Three Players to Watch: LSU Football vs Ole Miss
LSU has the opportunity to finish the 2020 season with its first winning streak of the year with a victory over Ole Miss on Saturday. It's been mostly a lost season but building momentum for the 2021 offseason and beyond is one of the primary goals over these final few days.
In order for the team to have success, both of the lines must perform at a high level too keep Matt Corral and the Rebel offense on its toes. Here are three players who will be integral parts to the Tigers' success in Saturday's season finale in Death Valley.
Liam Shanahan (C)
LSU has a prime opportunity to end its offensive season with a bang, facing one of the weakest defenses in college football. Because Ole Miss also has an explosive offense, it wouldn't be a bit surprising to see this one turn into a shoot out.
Quarterbacks Max Johnson and TJ Finley will need time to find their weapons and of course that all starts up front. The offensive line is coming off one of if not the best game of the 2020 season, allowing no sacks on Max Johnson or TJ Finley.
The offense has yet to exceed 500 yards of total offense in 2020, a feat the 2019 offense did 13 times en route to a national championship. It's either been one or the other between the run and passing attack this season.
Having the offensive line continue it's strong end of season play will be a crucial component to this week's success. If LSU can get both in sync on Saturday, it'll be a good momentum boost heading into the 2021 offseason.
"It's going to be a really big game for us as an offense to try and take control and see if we can build off of last week," Shanahan said. "Throughout the whole season we've really just tried to maximize our potential. I really believe we have a lot of talent and we want to build some momentum going into this offseason."
Jaquelin Roy (DL)
LSU's defensive line play will be integral in slowing down Matt Corral and the explosive Ole Miss offense. Last week, it was BJ Ojulari and Jabril Cox who drew praise for the play of the front seven but one member flew under the radar and is starting to make a big impact on a weekly basis.
Freshman Jaquelin Roy, who was the No. 1 player in Louisiana for most of his high school days, is finally receiving consistent playing time and making the most of his opportunity. The true freshman recorded two sacks in the 37-34 win over Florida last weekend and has seen his numbers rise in the last three weeks.
In that time span, Roy has recorded nine tackles, 3.5 tackles for a loss and two sacks which is not bad production at all from an interior defensive lineman. Applying pressure on Corral up the middle will need to be a focus as Bo Pelini was extremely creative in the blitz packages he threw at Kyle Trask a week ago.
Apparently Roy told Orgeron before the game "I'm gonna play great today." And indeed he did. To finish off the season with another stellar effort against Ole Miss will give Roy an inside edge to earn a starting job next season.
Elias Ricks (CB)
Ricks has been among the most improved players on the roster from the start of the season to now. The true freshman has fully established himself as an every down starter opposite Derek Stingley who can not only be relied on but thrive as a playmaker.
His pick six against Kyle Trask on Saturday was just the latest example as his two touchdowns off of interceptions leads the country. Also, his four interceptions rank first in the SEC and second in all of the Power Five. On 27 targets this season, he's allowed just 12 completions, a 44% completion percentage.
"The sky's the limit and he's one of those guys where the coaches see the potential in Elias and are going to mold him and allow him to grown," safety JaCoby Stevens said. "For him to come in and do the things he's been doing is really impressive and that's why he's playing as a true freshman."
The young defensive backs as a whole have taken a fair bit of criticism for busted coverage and a lack of communication this season. While Trask and the offense was able to put up yards, Orgeron said after the game that he was proud of the effort the young secondary put forth in forcing two interceptions.
"I'm proud of those guys and they go full speed in practice," Orgeron said of the defensive backs. "Next man up and I think we got some excellent young corners. They did play very well tonight, made some mistakes but I think it was a great learning experience for everybody."