BATON ROUGE – Consider the holes within LSU football’s offense filled.
Led by junior quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, the Tigers unleashed a level of firepower during the National L Club Spring Game that was close to what fans witnessed the past couple of seasons with Jayden Daniels and company.
The offense scored on all three possessions with Nussmeier and first teamers in the game, building a 24-8 lead.
LSU’s backup defense made a run later, thanks to a few sacks and fourth-down stops with backup quarterbacks Rickie Collins and A.J. Swann out there to force the spring game to a tie, 34-34.
With new co-offensive coordinators Joe Sloan and Cortez Hankton, the explosiveness hasn’t left LSU’s offense.
On the opening drive, Nussmeier stepped up in the pocket and delivered a 45-yard strike to Zavion Thomas for the game’s first score. Two drives later, he found a wide-open Kyren Lacy for a 59-yard touchdown down the visiting sideline.
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Nussmeier finished the spring game 7-for-7 for 187 yards and two TDs. Thomas had two grabs for 52 yards and Aaron Anderson added two receptions for 15 yards.
“What we’ve been striving for is controlling the line of scrimmage, running the football, and that will set up the explosiveness in this offense. It’s not going to be Jayden Daniels, Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas, it’s going to have a different look to the explosiveness,” LSU football coach Brian Kelly said following the spring game.
“But you can still be explosive, and it starts at the line of scrimmage.”
There were busted coverages on the deep throws that Nussmeier and the LSU offense were able to connect. Kelly said there were instances of the defensive backfield not being on the same page, with some players running Cover 3 when they were supposed to be in Cover 2.
“We can’t have the ball go over our head,” Kelly said.
While Kelly wouldn’t say that it’s too early to know if LSU’s defense will be improved in 2024 from last season’s disappointing performance, he does know where the roster needs to be upgraded before the team gets back in the building for offseason workouts and ultimately preseason practice in a few months.
“We need to get some help at the defensive tackle position, which we will. We’re addressing it. And obviously, we got to figure out what our corner situation is going to be,” Kelly said. “I think if we answer those two, I think this defense will be a solid defense.”
Both A.J. Swann and Rickie Collins led their offensive units to a field goal, the only points they would muster while in the game.
Statistically, neither lit the world on fire as Collins went 6-of-12 for 52 and Swann 4-of-9 for 55 yards. Collins was sacked five times, while Swann was tapped down once.
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“Those guys didn’t get very comfortable in the pocket, clearly. Standing back there, they didn’t appears to be very efficient,” Kelly said of the backup quarterbacks. “A lot of that was they didn’t have a lot to get their feet set.
“We got some work to do there. I thought the ball came out well with (freshman) Colin (Hurley). Looked clean, looked efficient there.”
Hurley played the whole seven-minute fourth quarter and went 4-for-6 for 77 yards and a touchdown pass to Khai Prean.
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz atbdiaz@gannett.com.
