The 5th ranked LSU football team wrapped up preseason camp with a two-hour practice on Saturday in Tiger Stadium and then a 40-plus play scrimmage.
Let’s start with the bad news. Defensive back Sage Ryan who was having a good day, got injured, after tackling tight end Mason Taylor. It was an upper body injury, either an arm or shoulder. Ryan walked off slowly to the sidelines and then went to the locker room before the scrimmage ended.
Cornerback Zy Alexander had a nice day. The former Southeastern Louisiana Lion had a pass break up on the first drive of the day and on the second series he knocked ball away from Taylor after he caught a pass and Zy made the recovery.
Freshman running back Kaleb Jackson had a couple of splash plays. He had a nice 24-yard touchdown run as he dodged a couple of tacklers in the backfield and then took off for the endzone. He was met by a couple of defenders, but still scored a touchdown, losing his helmet in the process.
Jackson made an even bigger play towards the end of the scrimmage as he caught a screen pass from Garrett Nussmeier. Jackson again put on a couple of nice moves near the far sidelines and raced past everyone for the touchdown.
Jackson played in only one game last season, his senior season at Liberty Magnet High School in Baton Rouge. He injured his ankle in the season opener. During his junior season, Jackson rushed for 2,031 yards and 29 touchdowns.
He has excellent speed too. Finished fourth in the Class 4A 100-meter dash at the LHSAA outdoor track with a time of 10.89.
Jackson also has great size at six-foot, 225 pounds. Out of the eight scholarship running backs, you can make the case he has biggest upside.
Several running backs did not participate in individual and team drills, Logan Diggs, Armoni Goodwin and Josh Williams. Noah Cain took snaps with the first team.
Speaking of first-team snaps, freshman Lance Heard got several with the first team at right tackle. The six-foot-four, 340-pounder from Neville High School is considered by On3 and 247sports.com as the top-rated player in LSU’s Class of 2023. Prior to his arrival at LSU, Heard made it known he planned to start his freshman season.
When Heard was with the starting unit, Emory Jones moved down to right guard and Miles Frazier was moved to the sidelines.
A couple of other notes, Denver Harris is back with the team. The cornerback was running with the third team. Defensive tackle Maason Smith was in pads but watched most of the practice from the sidelines. During the 11-on-11 scrimmage, defensive tackle Jacobian Guillory got frustrated and slammed his helmet to the ground. That’s the second time in camp Guillory had an emotional outburst.
In the battle for placekicker, Damian Ramos made all of his field goals, including a 47-yarder. Nathan Dibert made all of his field goals, except his last one, a 47-yarder.
Backup safety Welton Spottsville intercepted Rickie Collins on the final play of the scrimmage. Worth noting, because Welton Spottsville is a great name and I wanted to type it out. He’s from North Carolina and is a transfer from Kennesaw State.
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