Coach Kelly previews the SEC opener
LSU head football coach Brian Kelly had his weekly Monday morning press conference with Baton Rouge reporters and previewed the Tigers’ SEC opening contest this upcoming Saturday against South Carolina.
“With College Gameday, it’s obviously gonna be a great environment,” Kelly said. “A great opportunity for us to take a step in the development of our football team, and obviously continue to work to get better.”
South Carolina is riding high off of a 31-6 win against Kentucky and the Gamecocks so far have one of the best defensive fronts in the SEC; Carolina is top-10 nationally in both sacks (10) and TFLs (19) and have been opportunistic on defense with six forced fumbles (tied for first in the nation) and four interceptions (tied for sixth).
“This is a defense with an outstanding front,” Kelly said. “They run both 3-down and 4-down and made it really difficult for Kentucky last week.”
Thankfully LSU ought to be at full strength along the offensive line as Garrett Dellinger has been cleared to practice on Tuesday after missing last week’s game against Nicholls with a concussion. Kelly also said that wide receiver Chris Hilton is “just a matter of time” while Kyle Parker is “improving” from a pinched nerve in his elbow.
The biggest injury news this week of course is the loss of fifth-year senior defensive tackle Jacobian Guillory. Guillory will miss the remainder of 2024 after rupturing his Achilles and Shone Washington will be called upon the fill in.
“Jacobian was a very technically sound, physically strong player,” Kelly said. “You know what you’re losing from that standpoint, but we know what he wasn’t as well.”
Kelly of course also recapped LSU’s 44-21 victory of Nicholls and said he saw positives after watching the film with his staff.
“We get an opportunity to spend seven hours dissecting filming, going over the game plan and watching, and as I got a chance to do that with our staff and meeting with the staff, there were a lot more good things that happened in that game that I was able to articulate after the game,” Kelly said