LSU’s promoting junior tight end Trey’Dez Green as the best in the country at his position.
The 6-foot-7, 242-pounder, who finished his high school career at Zachary, was the Tigers leader in touchdown receptions a year ago with seven.
The opportunity to match or exceed any of his previous numbers appear to be the last thing on Green’s mind. The national championship, though, brings an obvious smile to Green’s face when discussing the possibility of playing this season with Dae’Quan Wright, who joined the team after getting cut by the Cleveland Browns.
“It’s amazing to me,” Green said of Wright during Tuesday’s player interview session with the media. “If it means less catches, less yards, I’m all about it as long as we bring a national championship back.”
First-year LSU head coach Lane Kiffin said earlier this week that Wright, who played at Ole Miss for him his final two seasons, has practiced with the team along with former Notre Dame defensive end Junior Tuihalamaka in preparation for the Tigers’ season opener Saturday against Clemson.
“Coach Kiffin came and talked to the leadership council, and actually the whole team’s kind of been talking about it,” LSU first-year quarterback Sam Leavitt said. “We were nothing but excited for the opportunity to bring guys in and help us win some games.
“I don’t know why there’s such an issue with it. It’s a fifth year,” Leavitt said. “Everybody gets five years in college. I don’t know the exact details or anything. I’m just here to play ball.”
Wright and Tuilhalamaka were two players that benefitted from a Temporary Restraining Order in a Baton Rouge courtroom that permitted them a fifth year of eligibility.
Judge William Jorden, who signed the TRO, will preside on Thursday where a group of college football players are looking for a preliminary injunction against the NCAA and the SEC and its commissioner Greg Sankey to gain an additional year of eligibility.
Kiffin said that LSU must forward its final roster of 105 players to the SEC by Friday to certify them to play this season.
“I don’t think it’s really a distraction for us in this building at all, especially with the last four years in how college football’s gone,” LSU senior linebacker Whit Weeks said. “You’ve got to be ready to expect anything.
WHAT DISTRACTION?
“Coach Kiffin came and talked to our leadership council, and he asked us if we were open to bringing these players back and we all said yes,” Weeks said. “He told us if we didn’t want them to come back and play, then they won’t come back. That’s the rule and we might as well take these guys.”
LSU’s also garnered commitments from former Ole Miss defensive lineman Zxavien Harris and Utah cornerback Blake Cotton.
IMPACT IS NOTICEABLE
“Outside of the conversation we had with Coach Kiffin, when he asked us about bringing the players back, we haven’t had any conversations anything like that,” Weeks said. “We’re just in here doing our jobs. I don’t think our team’s distracted at all.
“We kind of hear the outside noise,” Weeks said. “We’re focused on what we’re focused on, and I think (strength and conditioning) coach (Nick) Savage and coach Kiffin have kind of put us through the ringer for the past three months. You can’t really worry about what’s going on (the) outside here. Every time you come up here you know you’re in for a rough day of work.”
Green already casts quite a shadow in LSU’s offense until you see the 6-4, 246-pound Wright, who played the first two years of his career at Virginia Tech.
The Perry, Ga. native transferred to Ole Miss and played for Kiffin and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., earning honorable mention All-America honors in 2025 from Phil Steele.
Wright earned second-team All-SEC recognition from the league’s coaches with 39 catches for 635 yards and five touchdowns last season. He wound up with 94 catches for 1,395 yards – an average of 14.8 per reception – and nine touchdowns.
He signed a free agent deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, who waived him on Aug. 10, and was claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Browns who released him on Aug. 24.
“There’s a lot of things we can do there,” Leavitt said of the pairing of Wright and Green at the same time. “Just getting in different personnels. How’s another team going to match up? If they’re going to stay in nickel or a base? Then you’ve got mismatches in the run game and the passing game. There’s so many different things you can do. I’ve watched Dae’Quan’s tape and he’s a really good player, as well.”
Green said Wright’s been a good sounding board for him during fall camp.
“You’ve got two big-bodied players on the field that can stretch out and play wide receiver and also be a tight end and block,” said Green, who has 79 catches for 967 yards and 18 TDs which is already a career record for tight ends at LSU. “The defense never knows if we’re running the ball or we’re passing the ball.
“I’ve had a chance to talk to him, we clicked ever since we met each other,” Green said. “You’ve got that complete tight end right there. He’s been teaching me lot, little techniques, teaching me stuff that I didn’t even know.”
Weeks, the undisputed leader of the defense, noticed Tuilhalamaka’s presence right away during positional meetings.
“We have a lot of young guys in that (defensive end) room and he’s a guy they can look to that has a lot of experience,” he said.
