One of the biggest question marks heading into LSU football vs. Alabama has been the Tiger secondary and who would be available. Today, coach Brian Kelly addressed this concern and gave a less-than-ideal report. However, despite the lack of availability, he sounds confident in the freshmen who will need to step up.
Coach Brian Kelly has less than ideal availability report on the LSU football secondary
Entering the 2023 college football season, LSU football had plenty of question marks surrounding its secondary. Now, as we enter week 10, those concerns haven’t exactly been solved in large part due to a significant lack of availability.
Ahead of their game vs. Alabama, the four transfer portal cornerback additions they gained in the offseason will all be unavailable.
Sophomore JK Johnson suffered a season-ending injury before week one, while junior Zy Alexander found himself injured vs. Army. Additionally, junior Duce Chestnut and sophomore Denver Harris have been unavailable for an extended period of time.
Now, heading into their most important game of the year, not much has changed on that front.
“Duce is not available. Denver’s not available. Zy is not available. Ashton Stamps will practice today,” coach Brian Kelly told the media Monday regarding availability.
With so many pieces being ruled out for this weekend, the Tiger secondary could see plenty of new faces, primarily among their group of freshmen.
Several freshmen defensive backs could see plenty of snaps vs. Alabama
One of the main reasons coach Brian Kelly went so hard after defensive back in the transfer portal is because of an overwhelming lack of depth at the position, primarily at cornerback.
However, with today’s update on inactive players, depth concerns could be at an all-time high. This means the LSU football will likely roll out several freshmen to guard the Alabama wide receivers.
While this might initially sound daunting, coach Brian Kelly emphasized his confidence in the group.
“They’ve been around long enough now,” Kelly said about his freshmen in the secondary. “I think you’re into the season now, eight games; they had some time here in camp and we had some mid-year enrollment. So, to say that they’re inexperienced – yes, they haven’t played a lot of SEC games, but they know what they’re doing. They understand our techniques; they know what’s expected of them.”
“We’re in a position where we feel comfortable and confident that they can go out and get the job done. Even though they don’t have a lot of SEC games underneath their belt, they’re quite capable of going out there and playing at a high level.”
Lack of SEC experience could be a big issue, but luckily for the Tigers, the Alabama passing game hasn’t exactly been at the level we might typically see from the Crimson Tide.
“I’d say more than anything else, you have to have confidence in your players and their ability to do it,” Kelly continued. “And I’ve got confidence that – whether it’s Jeremiah Hughes, or Javien Toviano, Ashton Stamps – all three of those freshmen can go out and play at the level necessary to win a championship.”
Freshmen or not, the LSU football secondary will likely have its hands full on Saturday. Not only will they be tasked with slowing down the Alabama offense, but staying healthy is a must.
For now, though, coach Brian Kelly sounds confident. We’ll have to wait until this weekend to see how it inevitably plays out.
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