By Hunt Palmer
ATLANTA—Strengths often become question marks year-over-year.
When a position group or player returns as a veteran piece to a roster, the eventual departure creates a hole. For LSU, that’s the 142 offensive line starts that walked out the door in the spring and were called during the NFL Draft.
Will Campbell, Emery Jones, Miles Frazier and Garrett Dellinger made history at LSU. Campbell is the highest offensive line draft choice ever. The quartet is the first ever drafted in one draft.
Now it’s time to replace them all. It’s a daunting task.
“Having four drafted, they were well regarded, and certainly Brad Davis has done a great job in coaching them,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly said. “But if you’re trying to address graduation in a knee-jerk reaction and not having that planned in advance, you’re probably going to take a hit on the offensive line this year.”
The staff has a plan. It involves three years of high-level high school recruiting and a pair of proven power four starters from the transfer portal. That’s a far cry from Kelly’s arrival in Baton Rouge.
“You remember I started Emery and Will as true freshman in the SEC, and they held their own,” Kelly said. “We think we have gone a step further, that we don’t have a start a true freshman this year but guys we developed. Then we went into the transfer portal, brought in Braelin Moore at center, Josh Thompson, some veteran guys from the Big 10 and the ACC who have been in wars. So, you’re adding those two guys to the mix.
“DJ Chester started every game for us last year at center. He’s a multiple position guy, can play guard or center. And then we’ve got some younger players that are going to step up that started in the bowl game, and we’ll see how that plays. But I’m bullish on our offensive line.”
Last year’s group struggled to create push for the running game but held up brilliantly against the pass rush. LSU quarterbacks were sacked just 15 times all season. Only 10 teams in the country allowed fewer, and LSU was sixth in the country in passing attempts.
Both sides of that equation share importance.
LSU’s running game must improve to compete for championships. A last place finish in the SEC assures mediocrity in terms of record. And the passing game figures to be explosive considering Nussmeier threw for the second most yards in school history last season and has a plethora of weapons to feed the ball to this fall. He’ll have to be protected.
“When you lose four starters, it’s tough,” Nussmeier said. “But I think the best part of that is that those guys set an expectation and a standard. I think the younger guys in the room have really risen to the occasion. They know what it’s supposed to look like, and they know what’s expected of them.”
Without Campbell, Jones or Dellinger in the Texas Bowl, Nussmeier threw for 313 yards and three touchdowns without being sacked.
Davis has molded quality offensive lines over more than 20 years of coaching. This challenge figures to be among his toughest. And his group knows that.
Nussmeier, like Kelly, feels confident.
“Our offensive line is one of the hardest working units on our team,” Nussmeier said. “They heard all the noise about people saying they’re not going to be anything. I think they like that. They want people to doubt them. I have full confidence in them.”
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