Notebook: Brian Kelly Provides Injury Update on Sage Ryan, Logan Diggs

The LSU Tigers wrapped up Fall Camp on Saturday as their preparation for the season opener against Florida State begins this week.

For Brian Kelly, he’s been impressed with the progression of his program over the last few weeks as the Tigers continue forming continuity with rotations being formed.

Last week, we saw a few players go down with injury and a handful of others remain sidelined with minor injuries of their own.

What’s the status of the Tigers looking to get back on the field?

Kelly provided an injury report on Tuesday while also discussing the progression of freshman offensive tackle Zalance Heard from a development perspective:

The Injury Report:

Sage Ryan

Ryan returned to the practice field for the Tigers after suffering what was described as a “stinger” during Saturday’s scrimmage.

A player this program will rely on to take significant snaps in 2023, it was tough to see Ryan go down.

Fast forward to practice this week and the third-year Tiger is back as a full participant with LSU beginning preparation for Florida State.

For Ryan, he’s been lined up at nickel and cornerback during Fall Camp and Brian Kelly is intrigued about what he can do for this defense this season.

“He has elite speed to play out there. The second thing is experience. The third is he’s a smart football player and he puts himself in a good position,” Kelly said on Tuesday. “One thing we’re concerned about is tackling and having a great tackler out there, Sage has been a really steady tackler for us.”

Logan Diggs, Josh Williams and Armoni Goodwin

The trio of running backs were absent for significant time during Fall Camp after battling minor injuries over the last few weeks.

For Diggs, he’s been limited during preseason practice with this program remaining cautious as he nurses injury, but he’s returned to the field this week, according to Kelly. Along with Diggs, the Tigers also return Williams and Goodwin.

With their return, the Tigers have a full running back room as they begin preparing for Florida State. All eight scholarship backs are healthy.

The Progression of Zalance Heard

Zalance Heard has been flying up the depth chart ever since arriving on campus this summer and has certainly made an immediate impact. The five-star recruit made his way to Baton Rouge with high expectations and he lived up to most of the hype during his first Fall Camp.

On the final day of camp, Heard worked in with the first-team at right tackle with Emery Jones sliding over to right guard. It was an intriguing first-team offensive line and Coach Kelly is impressed with the development of his freshman tackle.

“He certainly has developed an understanding of the offense and technique. It’s college football, there were guys last year where it was a mismatch most of the time. Now, he’s going against Sai'vion Jones and college football players and that’s a whole different thing for him to deal with and the rigors of that,” Kelly said on Tuesday. “Is he pushing for a starting position? He’s a guy that we’re giving reps to. We have to find the best five guys, then the next is the sixth and seventh and he’s in the mix. He’s out there competing hard.”