The Tigers were without arguably their best defensive player in Saturday’s 65-17 beatdown in the home opener against Southern. Edge rusher [autotag]BJ Ojulari[/autotag] was held out of that game after suffering a knee injury in the opener against Florida State.
Luckily, his absence didn’t prove too costly last week. However, with a much tougher opponent coming to town this week in Mississippi State, LSU needs Ojulari on the field.
Fans got some good news in that regard on Monday, as coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] said that he expects the preseason First Team All-SEC selection to suit up on Saturday against the Bulldogs.
“We expect him to be available based on my conversations with our doctors yesterday,” Kelly said.
Ojulari is a team captain, and he earned the prestigious No. 18 jersey this offseason as the on and off-field leader of this defense. He finished with six tackles in the season opener, and though he didn’t get a sack, he accounted for three of the team’s four total quarterback hurries.
The Tigers are already thin on the defensive line after interior player [autotag]Maason Smith[/autotag] was lost for the year with a torn ACL in Week 1. They may, however, get a piece back in the secondary, as the coaches are optimistic that injured Ohio State transfer cornerback [autotag]Sevyn Banks[/autotag] will make his LSU debut.
With Mississippi State’s air-raid offense — which is led by one of the SEC’s best passers in Will Rogers — getting to the quarterback will be a necessity on Saturday. Ojulari’s hopeful return should make doing so a lot easier.
[mm-video type=video id=01gct4nps2pner64g6n1 playlist_id=01eqbz5s7cf4w69e0n player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gct4nps2pner64g6n1/01gct4nps2pner64g6n1-316bf4b43c58153d7617d69913ad65ec.jpg]
[listicle id=57889]
Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.
Follow Tyler to continue the conversation on Twitter: @TylerNettuno