LSU Football: Three Observations From The Tigers Fall Camp Scrimmage

LSU wrapped up Fall Camp on Saturday after working through position drills and capping it off with a 43-play scrimmage in Tiger Stadium.

Brian Kelly and Co. continue getting into a groove and the scrimmage in Death Valley shined light on a few position battles.

Along with getting a better look at a few groups, the Tigers saw a pair of newcomers steal the show.

Three observations from Saturday in Death Valley:

Offensive Line Rotations

1st Team: LT Will Campbell, LG Garrett Dellinger, C Charles Turner, RG Emery Jones and RT Zalance Heard.

It was a different offensive line group than we have seen during Fall Camp. Before, it was Campbell, Dellinger, Turner, Miles Frazier and Jones (RT), but the Tigers are now looking to give true freshman Zalance Heard an expanded role.

Frazier popped in with the first team later in the scrimmage, but it was a pleasant surprise to see LSU give the five-star (Heard) a chance to work with the first team.

There have been position battles brewing with the big guys up front and Saturday provided clarity on what to expect.

Second Team: Bo Bordelon (LT), Kimo Makane’ole (LG), DJ Chester (C), Marlon Martinez (RG), Zalance Heard (RT) became the most consistent second-team group. Heard worked with both groups.

Secondary Shuffling

First Team: CB Zy Alexander, CB Sage Ryan, Greg Brooks (Nickel), S Andre Sam and S Major Burns. (Duce Chestnut mostly worked with the 1’s as well).

Second Team Cornerbacks: Ashton Stamps, Denver Harris and Laterrance Welch

Ryan has worked with the cornerbacks this week and it’s clear the feeling in the room when it comes to giving him significant snaps this season with that position group.

He had primarily been running at nickel during Fall Camp, but this week he received more snaps as a boundary corner.

During the scrimmage, Ryan went to the locker room with what appeared to be a left arm injury, but the status of his is unknown at this time.

Aside from Ryan, we saw true freshman Ashton Stamps receive some run with the first team cornerbacks as well. He’s flown up the depth chart and will be a key piece to what this secondary does in 2023.

Denver Harris returned for LSU on Saturday after missing seven days of Fall Camp activities. He ran with the second and third team during drills and into the scrimmage.

There’s been a few different rotations with this LSU secondary. We’ve primarily seen Alexander and Chestnut receive first team snaps with Stamps and Welch running as the No. 3 and No. 4 guys, but with Ryan emerging as a starting caliber guy, it makes things interesting.

If one thing is certain, it’s that Zy Alexander has quickly become the playmaker in the cornerback room. On Saturday, he forced a fumble and recovery on a Mason Taylor catch before a pass breakup later. The Louisiana native looks the part.

#LSU Practice Notes:

- Denver Harris returned.
- RB Kaleb Jackson… Impressive.
- Zy Alexander continues shining as CB1 for this program.
- Zalance Heard took 1st Team reps.

It’s all coming together for the Tigers.

The Takeaways from Day 14:

Read: https://t.co/XQpsC3GHsv pic.twitter.com/uwvm03L3MM
— Zack Nagy (@znagy20) August 19, 2023

The Kaleb Jackson Show

Jackson broke open roughly a 20-yard touchdown run to get his day started during the scrimmage and capped it off with a 71-yard touchdown off of a check down by Garrett Nussmeier.

It was as impressive of a run as we’ve seen from this running back room during Fall Camp as Jackson continues to shine. After catching the pass out of the backfield, Jackson turned up field, shedding three tackles before showcasing his track speed down the left sideline to the end zone.

He’s a speedster and it was on full display on Saturday. If there was one running back who stole the show, it was Jackson. He arrived over the summer and has made an instant impact since making his way on campus.

With several running backs banged up, both true freshman running backs Trey Holly and Jackson have taken on more reps during practice. For Holly, he took a few first team reps throughout the scrimmage on Saturday.

Holly arrived on campus in January as an early enrollee and is quickly picking up on what it takes to be successful at the college level.