LSU's Brian Kelly talks latest fall camp position battles, key pieces returning

As LSU’s opener against Florida State draws closer, the Tigers are just about ready to start installing a game plan. Coach Brian Kelly met with the media to talk about the upcoming matchup, season opener, latest position battles and the return of some injured pieces.

Here were some takeaways from Kelly’s press conference Tuesday night.

Latest on some of the most interesting position battles before the 2023 season

When Sage Ryan started to take reps at outside corner during fall camp, it instantly became a noteworthy move. Flash forward just several days and the prospects of the Tigers’ third year defensive back making the switch to that position has become a reality.

Since safety Greg Brooks returned from a minor spout of vertigo, he’s taken over the nickel corner reps while Major Burns and Andre Sam have been the two safeties. That left a question as to how could the Tigers fit Ryan, who has made great strides in his game this offseason, back into the secondary?

The answer was cornerback and he’s been a mainstay at the position ever since, even running with the first team defense during the scrimmage.

“He has elite speed, someone who can run in the high 21 [mph] range so he’s got the skill to have the kind of speed to play out there,” Kelly said. “The second thing is experience which is the one thing we’re calling for at that spot and I think the third is he’s a pretty smart football player. He puts himself in pretty good positions.

“One thing we’re really concerned about is making sure we tackle the football and having a great tackler out there, Sage has been a really steady tackler. He brings a lot of those traits to that position and gives us flexibility to put a guy out there in a position to help us.”

Duce Chestnut will likely continue to rotate in but there is some real belief now in a core group of six veteran players who can help LSU turn a concern entering camp a few weeks ago into a much more reliable unit.

The other interesting development that transpired towards the end of the viewing portion of fall camp was the Tigers’ willingness to insert freshman five-star tackle Zalance Heard in the starting rotation for several reps.

Heard found his way at right tackle on a few series during the scrimmage, with Emery Jones sliding in at guard. That’s always been a fascinating topic of conversation this offseason but to now see it coming to fruition this close to the opener adds a layer of intrigue.

“He certainly has developed an understanding of the offense from terminology to technique. Now he’s going up against Saivion Jones and some pretty impressive football players so that’s a whole new thing,” Kelly said. “The rigors of that each and every day, he’s going through a lot of that. He’s a guy we’re giving reps to. We’ve gotta find the best five guys then the next is the sixth so he’s in the mix and out there competing hard.”

Tigers turning a corner health wise with a number of key pieces back at practice

To this point, it’s been pretty difficult to get a good gauge of where this running back room is because of the banged up pieces that have been working their way back into the mix. But as the opener nears, the Tigers are starting to return to full form.

Logan Diggs, Josh Williams and Armoni Goodwin all practiced on Tuesday, giving the Tigers their full allotment of running backs for the first time since the early part of fall camp. This is a key development as Kelly’s long standing belief has been that those experienced veterans will eventually rise to the top and handle the bulk of the backfield duties.

But in their absence, it’s been freshman Kaleb Jackson who has generated a lot of buzz in recent days because of his scrimmage performance. While the program is excited about his long term future, Kelly did say there’s work to be done for Jackson.

“He had a good day but I’ve seen this way too many times. We tend to overreact to these kind of situations. Was that a product of bad tackling or was that great running? Maybe it was a little bit of both,” Kelly said. “Let’s not take anything away from the kid, he’s done a really good job but there are other facets he’ll have to continue to work on. We are really excited about his future.”

Cornerback Sage Ryan was also back out at practice after suffering what Brian Kelly called a ‘stinger’ during the scrimmage on Saturday.

Barring anything unforeseen over the next handful of practices, LSU should be entering its matchup with Florida State in great shape health wise.

When does LSU prep for Florida State begin?

Having extra time to prepare for the Seminoles will be of great benefit to Kelly and the Tigers but the program hasn’t leaned into that work quite yet.

“Today and tomorrow we’ll do a little bit of Florida State but we’re not fully into Florida State practice. I’d say Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I think when you break down preparation, I look at a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in season and we’ll do that twice,” Kelly said. “We’ve got plenty of time.”

Kelly talked about how beneficial the scrimmage on Saturday was for this team in figuring out who they can and can’t rely on during that first game against the Seminoles.

“What we were looking for was who are the guys that need to be developed to be guys to count on? Who are the guys that are not ready to be counted on yet that need more time to develop. It was much more in that fashion. This was much more about defensively who else can we get on the field at the JACK position? Is Whit Weeks getting closer to playing? Can Stamps hold up at corner? All of those became positives for us.”