
Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
By Hunt Palmer
LSU’s open date week of practice has come and gone.
Last season Brian Kelly suggested the first open date was for reps, and the second one was for rest. Considering this season’s first bye comes on the heels of a disappointing loss, the same probably holds true.
Some Tigers—Garrett Nussmeier, Caden Durham, Aaron Anderson, Weston Davis—needed the week for rest, but the majority of the other players needed a good week of practice.
To close out our version of the bye week, here are three players who need a larger workload in October than they got in September.
HARLEM BERRY, RB
This may not happen because Caden Durham is on track to play against South Carolina, but Berry has shown some flashes of a player that needs more touches. It started with his 43-yard scamper against Louisiana Tech and continued with his seven carries that included a touchdown at Ole Miss.
HARLEM BERRY. TOUCHDOWN. pic.twitter.com/YNuBYDbpEn
— LSU Football (@LSUfootball) September 27, 2025
Berry possesses exceptional vision and high-end elusiveness. He’s not ready for 20 carries in an SEC game right now, but he can handle the 7-10 that he’s gotten since Durham went out. That number was one against Florida and Clemson. It needs to be higher.
CARIUS CURNE, RT
Brian Kelly said on Wednesday that Curne reminded him of Emory Jones. He added some color suggesting that was because Curne played hard and made “hustle mistakes,” but I’ll read one further. Curne had less than half an hour to ready himself for an SEC road start. With two weeks to prepare for South Carolina, let’s see if he really looks like a guy who made 11 starts as a freshman, 36 in his career and became a third round pick of the Ravens.
LSU’s offensive line badly needs some tenacity and push. Curne is already one of the strongest players on the roster. Maybe the upside is tapped into, and he becomes a real asset.
We won’t know unless he gets more time.
JIMARI BUTLER, EDGE
We skewed young early. Let’s swing back the other way. Butler is a senior, and he’s played a lot—133 snaps in five games. He needs to play more. Why? Pass rush. LSU’s rush has not been the force many, myself very much included, suggested it would be this year. The Tigers have 11 sacks in five games. I projected that number could approach 50 this year. The 11 sacks aren’t coming from LSU’s edge players. Jack Pyburn has one. Patrick Payton has a half. Gabriel Reliford didn’t have one before he got hurt, and Butler doesn’t have one.
Damien Shanklin got a pair against Southeastern in garbage time, but that’s not going to move the needle.
Butler has graded very well in the pass rush game by Pro Football Focus. He’s a 74.6 in rushing which is second to only linebacker Whit Weeks. Butler posted seven sacks at Nebraska as compared to Pyburn’s one at Florida.
With Reliford down, Butler’s snaps will go up. His production should, as well.

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