PALMER: LSU’s wide receiver shopping list is checked

By Hunt Palmer

Sunscreen is an easier sell on South Beach than in South Dakota this time of year.

Sometimes it’s less about the salesman than it is about the product. Though in this case the salesmen do get some credit.

LSU needed to land quality and quantity at wide receiver in the transfer portal, and after nine days of work, consider that job done.

Brian Kelly, Cortez Hankton, Joe Sloan and the rest of the LSU portal machine that includes Bayou Traditions and likely Garrett Nussmeier, got their guys.

I wrote two weeks ago that LSU had plenty to sell.

That case included a proven veteran quarterback who will finish this 2024 season with the second highest passing yardage total in LSU history. And it included a direct path to playing time with a depleted room lightly stocked with similar players.

Enter Barion Brown, Destyn Hill and Nic Anderson to the fold, and now you’ve really got options to replace the production walking out the door. Gone are 60 percent of LSU receptions, 59 percent of LSU’s receiving yards and 42 percent of the touchdowns.

That’s plenty to sell, especially to those three.

Brown leaves behind a Kentucky passing attack, well, passing process. It’s hard to call this much of an attack. Over the last three seasons with Brown in the fold, Kentucky’s SEC finishes have been 14th-of-16, 11th-of-14 and 12th-of-14 in passing yards, never averaging more than 221 yards per game. And Wildcat passers have finished worst or second worst in the SEC in interceptions thrown in all three seasons.

Same can be said for Anderson, but at least he got a taste of the good stuff. As a freshman, Anderson caught 10 touchdowns, an Oklahoma freshman record, starring in an offense piloted by Jeff Lebby and Dillon Gabirel. Lebby bolted for the head gig in Starkville, and Gabriel was nudged to Eugene for Jackson Arnold. The Sooners, with Anderson sidelined the final 10 games, produced the worst passing offense in the SEC.

Hill is a bit of a project, being that he’s played all of 10 games of football in four years, but his background mirrors Brown’s and Anderson’s in 2024. Florida State finished dead last in the ACC in passing this year, and Hill saw a chance to come home to Louisiana.

All three should feel like Andy Dufresne emerging from the sewer pipes at this point.

Now LSU’s receiver room possesses depth and a variety of skillsets to keep the LSU passing machine humming.

Yes, that still feels odd to type.

Anderson, assuming he’s healthy from a nagging quad injury, looks like an SEC No. 1. He showed the ability to beat press coverage as a freshman and has the requisite size at 6-foot-4 to be the possession target Nussmeier needs as Lacy moves on.

LSU’s got speed in spades.

Chris Hilton, should he return, is among the fastest players in the SEC. His two deep touchdowns against Oklahoma showed a glimmer of what the Zachary product could be if healthy. Brown is a record-setting return man with track speed, and Zavion Thomas can run with the best of them, as well.

Anderson is an ace in the slot who showed his ability to stretch the field at times and hit the home run like he did with the 76-yard catch and run at Texas A&M and the kickoff return against Oklahoma.

Add in Kyle Parker who is a solid route runner who made a big play against UCLA, and welcome freshmen TaRon Francis and Phillip Wright III from the freshman class, and the group comes together.

Anderson-Anderson-Brown-Hilton likely makes up the first group. Thomas-Parker-Hill-freshman rounds out the two-deep.

Is it Chase-Jefferson-Marshall or Nabers-Thomas-Lacy? No. But it’s a talent influx to be sure.

LSU’s identity with a fifth-year quarterback and four new offensive line starters still probably leans passing game over running game. Two weeks ago, that identity lacked substance.

But LSU had something to sell. Now to the offensive line.