It’s time for LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson to reload.The offseason is the annual period in which coaches tinker and retool rosters for the upcoming season with hopes of finding the precise formula for success.Johnson’s prospects aren’t too shabby. The Tigers return six, possibly seven, players, depending on the outcome of junior guard Bo Spencer’s academic suspension. A five-man recruiting class is on the way into town as well.Those numbers don’t bode well for the four walk-ons who made the roster this season. Sophomore guard Zach Kinsley, sophomore forward Taylor Jacobsen, junior guard Chris Beattie and freshman guard Daron Populist could be sitting in the stands next season.Johnson said during his Monday press conference the quartet will have to try out again at next season’s walk-on auditions. “I thanked the walk-ons at the team meeting,” Johnson said. “Chris Beattie, Taylor Jacobsen, Daron Populist and Zach Kinsley were great for our basketball team and great for our program this year. They have been excused, and we’re going to open up walk-on tryouts in the first part of the fall next year.”Johnson said no walk-on has an advantage heading into next year’s tryout.”They’re not guaranteed anything,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to say we’re starting over, but in fairness to the student body and in fairness to giving everybody a chance, that’s what we need to do.”Jacobsen has elected to not try out again next year. He cited school and a degree in landscape architecture as his reasons for leaving.”I wanted to focus more on my career,” Jacobsen said. “During this year that I did walk on, I had to miss just two classes, but they were very key classes. I obviously had a lot of support from the tutoring and advising to get me as far ahead as possible. But as of right now, I’m still behind. I don’t want to drop my major. I chose to go make the money the old-fashioned way.”But Jacobsen said he doesn’t regret a thing. The sophomore only played five minutes during the season but cherishes his time under Johnson.”Just to be able to go to practice and be on the bench, I had a smile on my face every time I walked into that gym,” Jacobsen said. “It’s one thing to keep with all the photos, knickknacks and shirts, but the main thing I learned is mental toughness on and off the court.”Beattie could be a similar story. Johnson said Beattie has opportunities in the classroom and in the workforce that could prevent him from coming back to the team.”Chris Beattie has a lot of things going for him from a standpoint of school and job opportunities,” Johnson said. “He was great.”The other two could be more likely candidates for a return to Johnson’s squad. Both Populist and Kinsley saw significant minutes during the season, with Kinsley even starting LSU’s game against Arizona State in Madison Square Garden.Kinsley has gone through this before. The Baton Rouge native earned a spot on the 2008-09 roster his freshman year. He went through the same process again this season, easily securing a spot in the second annual tryout.Populist was forced into action later in the season, averaging 13 minutes a game during the last 11 contests. His season-high 23 minutes came in LSU’s win against Arkansas during which Populist scored eight points and went 2-of-4 from 3-point range.”I know that Daron Populist is a kid that you feel really excited about what he did late and what he can do,” Johnson said.Four spots won’t be available for walk-ons on next year’s roster. Only one slot will probably be open, maybe two, Johnson said.”There could be room for one or two, but I’m not going to address that until I know what our needs are,” Johnson said. “But again, I think it’s something that you earn the right by producing and trying out, so we’re going to look at it again just like we’ve always done it.”- – – -Contact Chris Branch at [email protected]