Zy Alexander played all 87 at corner. PJ Woodland played 11.
At safety, Sage Ryan played every snap, and Jardin Gilbert played 85 of 87. DaShawn Spears played three.
At star, Major Burns played 84, and Javien Toviano played the other three.
Blake Baker, Corey Raymond and Jake Olsen stuck with the veterans, and it paid off.
Now, let’s get to the grades
HIGHEST GRADES
- Zy Alexander, CB – 88.6
- Whit Weeks, LB – 84.6
- Will Campbell, LT – 76.1
- Bradyn Swinson, DE – 70.8
- Garrett Nussmeier, QB – 69.9
Zy Alexander has been the best cornerback on the roster for two years. A knee injury cut his season short last year and limited him in training camp. Just as he got up to speed, he suffered the concussion against UCLA. He returned Saturday night and was exceptional. His 88.9 coverage grade is astronomically high, and his interception in the end zone thwarted Ole Miss’s bid to take a two-score lead early in the fourth quarter. Alexander was targeted 10 times, and only four were completed. LSU’s defense showed significant improvement against Ole Miss, and Alexander was a huge part of that.
Whit Weeks has been a “flash” player for a year and a half. He’s got a heat-seeking missile mode to his game that loads up the highlight reel. But he can also be out of position like he was on Rocket Sanders’s huge touchdown run at South Carolina a month ago. Saturday night was his most complete game as a Tiger. Weeks made 18 tackles, 10 solo, and sacked Jaxson Dart on the last play of regulation. He graded 79.1 against the run which is a very strong number. More impressively, his tackling grade was 87.2. Weeks is progressing into an all-conference level player.
Will Campbell already has all-conference honors. He’s an all-American because he’s as good a pass protector as there is in the college game.
LSU OT Will Campbell vs Ole Miss:
🐯 56 Pass Block Snaps
🐯 Zero Pressures Allowed
🐯 92.8 Pass Block Grade@LSUfootball pic.twitter.com/HfZoOVShz0— PFF College (@PFF_College) October 13, 2024
Campbell was a brick wall in a game where LSU absolutely had to have it versus the nation’s top pass rush. The run block grade of 61.7 isn’t stellar, but this is just what LSU is at this point. Not allowing a single pressure on 56 pass rush snaps against Jared Ivey, Princely Umanmielen, Suntarine Parkins, and Co. is fabulous.
Bradyn Swinson is now on pace to set LSU’s single season sack record. Arden Key holds that currently with 12. Swinson added two more Saturday night to nudge his total to seven. That wasn’t where he shined according to PFF. His pass rush grade was 65.1, but his run defense graded 77.9. Swinson is rising up draft boards quickly and terrorizing quarterbacks in the process.
And the fifth name on the list surprised me a little bit. Garrett Nussmeier only completed 43 percent of his throws in the game and threw two interceptions. That generally won’t grade too highly. However, the clutch plays he made cannot be overstated. Both fourth down throws on the last drive in regulation were surgical. Moving to his left, he whipped a strike to Mason Taylor on fourth and six. That play was well-covered. Then the touchdown to Aaron Anderson to tie it was a thing of beauty. It was in rhythm and on the money. LSU made a point to stretch the field early and often. Twenty-seven of Nussmeier’s throws traveled 15 or more yards. The last one sealed the win.
LOWEST GRADES
- Sai’vion Jones, DE – 50.8
- DJ Chester, C – 52
- Miles Frazier, RG – 57.5
- Caden Durham, RB – 58.2
- Mason Taylor, TE – 58.8
Sai’vion Jones did have a couple of hurries in the game. He was hurt by a couple of missed tackles. His tackling grade was 36.5. Jones has had a solid season. He just had a couple of bad reps Saturday night.
Chester’s name surfacing on the low end has become a little too familiar. He has yet to post a run blocking grade above 60.2, and that was against an FCS opponent in Nicholls. He’s just a redshirt freshman who is transitioning to a new position, but he will need to continue to develop. His pass blocking grade was a respectable, if unspectacular, 63.9. The run block grade came in at 51.4.
Same story for Miles Frazier. He graded 80.4 in pass protection. That’s excellent. Run blocking? 57.5. I know many people are skeptical of PFF, and that’s reasonable, but the reality is that the statistics back these offensive line grades up. No one ever sacks Nussmeier, and the pass blocking grades are great. LSU struggles to run the ball. The run blocking grades stink. It’s just LSU’s reality.
Caden Durham never really got loose on Saturday night. He turned the corner once, but that was negated by a holding call. His grades were all in the mid to high 50s. I’m not all that concerned with his grades. We’ve seen his natural ability to run and break tackles. That’s his role, and obviously the staff trusts him. He played 41 of the 79 snaps. That suggests his toe dislocations didn’t hamper him much.
Mason Taylor’s run block grade was a 59. I don’t really care because he caught the fourth down LSU absolutely had to have. If we know one thing about Taylor, he can be trusted to make a big grab.
