Presser Notes: Brian Kelly's key quotes on Tuesday evening
LSU head coach Brian Kelly took the podium on Tuesday evening after practice to meet with the media about some of the key questions regarding his team. The media no longer has access to watch and report on practices, so Kelly’s assessments hold even more weight now as the season approaches.
Here’s what Kelly said and some thoughts on the topics at hand.
Injury update
Brian Kelly said that the three running backs that have been limited over the past 10 days or so all were a full go for the first time. That’s Josh Williams, Logan Diggs, and Armoni Goodwin. Kelly said they had their full stable of backs today.
Kelly says Sage Ryan practiced today and is good to go. Called his injury in the scrimmage a “stinger”.
Overall, great news from Kelly today on some key players. If we assume Mason Lunsford is also good to go, that significantly trims down the potential injury report less than two weeks before kickoff.
Sage Ryan playing corner
Brian Kelly: “He has elite speed to play out there. The second thing is experience. The third is he’s a smart football player and he puts himself in a good position. One thing we’re concerned about is tackling and having a great tackler out there, Sage has been a really steady tackler for us.”
We saw Ryan get reps at boundary corner in the scrimmage and this was a great look into what the coaching staff sees in him and his ability to make the switch. This is certainly a newer development with us talking to Ryan earlier in camp and him saying he was comfortable at Nickel this season. We also didn’t see him at corner at all in the first two weeks of camp before the scrimmage. Will be interesting to see if he locks down the starting job.
Kaleb Jackson
Brian Kelly: “He had a good day, but we tend to overreact to these kind of situations. Was that a product of bad tackling or was that great running? Let’s not take anything away from the kid, he’s done a really good job, but there are other facets that he’s going to have to continue to work on. We are really excited about his future here, but there’s clearly more work to be done.”
Everyone saw Jackson break two big touchdowns in the scrimmage on Saturday, but as we reported throughout fall camp, he was highly erratic, fumbling the ball, dropping easy passes that led to interceptions, and overall having a lot to learn in a crowded room. Everyone can see that Jackson is talented and will be a major player for LSU for years to come, but breaking through this year in a room that has this many known commodities is asking too much based on what Kelly is saying.
Zalance Heard
Brian Kelly: “He certainly has developed from an understanding of the offense and technique. It’s college football, there were guys last year where it was a mismatch most of the time. Now he’s going against Saivion Jones and college football players and that’s a whole different thing for him to deal with and the rigors of that. Is he pushing for a starting position? He’s a guy that we’re giving reps to. We have to find the best five guys, then the next is the sixth and seventh and he’s in the mix. He’s out there competing hard.”
Heard got starting tackle reps in the scrimmage and now Kelly talks about giving him reps as a starter with the season approaching. It’s hard to say that he’s going to start week one, but they’ll continue to give him opportunities to prove himself because he has the potential to be a star. He’s the highest rated recruit in the offensive line room for a reason.
No. 7 and 18
“We’ve given it great thought and it’s something we know people are anticipating. I would say by the end of this week, we’ll have some kind of announcement.
Fans have been wondering if this was going to happen and Kelly gives a hard timeline. I think all options are still on the table. He’s big on upholding tradition, but it’s important he gives the numbers to the right players. It will be interesting to see what he decides.
Kelly has said before that 18 is for the team leader and 7 is for the best player out of Louisiana.
