LSU football will be down a handful of key players for its biggest test of the season against Alabama.
Starting defensive tackle Mekhi Wingo and starting corner Zy Alexander were the two biggest names, both of whom were on the injury report during the bye week.
Kelly said Wingo had surgery for what he earlier called a lower body injury. The expected recover time is six weeks, which would cause him to miss the rest of the regular season. A return for a bowl game is possible, and Wingo said as much in a post on X (formerly twitter).
Alexander’s injury came during the Army game, and Kelly confirmed Monday that Alexander will miss the Alabama game and could be out for a significant period of time.
His injury is another massive blow to the LSU secondary. Along with Alexander’s injury, Kelly said Denver Harris and Duce Chestnut are also both inactive for the Alabama game.
With those three out, and JK Johnson still recovering from an injury sustained before the season, LSU is without all four of its transfer corners that it signed during the offseason.
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Without those four, LSU will likely rely on its freshmen. Jeremiah Hughes, Javien Toviano and Ashton Stamps were the names Kelly mentioned that will fill in alongside Sage Ryan who started at corner next to Alexander.
“All three of those freshmen could go out and play at the level necessary for us to win a championship,” Kelly said. “We have good players that will step up and be ready to play and will play it at a high level.”