With the college football season approaching in just over six weeks, the LSU Tigers are gearing up for a bit of a revenge tour. The hope is that the Tigers will not suffer the same fate as they did one season ago. Year two of the post-Joe Burrow era is expected to be much better. The Tigers were top 15 in the composite power rankings.
Looking towards the upcoming season, Pro Football Focus made their selection for the Tigers’ x-factor for 2021.
Despite having an offensive line that was respectable in run-blocking with a grade in that facet that ranked 24th in the Power 5, LSU had a below-average rushing attack in 2020. They ranked 10th in the SEC in run play efficiency with -0.12 EPA per attempt, by far their worst of the PFF College era. It’ll be on Davis-Price to help fix that in 2021. – PFF preview magazine on X-Factor, Tyrion Davis-Price
Davis-Price returns the 10th-most production in the Southeastern Conference in 2021. Despite the fact that he only rushed for a total of 446 yards on 104 attempts last year. His touchdown production was cut in half from his freshman season, of course, that year they had Joe Burrow under center. With the revolving door at quarterback, he didn’t seem to get the same opportunities.
Tyrion Davis-Price for 28 yards. Let's see more of this in 2021. #LSU pic.twitter.com/XCPZCm3tfI
— Jacques Doucet (@JacquesDoucet) April 20, 2021
Along with Davis-Price in the backfield, fellow 2019 signee John Emery Jr looks to have a more productive season in 2021. However, the latter did finish with a slightly better yards per carry average than Davis-Price. The duo will need to help shoulder the load once again if the quarterback play doesn’t improve from 2020, but it should.