Greg McElroy shares one key question for LSU

On3 imageby:On3 Staff Report03/18/23

LSU far surpassed most peoples’ expectations in Brian Kelly‘s first year as head coach, but can the Tigers repeat as SEC West champs? ESPN analyst Greg McElroy says there’s one key question for LSU when it comes to a repeat title bid.

Depth.

“We know that there is not going to be a whole lot of issues as it relates to the talent on the roster,” McElroy said recently on the ESPN College Football channel on YouTube. “We know that. But still going to be very interested to see the depth on the roster, because this team last year at times was pretty danged thin.”

To that end, LSU has attempted to shore up the roster heavily with some major transfer portal additions.

They’ve loaded up especially on the defensive side of the ball, where the Tigers were let down at times by a lack of quality depth en route to Atlanta.

McElroy pointed out some of the transfers he’s monitoring for an impact.

“Look how aggressive they got going out into the portal and trying to bring in key difference-makers on both sides of the ball,” he said. “You go get a big-time defensive transfer from Oregon State in Omar Speights. You go and get quality defensive back additions in Denver Harris, JK Johnson, Darian Chestnut and Zy Alexander.”

How much will those guys be able to contribute is a key question for LSU, but the answer is potentially quite a bit.

“You clearly recognize that your back seven defensively is not up to the standard that we’ve come to expect from LSU, so you’ve made it a huge priority,” McElroy said. “You get Denver Harris from Texas A&M. He’ll likely lock down at least one of the corner spots, you would assume. You go and get Deuce Chestnut from Syracuse. You go and get JK Johnson from Ohio State. And you go and get Zy Alexander from Southeastern Louisiana.

“That’s four guys to fill two spots, maybe three, depending on how you want to align in your base down and distance defensively. I think you’re probably going to be in nickel most of the time just looking at how things are. So you need three quality corners, you go out and you got four and they add that to a pool of already pretty decent corners. Not elite, but decent corners that contributed last year as underclassmen.”

McElroy also pointed out a few defensive additions the Tigers made at other spots: linebacker Ovie Oghoufo from Texas, defensive lineman Jordan Jefferson from West Virginia, edge rusher Bradyn Swinson from Oregon, defensive tackle Jalen Lee from Florida and edge rusher Paris Shand from Arizona.

That’s a lot of potential talent coming out of the transfer portal. The key question for LSU: How much will those players contribute?

“They were very aggressive in going out and making sure that they added key positions in the portal — 11 to be exact — that might be able to become Day 1 starters,” McElroy said. “Very impressed with what they did already.”