After emerging from fall camp rather healthy, LSU’s roster is taking on injuries seemingly by the day.
Both No. 7s are on the shelf. Tight end Trey’Dez Green is recovering from a knee injury two weeks ago against Ole Miss, and linebacker Whit Weeks broke his fibula in Saturday’s 35-6 win over Texas A&M. Safety Dashawn Spears won’t return this year after tearing his ACL.
Defensive end Charles Ross and wide receiver Phillip Wright are done for the season, too.
Add defensive end Gabriel Reliford and cornerback Aidan Anding to the list. Both were lost for the year back in spring. Injuries are part of football, but at a certain point the loss of talent and depth will catch up to you.
LSU prepared for Texas A&M without Green and Spears. Now an FCS opponent awaits in McNeese (Saturday at 6:30 p.m.), so defensive coordinator Blake Baker and Chris Kiffin, the team’s co-defensive coordinator, can evaluate a lineup without Weeks in a relatively low-stress week.
WITHOUT WEEKS
Linebacker was the lone position on the roster unaffected by the coaching transition. No one left. Weeks is the heart and soul of the Tiger defense. His absence will be significant, but there are experienced options behind him.
Davhon Keys finished last season second in the SEC with 92 tackles. He’s played in 29 games with nine starts. Ole Miss transfer TJ Dottery will flank Keys a year after he led the league in stops last year.
Keys graded a 75.8 on Saturday night in 23 snaps. Tylen Singleton also played 10 snaps and graded a 75.0. Singleton is a third year player with 18 career games played.
Depth is a significant concern at cornerback, tight end and defensive end. That’s not really the case at linebacker. If and when Weeks returns, LSU will be a better team, but Keys and Singleton are proven SEC options alongside Dottery.
SUB FOR SPEARS
LSU had to move some pieces around to replace Spears. Ty Benefield moved down from his safety spot to the STAR.
The Boise State transfer played 23 snaps in the box, four at free safety and 32 in the slot. He rushed the passer five times and covered 33.
That usage means Benefield is clearly the best option to replace Spears. CJ Jimcoily struggled in coverage at Ole Miss, while Benefield moves better in space. He’s also a more imposing physical presence against the run than Tamarcus Cooley, who played 26 snaps at free safety and 15 more in the slot. Jhase Thomas got 36 snaps at safety, too.
As the score got out of hand, Faheem Delane got some reps, too.
Ultimately, this boils down to Thomas seeing more playing time and Benefield moving down a level on the defense. Benefield has the skill set to do it, and Thomas nearly won the starting job over Cooley in the preseason. Spears is a great talent, but LSU had a little bit of insulation built in at the spot, and the movement of these chess pieces looked good Saturday night.
TIGHT END TIME
The same can’t really be said about the insulation at tight end. LSU doesn’t have an option to replace Trey’Dez Green. The position simply has to be used differently.
Zach Grace got 42 snaps at tight end. He was targeted once, an errant throw from Landen Clark with Grace running wide open in the back of the end zone on a scramble drill. That means Grace was never the primary option on a passing play.
Malachi Thomas played 14 snaps. He was asked to pass block four times and run block nine more. Roman Mothershed played eight snaps.
The trio combined for no catches.
Jackson Harris, the 6-foot-3 transfer from Hawaii, saw his targets bumped up. He cashed in for 163 yards and a pair of touchdowns. That’s more in line with Green’s output. No one on the roster can match Green’s physical ability, but the targets will have to be spread around.
