Spring practice viewing takeaways! Early standouts & a new depth chart

hello everybody and welcome to another edition of the Bengal tiger podcast I'm Matthew bruny and join me once again is Shay Dixon Shay how are you doing today March 25th uh 11:40 am roughly yes 11:40 am March 25th one day after Matty B's birthday everybody wish matd b a happy birthday he's 22 now a young buck graduated college while he was still in high school little than 22 but yeah I'll take it take it as long as I can get away with being young we're we're we'll be young we'll hang out with older people like me and then you are younger by default you're the young person um a couple housekeeping notes it's yes Matthew's birthday by all we'll extend it till today as well so happy birthday to Matthew uh and things that Matthew loves uh basketball um aou season it's in full swing Matty B is back uh out there in BR coaching Red Storm for those of you that in the red storm organization or play against them keep an eye out on the sidelines the man's got a clipboard are you got a clipboard what are you doing on the sidelines I mean yeah we do I have clipboard um I'm mostly or not mostly but a lot of uh what I do is I I do the sub so I'm an assistant I I do I do the subbing because the head coach I didn't lead with head coach I that that was understand you outed yourself there I was going to leave it to their imagination no the head coach likes focusing on the game and I'm I'm the I'm the obviously I give him feedback and whatnot stuff but uh yeah a lot of mind the sub substituting which is hectic when you try to play everybody you know in a setting and competitive games well nobody wants to come out exactly yeah so do they come out yeah they they come out they come out just just gota gota encourage them gota and they're they're ninth graders so you gotta you know deal with all the emotions of being a ninth grader are you the Bob starky to Kim mili exactly it's exactly what I am exactly one of the most respected coaches in the history of women's basketball and I'm and not but starky uh that is Matthew B on the local baton R A you scene uh more things that Matthew loves the women made the sweet 16 how about that Matty B you called it Middle Tennessee State would beat Louisville then LSU would beat Middle Tennessee State that played out uh it was close for a little bit and until the second half it was close uh but boy did LSU not just absolutely pour it on them the PAC was rocking they won by nearly 30 and they will head uh to the Sweet 16 and we're recording this on Monday so uh UCLA and kraton I believe right play tonight yeah and uh UCLA a two seed uh if they win that'll obviously be a tough matchup if they lose it'll be a another lower seated team that LSU gets to face um and wrapping up with Matthew really loves basketball obviously as his uh true passion the Spurs uh last time we gave an update were second to last in the NBA they have moved up to third uh if we erase div you know conferences completely they are now better uh than both the Pistons and the Wizards overall so yes uh at least you've got that going for you um and you get a lot of run uh each night on Sports Center and everything because it's wmy time every time you play exactly yes thank you for for the full rundown of Future's bright Future's bright in San Antonio and he's wearing the Bengal tiger hat today for those not watching on YouTube shout out to a number of folks at the basketball games over the past week that I saw wearing them uh Trav number of others uh I spotted in their Bengal tiger Founders Club hat so shout out to them uh okay happy birthday matd B uh before your birthday we went out and watched practice there will be 15 practices this spring for LSU football two of them Brian Kelly's letting us watch the entirety of practice so we were out there on Saturday um matd B did a good story on the depth chart defensively because that's what a lot of people care about all the way to the three deep uh gives you kind of a feel for what they have um strong at some positions kind of thinner at others um but we'll roll through some of that today and then uh I did kind of a recap piece of what I saw but we can kick it off kind of wherever you want Matty B birthday boy um what side of the ball shall we start we can start on defense because that's like you said that's where I did my full three deep on and I think that's where I spent a lot of my focus throughout that practice watching and I I don't know if that's intentional or if that's just kind of where I'm more interested going into the year obviously full coaching change uh the the Personnel changes the players you lost and the talent that they have um but yeah defense is where where I want to start I think for those who didn't go look at my depth TR piece I like I said three deep usually it's a two deep but they did full first unit second unit third unit now you know some of those players went in and out with other units and whatnot but this is at this point as good as you're going to get for a three deep on defense and the the starters were were not a surprise right it was what we expected Savon Jacobian Jaylen Lee bradden Swinson Pinn Perkins Burns now Burns at the star position we'll talk about but Toano stamps Gilbert and Sage Ryan at safety so I think like the starting lineup in itself those 11 is not a surprise the biggest surprise to me and I think to us was watching that 1111 seen major Burns drop down either in the box or at the nickel spot and where he's playing that star position which I described as like a a really aggressive nickel almost um not quite a Sam but like a really aggressive nickel and Stage dropping back to safety so I think that's where we start with kind of when looking at practice being like all right that is something tangible that Blake Baker gets in what is this practice four five for them already trying to shake shake things up and looking at Sage Ryan as like hey you know you may you may not be suited for this St position because you have to be a little you know a little bigger but major checks that box and Sage you can drop back and lo and behold Sage Ryan had ends the day with three interceptions and um you know was I guess the standout uh on the day definitely I mean Sage getting a few picks uh I thought those were what you mentioned were the two notable things look people are at were saying what are they going to do with major Burns he was a liability a year ago all of this stuff I said it on the Pod before and I've said it on the site um outside of Greg Pinn um nobody has started more games on defense for LSU than major Burns so when you're facing issues like LSU is and I'll give my thoughts here in a second um from sort of a you know a thousand foot view here but on the ground they really do they don't have a ton of options right Matty B you don't yes you hired five new coaches I'll talk about this in a second but a lot of the players are the same so benching your most experienced player in the secondary when the secondary is your worst kind of worst performing unit doesn't seem like the route to go now what Blake Baker the new DC has done and probably with the assistance from the secondary staff Cory Raymond Jake Olson has moved major Burns from safety down to this star position which we kind of view it as a uh if you will an extra defensive back who moves down further closer to the line of the scrim line of scrimmage and from talking to people close to Major this is something he's comfortable with it gives him a little more freedom he's not that last guy line of defense for him and he seems comfortable in that role and it's twofold in a good way mat be right because yes a Dyan had some picks in practice that's great more importantly I think and I don't think I know and I think everyone can agree natural position is safety they had played him at nickel that's fine when he had to be their starting cornerback he's truly out of position so I really like that he's back at safety playing with Jordan Gilbert A&M transfer who played at U High here on campus uh I like both those guys the move from Burns to nickel or as you said the star roll um was the most notable thing because we can go over the corners they have a lot of them right now and they're sort of working through the group but at safety we have a good feel that those three guys Gilbert major and Sage who are all veterans all older guys are going to be your main pieces right I mean we saw a year ago they played two safeties every snap of every game major Burns and Andre Sam never left the field really I mean Ryan Yates would play a little Jordan Allen would play a little kylin Jackson at the end played a little but it was nothing that took them off the field now I feel like we're in a maybe similar spot potentially see more rotation but we know the three the three safeties or two safeties and nickel are those guys yeah the to your point Burns and Sam I believe led the team in snaps last year on defense it was like 750 or so oh it was a ridiculous number yeah um so I think that uh you're you're correct in that Ryan and Gilbert when you think of both of them I personally I think of coverage guys and maybe not man coverage guys but more like you said Zone uh and I think we saw it in practice with the interceptions that Sage did have a lot of them were kind of just playing his Zone one of them was um NM threw a deep ball and the wind held it up you know a few yards and he was in position as a safety to go over and make a play on it so um that's where you hope Sage Ryan when he sees the field he can read and react he can show off that athleticism that made him a festar prospect um that safety ability and I think you know last year Brian Kelly talked about a lot he was a good tackler so major struggled in that area so maybe if you get him closer to the line of scrimmage you take away some of the you know build up to where you have like a five yard running Head Start and then trying to make a tackle if you're just already on the ball kind of maybe you're a little bit more um a Adept to making those plays um at the end of the day I think Burns needed some sort of shakeup and this could be a really really good change of scenery for him so I think that's good starting point start with the safeties and the nickel and that um change if we do want to jump to Corner real quick my biggest takeway wasn't even on the field and I will say too Jordan Jordan would be viewed as your Gilbert who came from A&M but a baton rou have played at U High uh really LSU should have gotten him out of high school they kind of slow played that uh but he'd be your box safety um he's the big physical presence and you see him in uniform he's cut down weight I had heard he was over like pushing 210 and now he's kind of riding 200 if not under but you see he's really muscled up so he's your physical Presence at safety no doubt yeah um at corner the biggest takeaway for me was Brian Kelly kind of being real non-committal which isn't a bad thing but him being like Hey we're going to need we're going to need three four five corners here uh even going like he said even going to the fall we're going to need all these guys to play we're going to be we're going to be a sum of our we're going to be better than the sum of our parts or I forget how that saying goes but we're going to have to need everybody here to play their role and to come in and I think while that is concerning I think everybody understands the situation they're at at quarterback they're not they don't have high high level Talent right now JV and Toano and Ashton stamps are getting the starting spots Jer Brown PJ Woodland JK Johnson Jeremiah Hughes are working in behind them um what I mean what do you think about this this quarterback room right now anything from Spring ball that you can take take away I think both of them are kind of still you know adjusting to Cory Raymond I think when you've been coaching for a head coach for 30 plus years like Brian Kelly uh you don't have it in you to lie about anything anymore you sort of just tell the truth remember last summer at SEC media days when he was asked what's your confidence level in your cornerbacks and they had signed Denver Harris and dece Chestnut and yeah four transfer Corners yeah and then they were going to have these young guys that were really moving positions to play Corner we like you said stamps toiano we saw the Freshman play and he honestly said I have he didn't say oh we're going to be better or you know I have high hopes he said I have no idea I have no clue you we don't we won't know until we get into the season and get a feel for it and that was fair because when we got to the season Denver disappears Deuce doesn't ever play after game one zy gets hurt JK got hurt in Camp and you're relying on freshmen who then were learning on the run so you didn't know what was to come in a variety of ways I feel like this year they do know what they have it's a combination of a getting guys healthy Z Alexander uh is a guy they expect back for summer workouts and he transferred in from South Eastern a year ago if you'll remember he started at corner all the way up until he got injured now he's trying to get back from that knee injury he was out there excuse me working off to the side but it's good to see just doing some kind of like one you know just drill work by himself but I think that JK one of the Ohio State transfers working through a little bit of a hamstring injury he'll be fine he was out there but I think that's why PJ Woodland sort of stepped in the true freshman early and rolly to second team reps it's clear to me though and we'll see look Jer Brown I've been told they have high hopes for but and we watch practice Cory Raymond after every rep is yelling at every corner about technique and I think Jer Brown's just got to learn what they want from him here to become a viable option I want to pencil zy back in as a starter but he's not healthy right now so let's talk about just spring I have tons of faith in Ashton stamps I love J jav and Toano my worry with Toano is the same with sage Ryan in a way his natural position is safety and you're playing in a MC Corner because you still don't have enough options yet or at least you want to keep him in that mix he's doing well enough he's developing that you feel good about it but I've everyone knows I've been Skyhigh on stamps forever I'm really intrigued to see how far Toano from freshman to sophomore year can come because I think he's an unbelievable football player I just think if you're picking a position for him the natural position safety given they have starters there already I think they feel like well we might as well keep him at corner because he's getting first team reps there too yeah exactly um I don't I don't have anything else on the quarterback spot I think JK I think that quarterback we don't know anything till fall I mean fall Camp really and then we'll get a feel exactly exactly um to round out this the safeties real quick Jordan Allen Joel Rogers um backed up Jordan Gilbert and kylin Jackson and deshun McBride backed up Sage Ryan um deshaan McBride I thought moved moved really well like in in in space like in the snaps that he got on third team it looked like he was comfortable and I think that is a um that can go a long way for him I don't know if he'll contribute this year but I'm I feel better about him seeing him in person he's real still really thin but um he definitely he's a big kid though Paul Ry I mean he set Denim Springs interception record as a junior for a single season so you know he's got ball skills anyone over there would tell you that it's the Willing tackler that he needs to be better at and that's most kids who are making the jump from high school to college so that comes with time but uh high hopes for him you've always loved kylin Jackson he's a big physical presence back there so in the post Gilbert Ryan Burns era I do think they are lining up well at safety um with guys like this Rogers McBride kylin Jackson Jordan Allen's been on the team um more so than corner I feel like they've got like a little natural transition setup Corner still sort of all up in the air of who could be out there and who couldn't be yeah all right let's move to the front seven or front six I guess in this matter uh we start with the linebacker spots Harold Perkin and Greg Pinn continue to kind of hold down that starting linebacker role and then the weeks Brothers right behind them and then Devon Keys got some work in there and Christian breath weight on the third team so I don't think personally just from watching practice I'm able to discern how much progress Harold Perkins is making but I'll tell you this Blake Baker is working his butt off trying to help him um so I I'm really excited to see maybe in the spring game and then obviously in the fall what H looks like in when the bullets start flying a little bit more because Blake Baker is is working his tail off to try to get Herold where he needs to be which which is a great sign um pin you know West and I think maybe even weeks to a degree probably have or definitely have a better understanding of what they're trying to do um even though it is a different defense and Greg Penn talked about that in his um interview this week but Perkins it's been a lot of Hands-On work from Blake Baker so far that's my takeaway yeah I don't know like it's I think it's going to be an all offseason thing uh look Blake Baker is a he's a DC and a linebackers coach who wears cleats to practice like he is all in on mess up a drill I'll show you how to do the bag drill you know a former two-lane player uh like I said I want to see some Blake Baker two-lane college highlights I'll have to dig them up somehow uh but Baker is uh I feel good about this group like at linebacker especially with two of them you're not getting you're not playing like six linebackers a game so I feel very good about the four that they have in Perkins pin pin made some good plays in practice Pinn will lead the team in tackles again and then uh the weeks Brothers backing them up I think Whit makes a big jump from year one to year two he's talked about about that so I feel very good about that group I feel the best about the linebackers than I do any position group on defense and it's because they were already in a good spot here's my thing with Perkins any LSU fans were like this whole like well the first year he was all over the place as an edge rusher and then he disappeared at times in year two even though the stats looked similar just watching games it felt like there were stretches he disappeared Blake Baker is coming back to a school where he coached two years ago he recruited Harold Perkins he was in a conference watching Harold Perkins go wild out there and then gets brought in as the DC for me Matty B the worry level is very low that he won't figure out how to make Perkins an impact player and I say that not just because he's a very good coach who has shown that he can make very talented linebackers into really game changers but he's a smart enough coach to where he's taken over a roster and it's like all right play defense well one of your players is Herb Jones like you're not going to ignore him and just like brush him off to the side and not put everything you can into saying how do we make this guy the star of the defense and that's where I'm at with Blake Baker right now I think he this offseason is in that mindset of all right he's the best defender on this team raw talent-wise how do I get him to that next level uh I have little doubt uh that he will be productive this season to a point where it it's very noticeable it's not just showing up on the stat sheet but you're like man I don't even remember any big plays yeah Shay Dixon huge herb Jones fan Alabama grad I know but boy pel star and often underappreciated uh NBA Defensive snub Player of the Year snub first team snub you w you shay going you want to get Shay going ask him about Jones uh but yes I I unless you think differently I think that Blake Baker probably goes to bed at night thinking about how do I get Harold Perkins the best if there's anybody that can do what Harold's Perkins is attempting to do or maybe to help Harold get to the point that he needs to get to it's Blake Baker like and I I talked about this during the offseason like a lot of this is now on Herold a lot of this year three you have to go all out in film you have to go all out studying The Playbook you have to do all of this work because you don't have the benefit of wit weeks or Greg pin where you are naturally kind of an inside linebacker guy you have to do more than all of those guys before practice after practice with Coach Baker during practice and so a lot of it is on Herold and a lot of it's on uh coach Baker and I we'll see like I said spring game we'll see some fall Camp will'll see more and U but it is interesting to watch spring practices where Blake Baker is so handson with everything so yeah um defense you want to go interior first or uh do you want to go on the the edges uh you pick which one and and I'll start us out the edge is a lot more fun so let's start all right well let's rip the let's rip the Band-Aid off first let's talk about the interior um you asked which one and then you you went with the other yeah I'm going to choose the other it's not it's not your birthday anymore that was yesterday uh you did your three deep here and I'm looking at it uh on the interior of the D line um whether you're calling these guys tackles or nose tackles or whatever these are the two guys that are playing on your interior uh and starting Jacobian gillery and Jaylen Lee backed up by Shan Washington a juo sige and Preston hickey uh who transferred in from Oklahoma State uh two years ago or this past year uh coming out of the NorthShore in Louisiana and then you've got a Westgate s an early en rolly in demiran Johnson you've got an offensive line uh converted offensive lineman in Kim maol as a third string DT behind Lee and hickey and then you'll get some more guys this summer to campus including most notably a five-star sige a defensive tackle and Dominic McKinley but he will be a freshman um I'm not going to speak because we didn't see enough in two hours and we haven't seen enough practices yet to like truly where they're at and if this is like a de like so desperate or they actually like some of these guys but I can just look at this list and I don't know let me Google Jacobian gillery real quick uh Jacobian gillery LSU I don't believe he made uh any starts this past year because Mason and maai maybe you made one or two um it would be a surprise to me I don't think so three career starts uh so I'm looking at a group of six guys uh for two positions and you've got two career starts at LS in the group okay Beyond talent beyond dep depth is what I'm speaking of but beyond any of that simply experience isn't there like yeah Jaylen Lee is an older guy went to Florida and came back to LSU and Washington was on a Georgia team that won a national championship but he was a freshman he red shirted and then he played Joo ball like Giller is the only guy who's been at LSU and started games in three three starts so just watching I mean out at practice Mason Smith and maai wingo were out there watching you lose that production and what you have coming up is three starts between six guys uh some of them being freshman some of them one of them being a converted o lineman I think it's just becoming more and more evident Matty B that even with the arrival of McKinley this summer all that two defensive tackles maybe out of the portal this spring would not surprise me uh and we've got a story up now with interview with one of the tackles there after um out of the transfer portal uh you can check that out he's coming from Indiana spoke highly of LSU's got a visit lined up um but just thinking of that Matty B when I say all right you've got two tackle positions your entire depth chart out there for spring and I'm counting three total starts coming from really a guy who's been a career backup they need more experience than that so spring portal window craziness if it's going to affect l it's going after DTS yeah especially I I think you know Gabriel leford right now is a defensive end to them right now um I don't I watch like I watched the defensive tackle spots he I don't I didn't see him get worked in there maybe I missed him but um He's listed on the roster as a defensive end I think his height and weight you know kind of scream defensive end right now at this point in his career not saying he can't move inside at some point but um early and rol during spring I think a lot of it is going to be getting him in motion you know figuring out where he's best where he wants to play where he can play and you know getting eyes on him so yeah the defensive tackle position was jarring um and Ahad bro Ahad bro out of Rustin um State title team uh coming off the best defense in the state arguably uh is also a guy that they kind of moved inside and said that maybe he would play there so they're trying to find depth for bro I've seen it kind of both I've seen do some inside but then I see him on the edge in some drill work I think in the 20 minute uh sections we saw so it's kind of just it's all it's all over the place right now especially with those those two like I said McKinley will will help but at this moment there's just not enough I mean there's not enough on this defensive tackle in this defens Tackle Spot to to have any faith really I do think I will say this Jacobian gillery in one-on ones had a few really strong reps we know how strong he is and sometimes in one-on ones that kind of just overwhelms the other person especially when he's not going against starters like you know Frasier or Jones or whoever uh sometimes the the strength is really really impressive um so I wrote about that in in the the story Shan Washington Sean Washington I think also has shown flashes so those two are probably the best two defense tackles to me now Jaylen Lee is more of like a nose can you know kind of plug the run a little little bit more um so that's you know when you talk about him and Kemo and Preston hickey like that's their job will just be to eat blocks but you still need more production you still need more experience you still need more bodies you need better players like this is a massive massive concern I think going into um at least and look guys like Lee will get F and and gillary but they'll get first team reps guys like hickey uh and Sean Washington getting second team reps a guy who moves over from the o line and moli is getting reps out there with third team they're putting him into the mix so at least these guys will have the spring to get a bunch of practice reps under their belt before you get to fall Camp potentially have the arrival of some transfers but also Dominick McKinley and the rest of your dline crop so it'll be interesting I think that's another one much like Corner we won't in Fall Camp we'll really get a feel for okay what what's the depth chart here like who do they really prefer um I think it's evident that the interior of the dline and Corner are two spots we have to wait and see on um that might not be the case for uh what would be your end spots or your end and your Edge rushers um Mat B Savon Jones started at dend a year ago backed up by Paris Shand you've got both them back plus you've got Dylan Carpenter going into year three uh and then at that edge spot you've got Braden Swinson who takes over for oia gofu and is probably better than a gofu in spots a year ago he's starting now backed up by deshun wac who is your fstar freshman from a year ago that certainly will have a bigger role in year two and then Jackson Howard son of a former first round pick in the NFL draft on the D line but uh a guy who they raved about in Spring drills or in um bull practice and then is now getting you know good work in the spring healthy uh should have a good year too so we could sit here and debate like I know people low on Savon Jones or didn't think he had a great year he should move inside he's not doing any of that and he's still getting first team reps like this is the same for me with like Greg pin or major Burns people will complain about it the reality is the coaches see something in them that's keeping them at first team and out there getting the Reps so will I be shocked if Paris Shand and a guy like or Jones and Shan maybe split you know like get a little more even reps no I mean and maybe that's a good thing um wac does he kind of get the Swinson feel of yes Swinson starts but W gets to come in or he plays on third down or whatever it might be sure I feel good about those spots and look reords back there uh they've got players there so um maybe I feel like at the end spot like I do with the linebackers uh the end and the edge of I'm not too worried about it I think they've got at least a couple players at each spot who have a combination of experience and are pretty good yeah I I agree I think the defensive in honestly it's pretty exciting uh like you said and then you get to the freshmen that are that are coming in uh that we like as well so uh Swinson wack looked good in spring camp um I think they're just so athletic off the edge um it is similar to like bjo jalari when you watched him and just how rangy and how athletic he was you get that feel with deshun wilck and Swinson and I I'm curious to see in this defense as we continue to watch you know spring and and fall how they're used whereas last year you know Jack linebackers you know that's that position where you had to play the the pass a little bit sometimes you had to guard a flag you had to take a a tight end out in you know five yards out like this is feels like a different position where they won't have as much um pass coverage responsibility which I like especially considering I think winon and wack are two premier pass rushers and I think they need to be in attack mode as much as possible so um yeah not not huge takeaways from them this spring but uh or at least not yet we'll see they still have another half of Spring ball to play but uh I I love this those two position groups defensive end and Edge I'll wrap up defense by saying this which I kind of hinted at the beginning of my overarching thoughts here and I wrote about it they finished outside the top 100 in pretty much every notable defensive Cate Total Defense scoring defense whatever you want to say Matty B A year ago and that's why they were so poor and lost three games um the offense finished number one in the country your defense finish outside the top 100 um one of the biggest disparities possible there's only what3 how many teams 133 132 133 so they finished 108 kind of in that range um in Total Defense so I looked at the numbers and I wrote about this they're not going to snap their fingers and have one of the best defenses in America because while you may have hired great coaches you still got to recruit you have to develop and you don't snap your fingers in overnight have a new roster like all these guys we just talked about the majority of which were on the team a year ago we saw them play we know what they bring to the table you hope that in your you know this next year in transition to a new staff that they make jump a year ago um when they finish out to the top 100 they gave up 416 yards per game I said I'd like to just see them get into the top 60 that would be giving up 372 yards a game top 50 is about 370 so cutting out 40 to 50 yards a game then in points per game they allowed 28 points per game last year that was 80th in the country top 50 is teams allowing 24 and fewer so can they shave off 40 to 50 yards a game and a field goal or four points yeah can you make that kind of jump because if you do you're going to be a top 60 defense in Total Defense and scoring and yes you won't have the number one offense but I don't think that falls off all that much we'll talk about offense in a minute but yeah is that possible I think that's the biggest question like yeah we can put every player under the microscope all that but can they as a unit shave off 50 yards a game and maybe a field goal yeah it's a good way of looking at it I like that laying it out like that for sure all right um uh offense which is um people care a lot less about it's so funny going through spring where people aren't talking about a quarterback battle or just what the offense looks like and I think it's because we've now seen they've had yes Jaden Daniels is amazing Heisman winner but the offense is a good one they transition from Den Brock to Sloan it looked fine in the bowl game for a you know really was a test run they come back and win the game yes you've got a new quarterback in nus meire but you look around the SEC I mean you're not facing 10 Heisman winners everywhere like nus m is a probably middle of the pack SEC quarterback right now who only has one start under his belt I mean they've got a backup in AJ Swan on the team who came in from Vanderbilt he's got double digit starts under his belt so no nus do have the experience but we've seen him enough to know what we're getting um look it was just one practice he had a u thrown into wind he had a ball picked off and then in situational work uh Sage jumped route and I was asking talking to some sources after about it and they said yeah that look it is on nus but in the reality when we do two-minute drill situational work every day every week often we're running a lot of the same stuff and Sage saw that we were running the exact same play that he had jumped a week ago didn't make the pick then he does so it is on nus obviously don't make that throw but at the same time that's the kind of stuff that happens when you're facing each other and it's scripted and you kind of already know what's coming I'm not really worried about nus um and I don't think really we have to dive too much into quarterbacks because in the two hours we got to see Colin Hurley wasn't out there much they gave the Reps to Ricky Collins and AJ Swan um I think AJ Swan is the backup to this team you don't take a guy with double digit SEC starts and not have him out there if something were to go wrong like nus Meer gets banged up that being said I thought Ricky made some good plays uh this when we got to watch him and uh did get some reps that I think he needs to further develop his game because that's where he's at right now he's raw he's still only a year in he's played one game ever and threw two passes that were incomplete he needs these reps in Spring and I think Sloan's given it to him like I don't think AJ Swan is as desperate for those reps no I think you laid it out well the nus M interceptions they kept putting the offense going against the wind and I was wondering why like even in one-onone drills and stuff and it was complet like the wind was blowing blowing like the little flags on the uprights were going conditions won't always be ideal Maddie you can't choose it in the game well you can at the coin flip but then you can't choose it from there um but yeah so the the one deep B like even the crazy catch that Lacy had which we'll talk about where he like came back and caught it it was because the throw was fine and then it just like stopped in midair and died and the same thing happened on one of Sage's interceptions one of them was tipped and one of them like you said was situational um jumped route so good for sage not worried about Garrett um at all there uh I think he's been really good from I thought he had a really good practice other than those like those plays uh yeah Ricky got a lot of snaps Ricky I honestly was impressed I think he's made progress AJ like you said doesn't need the Reps and I think at this moment and I think going into fall AJ will still be the backup and that will be the plan at least for the first few games of the season but Ricky I I I'm encouraged I'm encouraged because he looked to say he looked lost last year and every time we watched a practice that might be an understatement now you know March 25th about a year into being at LS you I I think he he's made real progress I don't know you know where his career takes him I don't know but it's good for him that he's made tangible progress and he's you know getting these type of reps uh oine might be one of the easiest ones to talk to uh talk about well outside of running back there's only two of them right now but o line they are so good they bring back four starters uh emry Jones has been a little bit limited but obviously it's not serious because he was in full pads doing individual work making contact doing sledg drill stuff but when they win 11 on 11 they let him rest and they put tyriek Adams in we've talked about Tyrie Adams on the board I mean people forget he was a borderline top 100 recruit coming out of high school it was just that he was a New Orleans kid and committed early and everyone was like oh well he was always going to go to LSU even though other SEC schools had offered it was a given but you start Will Campbell and Emy Jones and it's like oh you know you don't really think about Tyreek Adams well he's evidently been tearing it up as a back back up left tackle and now it's evident that he is their backup tackle because emry Jones not in there moved him to the right side and he played right tackle so um just a note there your back your backup tackle your first guy off the bench is Tyrie Adams right now but emry and Will Campbell will start you've obviously got uh Dinger and uh Frasier back at guard and then DJ Chester at Center who um we don't have to talk about much he's a red shirt freshman but he did get to play in some games last year year a really key stretch in the fourth quarter of Missouri on the road to come in and get the win there's Buzz Matty B but and you said this before that the o line could might be stronger than it was a year ago and that's not a knock on Charles Turner it's just DJ Chester is a good player and if he can settle in and get things rolling that they're going to be in a good spot like yes you replace one person and it's the center but they love DJ Chester well and he's just bigger and stronger like like he's Charles Turner was never a natural he got put there like DJ Chester knew coming in I'm probably going to be playing some Center so yeah like this is a big dude DJ Chester we knew that out of high school how big he was and strong he was and not fat I mean he's put together his legs are massive he's carries his weight well in the upper body strong um look he was a state champ uh in shot put and discus so you get kind of a feel for the punch he has coming out of George now year in the program so I love the o line I'm good there uh and running back uh they only have two of them right now Trey Holly obviously not with the team as he goes through uh his legal stuff so Caleb Jackson and Josh Williams are your scholarship running backs Josh Williams has been on the team forever Matty B we know what he does he's a three down back he's a vet he's never gonna he's never gonna mess it up for you in any way and he always seems to get three or four yards and he popped a few runs uh in practice uh whenever uh we watch on Saturday um but certainly this offseason I think is about getting Caleb Jackson up to speed more reps because boy as a true freshman you saw what he could do now in year two presumed starter right yeah well it's interesting and yeah I I I would pencil him as a starter um Josh Williams has gotten all like the starting reps yeah I think they'll split you know like I don't think it matters who really start I think Caleb Jackson will have more carries by the end of the season yeah I agree but just sticking on Spring right now I think my biggest offensive takeaway has been how much they've ran the ball when they do 11on 11 stuff and obviously we this was our first full practice but they ran the ball probably 70% of those snaps and I wasn't used to that because you know you can in a lot of ways in those 11on 11s like it's a it's a glorified seven on seven but you have you know all 11 players you have your blockers and whatnot um at least in the past few years that's what it had been this time they were running the ball at the defense's face and Sh up Brian Kelly afterwards was like yeah that's what we've been working on working on those Concepts working on getting our tackles more involved in the running game and how we can pull them how we can do Zone runs those the amount of times they ran the ball and worked on their run game and run blocking I that was my that's my biggest takeaway of the offense so far the they are committed to trying to figure out how can we maximize the Run game now with this new off I mean with the offensive line the same offensive line I should say um and pretty much the same running backs Josh Williams and Caleb Jackson and but we don't have jayen Daniels yes that's that's the key right that's that's what they've been working on and that's my biggest takeaway so far is how much they've they've been working on that and that's a positive because look Jaden was your running back basically for two years he was the one that led the team in rushing had the most carries all that with nus and I'm not even going to get yes nus M can run the football all that he's fast he's a pocket passer he's not he isn't a dual threat quarterback like Jaden is so for so long in those two years Maddie be people complained well Den Brock is not versatile enough in run packages like yeah when it comes to the Run game especially year one yeah of the Kelly era they couldn't run the football it got better as time went on and year two certainly but to see Joe Sloan and this offense committed out of the gates to saying let's shake up the Run game let's find all these kind of new ways to not not new ways to run the football but let's diversify how we're running the football and as you noted doing a lot of different stuff with offensive linemen and I think it obviously always starts there um and a big Focus as Brian Kelly says is not just Caleb Jackson or Josh Williams or Kaden Durham coming in or Trey Holly coming back it's what these 50 linemen can do with what they're asking him to do in the Run game now and it's going to be more than they asked them to do a year ago and two years ago when Jaden was your quarterback so I'm all for the focus this uh spring because I think that's where it's needed I don't think the passing game needs as much Focus as the Run game when it comes to just getting real practice reps so I like seeing that like hearing it from Brian Kelly um we know ends will be involved this year uh Mason Taylor had his best game of the year when nus Meer was a quarterback against Wisconsin and he will catch a million of those like five to seven yard outs where or even the ones where he just kind of comes in motion across the line of scrimmage and then you kind of either hand it off or you just kind of dump it out to him in the flat it's I think he's just going to Rack those up this year like not sit back and have to run all these deep routes like you can catch him quickly on plays yeah I think Mason's looked spry I mean talking to him this week you could tell how frustrated he was last year partially at his performance partially at his injury but then also I I think very bluntly after having the freshman year that he had to not be the focal point of the offense or or a focal point of the offense in any way maybe you know bothered him a little bit to that point to where it was hey we we have Malik and we have Brian and we have Jane Daniels and it was just like everything was them which obviously it worked they were a great offense but for him I think coming into last year he had expectations of being you know one of those guys and they just didn't need him and so this year they need him and he knows that and so now there was just a different like kind of edge about him when we talked to him in the in the interviews to where um I think he really wants this this year he wants to be to get however you know 50 catches or 45 catches for however many yards and be one of the best tight ends in the SEC and so uh I think he will be he's looked good his ankle was bothering him a little last year I think he's back from that m m marque's gotten all the second team reps now you know I think the obvious question for a lot of people is where's camoon pimpton he's on the I mean he's he's working he's he's working in there but I don't know how much farther like when will he take that jump you know if if and when he will take that jump is going to decide when he gets on the field because um at this moment I expected to see more of them utilizing him in the spring and he hasn't been on the field as much he got out he made a nice play in one-on-one drills to score and then uh yeah I mean kylin Jackson had to leave practice because they jwed each other and then uh decided to fight with helmets on which is always a brilliant strategy of swinging fists with guys wearing helmets but yeah uh they both had to have a cooling off period and didn't get to come back to the two-hour practice we saw do I think that Koran pimpton is going out there and catching 25 balls this year no but I do think that you're not signing a 66 and a half guy like him followed by Trey Des green a five star who is the exact same type of player catch radius out of this world to not use them in some capacity or not develop them and that'll be on slay Nagel the new tight ends coach who is an excellent tight ends coach and done it for a long time uh and this offensive staff Sloan and them to see hey Beyond marway and uh Mason Taylor what can we get from these guys and pimpton being the guy who's already been here a year that's the one you want to see step up so let's give him the offseason right like a then we get into year two he's a red shirt freshman or seconde player we'll see how he fares U not too worried about it there I do think Mason Taylor will eat the majority of the catches anyways and I have no problem with that but I am interested to see if they do get pimp and involved because I think he's really good player and then yeah does green do anything as a freshman I'm not sure because look a year ago yes pimpton didn't do anything as a freshman but as you noted neither did their starter in Mason Taylor because kind of Jaden just did it all so exactly with the need for more tight end do we see those guys maybe um but we won't judge it off of just one practice or we're not even Midway through spring ball yet or kind of almost hitting the Midway point I will say this though as we wrap up the Pod here receivers we've saved them till the end Matty B um talking to sources uh least shocking thing you'll probably hear Kiren Lacy is expected to be no doubt they starer like their number one receiver and finish the year with the most catches and the most yards multiple sources I've talked to have been around practices feel that way I'm not gonna argue that I'm not going to say I'm surprised by this maybe I'm surprised with the confidence level they speak with a lot of them are convinced now um across the board that Chris Hilton's the second best receiver on this team thoughts on that because you've got aavan Thomas coming in you've got a uh you know from Mississippi State and you've got a player in CJ CJ Daniels coming in from Liberty who went over a thousand yards and had double- digigit touchdowns last year only 11 players in college football did that Malik and Brian Thomas were two of them CJ Daniels was a third out of 11 I I'm just a little surprised to hear and maybe it's look CJ Will C be third on the team or whatever but with Chris Hilton healthy and having a strong off season I've never heard them have this much confidence in what he can do I I think I don't know if I said this before but it's almost like it's almost forced like his hand is forced at this point this is the year the the ocean is kind of paved for Chris Hilton here to get a lot of reps and especially in this spring to where you're healthy the two goliaths are gone you should be in the starting lineup or the starting rotation here CJ Daniels and zavon Thomas we know what they can do as receivers but they're transfers it's going to take time for hton to trust them they have to learn everything from route trees to to getting on the same page as nus Meer and so on like Daniels and Thomas not being first team I don't think is a surprise I think that's kind of what we've always expected as far as like transfers working their way in in Spring ball Hilton when I watch him in Spring practices he's incredibly athletic we know that he's incredibly fast I'm interested to see if he's ready to make the routine plays on a consistent basis um that's where Kiren Lacy kind of had to get to that point you know he was really athletic fast and everything it became down to him like Brian Kelly said taking on practice in a different different way be being able to do the routine routine things every single time I don't I don't know like Hon's looked good in practice he's super athletic he tries to make all the highlight plays I I just need to see it in I guess a game setting or and whatnot I but it it's not shocking that he's getting first team run but I just need to see it like sustain a little bit I need to see the routine things done on a consistent basis we know you can go up and make incredible grabs because you can jump 10 feet in the air and we know you're really fast but yo that's the thing everyone just thinks about him being a burner you got to remember this is a kid has a freshman at Zachary that won state in the high jump by going seven foot like jumps incredibly High just I mean we saw him make one play yeah we were watching I think it just went out of bounds but like they threw one to the corner and like the cornerback did everything in his power to try to jump up and like Chris doesn't even have to do like so effortlessly just jumps like two feet higher than the DB can even get so um yeah I I'm high faith in him here's the thing and they talked about it Brian Kelly talked about it last year only five receivers caught a pass and really it was the neighbors Thomas show with kind of a side dish of lacy Aaron Anderson caught a few passes Hilton caught a few passes this year they're going to have more than five guys catch passes because we just listed two that are presumed starters you got two transfers that are proven that's four I've talked to a number of sources and we've seen it in practices Aaron Anderson's catching the ball well and he's healthy that's five then you still got guys like Kyle Parker who are getting first team reps at times yeah as a red shirt freshman you've got ibett who's GNA come back from his injury you got Shelton Samson as a red shirt freshman in year two trying to make that jump to say all right I want to work my way into getting some playing time so I think they'll go a little bit deeper into the bag this year right like last year as you said we got neighbors Thomas and Lacy let's roll like we're good I think this year they'll test more out uh and that's a good thing they'll have more options um Parker getting first team reps I mean it it doesn't mean it like it was it was Lacy Parker and Anderson briefly and then they changed that I think to Lacy Hilton um Anderson or Thomas one those twoo like a lot of these guys are going to work in I don't know even if into the fall how set like the starting receivers are going to be to your point of them being more diverse like there are gonna be five guys that have like 25 receptions this year or something like that like it's I don't think it's going to be overwhelming Lacy will lead the team but the two through five on this team I think it's all going to be very very tight um Parker I am encouraged by watching him we all know how good he was out of high school but it was like where can he take that next step and I think he's starting to do that Shelton Samson has been a little bit underwhelming to me just watching practice we all know how like physically talented he is naturally gifted athlete naturally gifted athlete and he made and he had a touchdown uh reception down the near sideline when we were watching practice so like we know he can't can make plays kind of like Hilton to a degree but it's like you have to make make the routine plays every single time like you can't just have a spectacular play and then a drop you know or or you can't shake a corner and get separation you're not strong enough like Samson to me has still has work to do and like similar to pimpton like this is early this is they've been here for one year now um this is the fall Camp will tell us a lot more about these sophomores and they're not even technically sophomores yet but these sophmores uh than than spring camp so I think that runs everybody I I still think CJ Daniels is damn good like just watching him like he can play football I don't want to overlook how good he he can also he can route some people up I mean he was leaving some of the DBS and one-on-one drills kind of looking foolish off of you know goaline plays and stuff like that where he would just I mean he looked exactly how we expect a 22 23 year old to to look a transfer that had a thousand yards last year and look this is people are wondering zavon Thomas from State and CJ Daniels from Liberty your two transfer receivers getting second team reps should you be concerned no I think it's like any spring practice you get new guys in and you have guys who are already on the team and you have the same receivers coach he's gonna put those guys second and say watch what these guys do here's how we do it and then you know take it from there learn on the Fly uh as we go through these practices so I would have been shocked if they would have rolled out like a first team unit all spring of lacy and then the two transfers and not been like hey let's give the guy who are coming back the first team reps let's let these guys play catchup and I think that's what they're doing right now so a deep receiver room um but again boy people are Skyhigh right now uh on two returning guys in Lacy and Hilton uh even had one source uh say Market booket Shay Lacy will be a thousand yard receiver this year feels right okay that should happen I I I mean if anybody's I think I said 700 or something want on the Pod previously so now I mean if if he's going to be if we expect him to be the leading receiver I think the leading receiver at else you should even with everything I said of five players having really good Seasons I think Lacy should have a thousand yards if the offense is as good as we think like the leading receivers should now whether that's Lacy or Daniels or hell maybe Hilton someone should have a thousand yards here and then the rest fill in at like 600 700 500 400 like that those range for the rest um because I expect NM to have put up really good numbers this year so there should be enough Ms to feed yeah if you um I guess and I think they're in a better quarterback spot than they were then obviously in the burrow years they had well the first burough year they didn't have any thousand yard receivers uh but second multiple uh much like with Daniels the first year Neighbors hit a thousand yards by 17 yards year two of Daniels you've got two guys over well over a thousand yards um and then you were in that stretch in Co and the year after where boute Terrace Marshall Jenkins um and really the following year like Jack bash was playing a lot in 2021 um boute Jenkins were still on the team neighbors was on that team Thomas was on that team Trey Palmer was on that team um in 2021 where no one had more than like 500 something yards but like five guys had 500 yards or something like that I think you're in a better quarterback spot than they were in those years though yeah isn't it crazy maybe I think to maybe I don't think enough of a thousand yards because a th000 yards is 77 yards per game and over 13 games a th000 divided by 13 IS 77 and that's pretty because you've been watching Heisman quarterbacks yeah throw to first round picks that's pretty easy I've been watching we've been watching 100 yards per game the past you know or that the past year so but yeah 77 yards per game would be really really impressive um so I'm we'll see if if La can get there last thing punt returners zon's been going first team Kyle Parker's been working in there uh and then Javin Nicholas the walk on he might be the new Greg Clayton to he was the upback a year ago so maybe he'll do that again exactly so those are the three I've seen on punt return just to you brought zavon Thomas here to return punts and play receiver but he's been one of the best punt returner returned specialist kick returners as well in the SEC the past two years it's got to be job has to be yeah glad we don't have to spend a lot of time on special teams anymore that's it I'm moving on um all right we said uh before the podcast we like oh we don't have to go long and here we win an hour but it's your LSU football uh rundown for the day people yeah when's our next uh full viewing do you know it's uh in April so we still have a little bit there um I know 20 minutes Tuesday and then Pro Day on Wednesday yeah Pro Day on Wednesday we'll see what the guys do back here but in Baton rge but um certainly a lot of NFL all 32 NFL teams will be there I think one team was trying to bring their entire staff I mean probably the commanders the Bears commanders one of these teams up top the commanders a lot of people thinking Jaden will go two overall um but Brian Thomas is shot up boards he'll be a first- round pick and the debate is on if Malik or uh Marvin Harrison Jr are the first wide receiver taken so and then I will sneak out there and run a 40 yard dash and report back my time we had a media Pro Day once your time's gone I know we don't need you do me that if we still had that I would be training for it maybe not training for it it's wrong you already play basketball in tennal that's training training would be the rest of us who do nothing all the time and then would have to like go walk to be able to do it yeah I can see why they stopped it dangerous it's dangerous um but yeah no I the best part of that is uh I just remember well one uh go I guess it would be twofold uh but there was uh some injuries that day a broken collar bone uh wasn't great but the two highlights Luke Johnson um who writes for The Advocate New Orleans covers the Saints uh went elu buddy of M but he was in the military forever so when he was like repping and everything he was completely unfair he was coming straight not many years out the military he's crushing uh 32 reps whatever you know uh but also wfb at the time might have in BRZ one of the news stations one of their interns or younger people had just graduated from Southern where he had played football so he came in there and just like shredded the pro day and it was like all right come on this is this is supposed to be fun this guy's out here jumping 37 inch verts and running four fours not very fun for us oh my gosh the leaderboard would have been crazy yeah it's just him and then everybody else massive drop there you go but all right that's all we got for you today hope you enjoyed the episode uh leave some like comment share subscribe to the YouTube if you have not already thank you all for listening on Spotify Apple wherever you are checking us out if you haven't already subscribed to the bangal tiger um basketball off season is about to I mean it's already underway really even though the women are still playing we got portal news on on the basketball side coming um multiple times a week so be look out for that then always as always it is recruiting season Billy and Shay are are the best in the business at that so yeah thank you all for joining us we will be back uh later in the week and we will talk to you then