After a career day which included hauling in 7 passes for 137 yards against Louisville in the Citrus Bowl, LSU junior wide receiver Malachi Dupre is still mum on declaring for the NFL Draft.
“At the end of the day I still having some thinking to do,” Dupre said. “I’m proud to be a tiger. I’m glad to wear purple and gold and whatever choose to do at the end of the day I’m glad to be a part of this program.”
The 6-foot-4, 195-pound receiver is projected to be drafted as early the second round according to WalterFootball.com’s receiver rankings.
Dupre isn’t the only draft-eligible junior for LSU pondering the NFL.
Safety Jamal Adams says he has not made a decision about entering the draft, but said he will hold a press conference on Jan. 6 regarding his future.
“I have a decision I have to make Jan. 6,” Adams said. “I’m going to have a press conference at LSU and that decision will be determined. I’m going to enjoy this win with me and my brothers.”
Adams is projected to be a first-round pick in multiple mock drafts.
LSU coach Ed Orgeron said he still plans to recruit juniors to return back to school, but if he believes a player is a “sure-fire” first rounder, then they should enter the draft.
“There are a lot of guys that we look forward to speaking to on the plane,” Orgeron said. “I believe if a guy’s a sure-fire first-round pick he’s going to go. That’s just the way it is in college football. But if he’s a lower draft pick, we’re going to recruit for him to come stay and earn more money by playing his senior year and be a high draft pick the next year.”
Key breaks sack record
Arden Key’s wish for the 2016 football season was to register in 20 sacks.
He didn’t come close, but he’ll settle for the LSU single-season sack record.
It was originally believed that Key needed to record 13 sacks in a season to become LSU’s new single-season sack leader, but that was because an inaccuracy in LSU’s media guide showed that Oliver Lawrence was LSU’s sack leader.
Gabe Northern previously set the LSU record in 1994 with 11 sacks.
Key didn’t even know he was LSU’s new single-season sack leader until he scrolled through his Twitter feed following the game.
“It’s great,” Key said about breaking the sack record. “There’s a lot of [defensive] linemen that came through here. It’s an honor that I got the sack record.”
The Atlanta, Georgia native broke the record after chasing down Louisville’s Heisman trophy winning quarterback Lamar Jackson in the beginning of the second half.
Guice named Citrus Bowl MVP
Sophomore running back Derrius Guice has spent the last seasons backup to former LSU running back Leonard Fournette.
This season however, Guice has started five games for Fournette who dealt with an ankle injury all season. In replacement duty, Guice has rushed for 764 yards and 10 touchdowns and in LSU’s season finale, the Baton Rouge native ran for 285 yards, a LSU single-game record.
Guice capped off the 2016 season rushing 139 yards and a touchdown and being named Citrus Bowl MVP.
“LSU is RBU,” Guice said. “When one man goes down, you’ve got to step up, and I feel like I’ve done a great job of stepping up this year. The linemen did a great job of helping me step up. And Coach [Jabbar] Juluke does a great job. He’s developed with me all year with the position drills we do, him always telling me, be patient, slow, too fast through the hole, and just me being able to set things up.”
Guice ends the year with 1,387 yards rushing, joining Fournette (1,973, 2015), Charles Alexander (1,686, 1977) and Jeremy Hill (1,401, 2013) as the only LSU running backs to rush for more 1,300 yards in a season.
