Over a month has passed in spring practice with there still being plenty to learn about this team and adjustments being made by the coaching staff. Here are some of the more noteworthy things from Monday’s practice and head coach Brian Kelly’s presser today.
Injuries in secondary and young players getting work
Safeties Greg Brooks Jr. and Major Burns were notably absent from practice. When asked about their absences, Kelly laid out each player’s injury status.
According to Kelly, Brooks is dealing with a sprained ankle and is operating at around 80%. They shut him down temporarily to get him back to 100%, and there’s a chance he’ll be back by this weekend.
On the other hand, Burns will be out for a more extensive period of time, also harboring an ankle injury but one that’s a bit more serious. He has been shut down for the remainder of spring camp and will look to be back in the fall.
Kelly sees Burns being out for the rest of spring as a double-edged sword, with the positive being that they have more time to prepare the younger players for fall.
“That’s just why you’re seeing young guys out there playing safety,” Kelly said. “We wanted to get healthy at those positions.”
According to Kelly, freshman defensive backs Javien Toviano and Ryan Yaites have gotten more reps at nickel and safety respectively. He added that it’s been great because these younger players are gaining experience, they normally wouldn’t this early.
“It’s great that we’re giving him this kind of work like he was out there in two-minutes today. He’s got to make a lot of checks,” Kelly said, referring to Yaites. “This is kind of a really cool spring in the sense that some of the young guys have to make a lot of checks and it’s been a good proving ground for them.”
Offensive Progression
One of the storylines surrounding LSU this offseason was the returning offense’s potential. LSU returned most of its production but has dealt with injuries throughout spring practice.
With that lack of depth, many of LSU’s early-enrollee freshmen have seen more reps than usual at practice. Evaluating that group, Kelly has been satisfied with the freshmen in multiple areas.
“It’s been really good to integrate the freshmen wide receivers. Getting a chance to see them as part of what we’re doing has been really, really important. Both freshmen tight ends have been an important piece to this offensive development for us as well,” Kelly said.
“[Trey] Holly at the running back position. It’s been a really good spring for him to learn protections because he’s got really good vision and really good ability to see the hole,” Kelly said. “So, when you look at the offense from afar, it’s plugging in those new players into those positions where you can say they can help us in the fall.”
Outside of the skill positions, the offensive line has been another position hit hard by injuries this spring. With that, LSU has used multiple combinations throughout the spring, with the biggest competition coming at center.
“I think from an offensive line standpoint, getting borderline into a position where it’s consistent for him at Center has been really good for us in that respect,” Kelly said when talking about the line’s relationship with quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Charles Turner took the role of LSU’s starting center for most of last year but has missed spring practice due to injury. Alongside Turner, Marlon Martinez and Garrett Dellinger have both taken reps at center.
Updates on returning players
Though it has been a mostly quiet spring for LSU, Kelly gave some updates on the status and progression of some of the returning players.
Harold Perkins has been one of the most talked about players of the offseason and Kelly has spoken on multiple occasions of the team’s plans to play him at linebacker. On Monday, he talked about how they can best take advantage of Perkins’ versatility.
“I think you’re going to see him as active as he’s been, and maybe just in a different fashion. If you just line him up off the edge, everybody’s going to gameplan for him,” Kelly said. “I think we’ve put him in a better position, a linebacker position and then we can move him around on third down.”
Kelly also talked about the quarterbacks, highlighting where both Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmeier have progressed this offseason.
“Jayden’s been pushing the ball down the field, trying to really work on quick identification and one on one matchups down the field,” Kelly said. “Garrett is just, discipline in progression reads. So, each one of them has some things that Joe Sloan has laid out for them and Mike Denbrock in terms of what they want them to work on specifically.”
