By Hunt Palmer
While LSU searches for defensive consistency and a steady running game, the team’s strength may get a jolt on Saturday.
By any metric, LSU’s passing game has been its calling card through a month. Can it get better?
LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly thinks so.
“I think we need Chris Hilton back, and this seems to be the week where we feel like we’re going to get him back healthy,” LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly said. “If we can add that vertical passing game, another element to it, I think it just makes it even better.”
Hilton has missed LSU’s first four games with a bone bruise in his foot. Kelly hinted at a Hilton return last week prior to the UCLA game, but the decision was made to hold the junior wide receiver out just before kickoff.
Injuries have plagued Hilton since his arrival on campus. He missed eight games in 2021 and then the final 10 games of 2022. Meanwhile his classmates Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas blossomed into stars. That duo exploded alongside Heisman winner Jayden Daniels in 2023, spearheading the country’s best passing game.
Thomas led the country in touchdown catches. Nabers became LSU’s all-time leader in catches and receiving yards. Both were selected in the first round of the NFL Draft.
Hilton watched.
As camp progressed in August, it was evident Hilton was emerging as one of LSU’s two best wide outs alongside Kyren Lacy.
The injury bug bit again just over a week before the opener, and Hilton has been working toward a return ever since.
To LSU’s credit, the passing game hasn’t skipped a beat.
After four weeks, the LSU offense ranks second in the country in completions, 13th in passing yards per game and fifth in touchdown catches.
Garrett Nussmeier has shined in his first season as the team’s starting quarterback. He’s completing 71 percent of his throws and has 13 touchdown passes against just two interceptions, one on a desperation pass late in the USC game.
Five players have caught 10 or more passes, and Nussmeier completed throws to nine different Tigers versus UCLA.
“This year, it can go to anybody,” Kelly said. “You add the tight end into the mix as your leading receiver right now, it’s very difficult to defend us. The backs are catching it for touchdowns. The tight ends, a number of the receivers. It’s a pretty comprehensive passing game.”
So where does the improvement come from?
Big plays.
LSU ranks 60th in yards per attempt in college football. When you consider the offense ranks 12th in completion percentage, you understand that much of LSU’s work is done near the line of scrimmage and in the intermediate areas.
Hilton provides speed to a Tiger passing game with everything else.
Kyren Lacy is a physical body with long arms and a great vertical. Aaron Anderson and Zavion Thomas are quick and elusive if they lack a little size. Kyle Parker is a technician in route running.
Add in the experience and consistency of Mason Taylor, LSU’s all-time leader in catches and years among tight ends, and you have a wonderful variety of options.
When Hilton has been available, he’s made big plays. To close out a dismal Texas Bowl for the Tigers in 2021, he reeled in an 81-yard touchdown catch from Jontre Kirklin as time expired. He secured a 51-yard catch against New Mexico in 2022.
Last season Hilton averaged 17 yards per catch thanks to a handful of big plays. He made a 42-yard catch in the shootout against Ole Miss. To cap the season, Hilton helped set up the winning score LSU in the Realiquest Bowl. Nussmeier found him streaking down the sideline for a huge 43-yard catch.
As teams focus more and more on Taylor and Lacy working the short passing game and Thomas and Anderson working the screen game with their catch-and-run elusiveness, the big play may open up for Hilton.
LSU is one of five SEC teams without a 50-plus yard pass play on the season. On the flip side, the Tigers rank second in the SEC in passing plays of 10 or more yards.
Hilton’s return could unlock the final piece to the LSU air attack.
