Brian Kelly reveals LSU freshmen that stood out in winter conditioning

LSU is coming off a fantastic first season under new coach Brian Kelly, with the Tigers winning 10 games and making an appearance in the SEC Championship Game after winning the SEC West. Even freshmen made an impact.

And that was with a somewhat limited roster.

Now Kelly has had a full year to recruit some players who can begin to chip in early and help fill some depth holes on the roster that were apparent last year, even during LSU’s successful run.

Joining The Hard Count with JD PicKell, Kelly discussed a few of the freshmen in the trenches he’s already been impressed with in limited time.

“I think some of our freshman defensive linemen came in and were pretty impressive,” Kelly said on the show. “You know, you never know — defensive lineman, it’s one of those things that they certainly have the measurables but how are they going to stack up? Jaxon Howard, Da’Shawn Womack, both of those guys early on, have the look that they have certainly the ability to compete right away.”

LSU has one key building block to work on defensively, with linebacker Harold Perkins emerging as one of the nation’s best as a true freshman. Is there another in this year’s freshman class?

“We’ll see here over the next couple of weeks in spring practice when we put the pads on, but they certainly have a look,” Kelly said.

LSU has some promising freshmen

Along with the defensive linemen, Kelly pointed out a couple of the defensive backs that LSU brought in with this recruiting class have a chance to make a major impact.

He listed a couple for PicKell.

“Javien Toviano as a defensive back certainly has that athletic ability in the way he handles himself,” Kelly said. “I think (Ryan) Yaites, the defensive back from Texas, these guys are elite athletes, and you can see it in their confidence level is really high.”

As LSU gets going in spring practice, Kelly will have the chance to observe further and develop a more sound opinion.

But those names are the ones to watch.

“Those guys really kind of stand out to me from a defensive perspective,” Kelly said. “They have a chance to come in and at least show themselves in the spring so we can evaluate them clearly as to whether they’re ready to play or not.”