Senior linebacker Michael Divinity Jr. and junior left tackle Saahdiq Charles sat out LSU’s season opener against Georgia Southern, but coach Ed Orgeron said they will both play at No. 9 Texas on Saturday.
Divinity and Charles went through warm-ups with the team prior to kickoff against Georgia Southern, but neither saw the field for undisclosed reasons. Sophomore Damone Clark started in place of Divinity on defense, and senior Badara Traore and freshman Dare Rosenthal alternated at left tackle with Charles out.
Orgeron said Charles will return to his starting spot at left tackle during his weekly luncheon on Tuesday, but the situation for Divinity is still a bit murky. Divinity was moved from outside linebacker to inside linebacker in the spring once LSU decided to move away from using a second outside linebacker and switched to more of a hybrid 3-3-5/4-2-5 defense instead of a traditional 3-4 defense.
In fall camp, Divinity locked down one of the starting inside linebacker positions while juniors Jacob Phillips and Patrick Queen battled with Clark for the second inside linebacker position. Phillips won the job, but a strong camp performance by Clark led to him getting the nod in place of Divinity, and the sophomore did not disappoint.
He finished with nine tackles and was critical in stopping Georgia Southern’s triple option and holding the Eagles to 98 total yards of offense.
“We’re going to go through the week and see what happens,” Orgeron said. “Obviously, we’re going to work Michael back in. We think Michael is an excellent linebacker for us, and also, we’ll play him at the line of scrimmage sometimes when we need him.
“We’re going to see how we can work those guys in. Maybe a first down situation with somebody else and a third down situation with somebody else and play all four of them equal snaps. They deserve it.”