Tag: kaleb jackson

2023 LSU Tigers Snapshot Profile: No. 22 Armoni Goodwin

Armoni Goodwin is back from injury and looking to reclaim a spot in a deep running back rotation.

Going into the 2023 football season, LSU Wire will be looking at each player listed on the Tigers’ roster.

Over the preseason, each profile will cover where the player is from, how recruiting websites rated them coming out of high school, and what role they will play for Brian Kelly this season.

We continue our look at a loaded running back room with a player who looked to be on the verge of a breakout early in the 2022 season before injuries halted his progress. After missing the spring, [autotag]Armoni Goodwin[/autotag] is expected to be back at full strength for the start of the 2023 season and should be a key part of the rotation.

Armoni Goodwin Preseason Player Profile

Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama

Ht: 5-8

Wt: 200

247Sports Composite Ranking

Four Stars | No. 6 in Alabama | No. 7 Running Back

Class in 2022: Sophomore

Career Stats

Year G Att Yards YPA Rec Yards Total TDs
2021 6 16 65 4.1 2 5 0
2022 7 45 267 5.9 4 19 5

Depth Chart Overview

Goodwin is a former top-100 recruit in the 2021 class and a Birmingham, Alabama, native. LSU struggled to find success on the ground in 2021, and Goodwin only attempted 16 carries for 65 yards as a true freshman.

He saw a much bigger role entering his sophomore year and appeared in seven games with three starts against Southern, Mississippi State and New Mexico. His progress was then put on pause as an injury caused him to miss the next three games.

Goodwin returned to the field against Ole Miss but was limited to just three total carries in the next two games. In the latter contest against Arkansas, he suffered a season-ending injury.

After missing the spring, LSU will hope Goodwin can return to where he was last fall. Reps on this unit will be hard to come by, though. [autotag]Josh Williams[/autotag] is back, as is [autotag]Noah Cain[/autotag], who saw starting reps in the spring. [autotag]Logan Diggs[/autotag] is an experienced transfer addition while [autotag]John Emery Jr.[/autotag] is a potential X-factor if he’s able to return.

Add in two talented true freshmen in [autotag]Trey Holly[/autotag] — who was on campus for spring camp — and [autotag]Kaleb Jackson[/autotag], and Goodwin will have to impress in the fall to solidify a spot in the rotation.

Armoni Goodwin’s Photo Gallery

Former Notre Dame RB Logan Diggs commits to LSU

Diggs led all Fighting Irish backs in carries in 2022, and the Boutte, Louisiana, native will reunite with Brian Kelly in Baton Rouge.

LSU coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] continues to make effective use of the transfer portal.

The Tigers saw no players depart following spring practice, and now they’ve added a veteran to the running back room in former Notre Dame tailback [autotag]Logan Diggs[/autotag]. A native of Boutte, Louisiana, Diggs reunites with Kelly, who recruited him to South Bend and coached him for one season.

Diggs is a nice addition to a running back group that already boasts some talent. He led Fighting Irish backs in carries last fall with 165, and he finished second on the team with 821 rushing yards. He also had four touchdowns on the ground.

Kelly has made it a point to recruit transfers with ties to the state of Louisiana, and he adds a player in Diggs who has two remaining seasons of eligibility plus a redshirt year.

He’ll join a talented group of backs that returns [autotag]Armoni Goodwin[/autotag], [autotag]Josh Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Noah Cain[/autotag]. The former two were injured during spring ball allowing the latter to see a lot of the reps. True freshman [autotag]Trey Holly[/autotag] also made an impact, and another true freshman in [autotag]Kaleb Jackson[/autotag] is set to enroll this summer.

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Report: John Emery Jr. to return to LSU football in 2023

The Tigers are set to return every scholarship running back in 2023.

The Tigers are seemingly set to get a major offensive piece back as running back [autotag]John Emery Jr.[/autotag] did not enter his name into the 2023 NFL draft pool by Monday’s deadline. Emery, a senior from St. Rose, Louisiana, is now set to return for a fifth season of college football.

Emery’s return would mean every scholarship running back is set to return to the team in 2023. The news of Emery’s decision to return was first reported by On3’s Shea Dixon.

A former five-star recruit in the 2019 class, Emery saw sporadic action his first two seasons. He started three games in 2020, finishing second on the team in rushing with 378 yards. However, he would later miss the entire 2021 season — and the first two games in 2022 — with an academic suspension.

He appeared in 11 games this fall after returning to the field, making two starts, including in the SEC Championship against Georgia. He finished the season with 380 yards and six touchdowns, and he also caught two touchdown passes out of the backfield. He was the only LSU running back with a receiving touchdown in 2022.

Emery’s return gives LSU a crowded running back room entering the spring as it also returns [autotag]Noah Cain[/autotag], [autotag]Josh Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Armoni Goodwin[/autotag] while adding 2023 signees [autotag]Trey Holly[/autotag] and [autotag]Kaleb Jackson[/autotag].

There will almost certainly be some attrition here after spring, but for now, the Tigers’ backfield is looking like a strength entering next fall.

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2024 4-star running back includes LSU in slew of visits

The Tigers will host Caden Durham on campus on Jan. 21.

[autotag]Caden Durham[/autotag] is a 5-foot-9, 180-pound running back from Duncanville, Texas, where he plays for the prestigious Duncanville Panthers, who are ranked as the No. 7 team in the nation and the No. 1 team in the state of Texas.

Recently, Durham has announced a few of his upcoming college visits, and the LSU Tigers are one of them. Durham will visit Baton Rouge on Jan. 21st. He will follow that visit up by visiting Oklahoma and TCU over the Jan. 28th weekend.

The Panthers finished the 2022 season 15-0 with a 28-21 win over North Shore in the 6A state championship game. Durham was the star running back for the Panthers this season. He ran the ball 210 times for 1,960 yards and 36 touchdowns as well as catching nine passes for 93 yards and a touchdown.

[autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] has signed back-to-back top-ten recruiting classes. He added two running backs in the 2023 class, [autotag]Trey Holly[/autotag] and [autotag]Kaleb Jackson[/autotag].

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WATCH: LSU running back commit is a one-man wrecking ball

Good luck bringing down Kaleb Jackson.

[autotag]Kaleb Jackson[/autotag] is a four-star running back commit from the 2023 class for LSU. He measures 5-foot-10 and 200 pounds. As a junior, he helped Liberty Magnet to a 9-2 record and a Louisiana Division II second-round playoff appearance.

He gained more than 2,400 yards from scrimmage and scored 33 total touchdowns, eclipsing 2,000 rushing yards on 14.7 yards per carry. Fast forward to his senior year, and this is how he is playing now.

In the words of Lebron James, “Not one, not two, not three, not four, not five.” Equate that to the number of defenders it takes to bring Jackson down on this play. The big man rumbles through five defenders before a sixth guy finally brings him down just short of the goal line.

Even with this tremendous effort, Liberty Magnet still lost the game 18-13 to Southern Lab. The future looks bright for this running back when he comes to LSU next season. He and [autotag]Trey Holly[/autotag] will make a formidable duo.

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Let’s Talk About It: How is ‘Recruiting the Boot’ going for LSU?

Coach Brian Kelly has silenced much of the criticism surrounding his in-state recruiting.

For the past few months, there have been many posts on social media and football message boards about how LSU coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] was not doing a great job recruiting the best players from Louisiana. So, we’re going to take a look into how well the Tigers are doing when it comes to ‘Recruiting the Boot’.

Of the top 15 recruits in Louisiana for the class of 2023, LSU currently has five commits ([autotag]Shelton Sampson Jr.[/autotag], [autotag]Kaleb Jackson[/autotag], [autotag]Kylin Jackson[/autotag], [autotag]Rickie Collins[/autotag] and [autotag]Tyree Adams[/autotag]) and they have  Crystal Ball projections for two more ([autotag]Zalance Heard[/autotag] and [autotag]Khai Prean[/autotag]).

If you go back one more spot, LSU could possibly land eight out of the top 16 players in the state — [autotag]Trey Holly[/autotag], another LSU commit, is No. 16 on the list.

Sure, Kelly missed out on some of the top prospects like [autotag]Arch Manning[/autotag], [autotag]Derek Williams[/autotag], [autotag]Eli Holstein[/autotag] and [autotag]Tackett Curtis[/autotag], but this isn’t Pokémon.

You aren’t going to catch them all.

Landing 50% of the top 16 players in the state is a very high clip. It’s also a lot more than anyone else has in your state. Out of the top 16 players, LSU could land eight while Texas has two (Manning and Williams). Alabama ([autotag]Eli Holstein[/autotag]), USC ([autotag]Tackett Curtis[/autotag]), Notre Dame ([autotag]Jaiden Ausberry[/autotag]), Nebraska ([autotag]Omarion Miller[/autotag]), Tennessee ([autotag]Jordan Matthews[/autotag]), and Washington ([autotag]Curley Reed[/autotag]) each have one.

No, it has not been a perfect recruiting cycle, but, in my opinion, it has been pretty successful.

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Opinion: Brian Kelly’s Louisiana recruiting earns stamp of approval

With Shelton Sampson Jr. on board, Kelly has eased concerns about in-state recruiting.

I have never been Brian Kelly’s biggest defender nor his biggest critic.

I’ve always said he is a competent coach who will win a handful of football games wherever he is. He isn’t Nick Saban, but then again, who is?

I think too much was made about how Kelly fit at LSU. Lincoln Riley is from Lubbock, Texas, and nobody made a fuss when he ended up in Southern California.

We also watched Saban and Les Miles win championships at LSU. Neither one of those guys screams Louisiana. If you win football games, people don’t really care about where you’re from, and Kelly has won a lot of football games.

There were questions on how he’d fare recruiting Louisiana. Some of that was because there was all that noise about the culture fit, and some of it was because he’s never been seen as an ace recruiter.

The first few months were iffy. It was a challenge to gain momentum with recruits during the transition. LSU watched as other schools made progress with top recruits like [autotag]Derek Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Tackett Curtis[/autotag]. Longtime commit [autotag]Omarion Miller[/autotag] flipped and followed [autotag]Mickey Joseph[/autotag] to Nebraska.

LSU was having success nationally, but I wanted to see more success in Louisiana. Over the last month or so, Kelly has eased any criticism I had on that front.

LSU pulled in commitments from Louisiana prospects OT [autotag]Tyree Adams[/autotag] and RB [autotag]Kaleb Jackson[/autotag].

The big one came on Saturday when WR [autotag]Shelton Sampson Jr.[/autotag] gave his pledge and LSU got one of it’s biggest targets.

Sampson was a guy LSU could not miss on. A five-star receiver from Baton Rouge. If Kelly couldn’t seal the deal here, his critics were going to have a field day.

LSU has been building steam with OT [autotag]Zalance Heard[/autotag]. A big-time prospect from Monroe, Louisiana, who On3 has as a five-star.

Baton Rouge quarterback [autotag]Rickie Collins[/autotag] recently decommitted from Purdue and looks destined to end up a Tiger. Safety [autotag]Kylin Jackson[/autotag] received a 247Sports Crystal Ball to LSU earlier this month.

When it’s all said and done, LSU is going to have a solid class of Louisiana recruits. The Tigers still need to show improvement on the field, but Kelly has done a lot with less talent than he has now.

A decent season should have LSU in a good position to run the state in 2024.

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LSU lands commitment from 4-star Baton Rouge running back

LSU landed one of the top running backs in the country on Tuesday.

LSU stayed hot on the recruiting trail this week with another blue-chip commit.

Running back [autotag]Kaleb Jackson[/autotag] from Liberty Magnet High School in Baton Rouge elected to stay home and play with the Tigers. According to On3’s prediction machine, Alabama was LSU’s biggest threat to pluck the in-state recruit, but coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] managed to keep Jackson in the boot.

Jackson — the No. 192 player in the country and No. 6 running back — took visits to LSU, Alabama, and Texas A&M in June. On 247Sports, Jackson had received three Crystal Balls, all for LSU.

The 247Sports Composite Rankings have Jackson as the sixth-best running back in the class. Jackson runs track as well and has good speed. He’s listed at 5-foot-10 and 200 pounds.

Jackson is the second running back to join LSU’s 2023 class after fellow Louisiana recruit [autotag]Trey Holly[/autotag] committed in May. He is just the third Louisiana recruit to commit to LSU this cycle, joining Holly and defensive back [autotag]Ashton Stamps[/autotag].

It’s a positive sign after LSU’s had some in-state struggles in the past month. Blue-chip Louisiana prospects like [autotag]Shelton Sampson Jr.[/autotag] and [autotag]Tyree Adams[/autotag] could be next.

LSU currently has a top 10 recruiting class in the 2023 cycle, and it could get even better in the coming weeks and months.

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Which uncommitted players are likely coming to LSU?

LSU is having a great start to July on the trail, and the month could be about to get even better.

LSU has been red hot on the recruiting trail to start July.

This is a big-time of year for commitments. Players have wrapped up their visits for the summer and may want to have their recruitment concluded before their high school season begins in the fall.

Despite the recent wave of decisions, there are still plenty of big targets on the board. LSU has positioned itself well with quite a few. A few of these decisions could come in the next few weeks, with [autotag]Jalen Brown[/autotag] even poised to decide on Friday.

Let’s take a look at some of the guys you can expect to see put pen to paper for the Tigers when signing day rolls around.

The list of LSU offers held by high school running backs in the 2023 cycle

A total of seven running backs in the 2023 class hold offers from LSU

At this point in the process, the LSU Tigers are still without a running back in the 2022 cycle. It is entirely possible that they don’t add one as their lone target let, TreVonte Citizen, is looking at Auburn and Florida. The Gators were able to snag Trevor Etienne, who the Tigers were trying to land.

The team did add Noah Cain from Penn State in the transfer portal to replace the loss of Ty Davis-Price to the NFL draft. The team will also have John Emery Jr back in 2022, he sat out 2021 due to an eligibility issue.

Should Brian Kelly and Frank Wilson strikeout in the 2022 class, they will need to shift focus to the 2023 class that has plenty of talented players. The class is led by No. 1 running back Richard Young of Lehigh Acres, Florida. It might be too late to make a push for Young but he isn’t the only quality runner in the class.

Trey Holly of Union Parish and Kaleb Jackson of Liberty Magnet are the top two in-state talent at running back who hold LSU offers. Holly is trending towards LSU, but the Tigers could easily take more than one back in next year’s class.

The list of running backs who already hold an LSU offer for next year: