Tag: malik nabers

LSU’s breakout candidates for the 2022 season

These 10 Tigers could have a breakout season in 2022.

Going 11-12 over the last two seasons didn’t sit well with decision-makers in Baton Rouge. For that reason, Ed Orgeron was shown the door in favor of Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly. He has shown the ability to win wherever he goes but the title still eludes him.

Turning the LSU Tigers around isn’t going to be an easy task but Kelly understood he couldn’t rebuild this team through the recruiting class alone. He would need to dip into the transfer portal to get instant impact players for this team.

However, they still have plenty of impact players on the roster. Guys like Kayshon Boutte are known commodities. He will be the top target on the offensive side of the ball. What about the breakout guys?

LSU Tigers Wire breaks down their list of 10 breakout candidates:

Kayshon Boutte ranked among top three returning wide receivers

A big season coming for No. 1.

There are plenty of top wide receivers returning in college football for the 2022 season. This group could be a very strong wide receiver corp that is highly drafted in 2023.

LSU will be led by junior wide receiver Kayshon Boutte, who returns for what could be his final season in Purple and Gold. The former Westgate standout burst onto the scene in his freshman year. Following the departures of tight end Arik Gilbert and wide receiver Terrace Marshall Jr, it was time for No. 1 to step up to the plate. He didn’t disappoint in the final three games of 2020.

Heading into 2021, it was again time for Boutte to show what he was made of. He was the top touchdown producer in college football up until his foot injury that required season-ending surgery. With a new staff and the return of quarterback Myles Brennan, we hope to finally see a full year of Kayshon Boutte on display.

In two seasons, Boutte has hauled in 83 passes for 1,243 yards and 14 touchdowns. Most of that damage has come over the last nine games he appeared in. The final three games of 2020 and last season. In that stretch, he hauled in 65 receptions for 1,035 yards and 13 touchdowns. Much the reason why Pro Football Focus has him as the No. 3 returning wide receiver behind Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Pitt’s Jordan Addison.

What PFF Says…

AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

Boutte played in just six games in his 2021 true sophomore season before suffering a season-ending injury. If fully healthy next fall, the former five-star recruit will give Jaxon Smith-Njigba a run for his money for the Biletnikoff Award in 2022. His acceleration and toughness have helped him to a 77.1 receiving grade during his time in Baton Rouge. He’s unafraid to make plays over the middle of the field and is showing continuous growth with his releases and route-running.

Boutte has been tasked with a significant amount of press coverage when on the outside, and he’s mostly come out on top on such reps. His 2.49 yards per route run and 134.3 passer rating when targeted against press since 2020 ranks sixth and second, respectively, among Power Five wide receivers in that span.

Boutte will lead the group of wide receivers that include Jack Bech, Malik Nabers, and Brian Thomas Jr. They also will deploy newcomer wide receiver from UL-Lafayette, Kyren Lacy. Lacy led the Ragin Cajuns in receiving this past year.

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Comment below where you think Boutte should be ranked

Early position outlook: How the LSU WRs breakdown

LSU is in pretty good shape at wide receiver

Looking ahead at the position battles as we move towards spring ball. The Tigers saw plenty of movement at the position. It starts with Jontre Kirklin, who moves on after starting the final game at quarterback.

NFL Draft

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Declared for the draft on Jan. 9, 2022

Thus far Kirklin is the only pass catcher that is leaving for the NFL draft. He joined the Tigers in the 2017 recruiting class. After five seasons in Baton Rouge, he moves on to try and make a roster at the NFL level.

Transfer Portal

Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

A total of five receivers entered the transfer portal

  • Koy Moore (Oct. 19)
  • Deion Smith (Dec. 7)
  • Trey Palmer (Dec. 16)
  • Alex Adams (Jan. 10)
  • Devonta Lee (Jan. 14)

There is a slight chance that Smith could pull his name out of the portal, but that is not a given at this point. Even with six departures from the wide receiver position, LSU is still in a good spot with their group as a whole.

Instant Analysis: Five takeaways from LSU’s loss to Kansas State

Instant takeaways from the 42-20 loss in the Texas Bowl.

What was a ugly season for LSU came to an ugly end Tuesday night in the Texas Bowl.

Kansas State jumped out to a 21-0 lead and never looked back. It was not a good night for LSU in any phase of the game.

But to be fair, with all the roster issues LSU is experiencing, nobody expected it would be. The offense never found any rhythm, the defense couldn’t get off the field, and even special teams gave up some big returns.

On the other side, Kansas State had it clicking. Quarterback Skylar Thompson had one of the best games of his career and running back Deuce Vaughn once again went over 100 yards. On defense, Kansas State was able to force some turnovers that set up a couple scores as well.

It wasn’t just LSU’s roster that was shorthanded, but their coaching staff was too. LSU had to rely on analysts and graduate assistants to have a full staff in Houston tonight.

In a lot of ways, this was an end of an era for LSU as they will now try and put a lot of the ugliness of the last two years behind them. Next time they take the field, they will be led by Brian Kelly.

For now, let’s take a look at some takeaway’s from tonight’s loss.

LSU vs Kansas State: Five reasons for Tigers optimism in the Texas Bowl

How do the Tigers come away with a win?

Just one more day until the LSU Tigers finally takes the field against the Kansas State Wildcats in the final non-championship bowl game of the 2021 campaign.

The team comes limping in with a very depleted roster, but it is ample opportunity for a lot of the younger players to see the field. While the offensive will likely be mostly the same group they expected to start the season with, the other positions have a little different feel to them.

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The Tigers look to finish with a high note as they prepare for a new era of LSU football. Sitting at 6-6, they can either finish with a winning record or a losing one for the first time since 1999.

We will stick to the former here with five reasons the team finds a way to win in Houston.

Tiger duo named to the SEC All-Freshman team

Malik Nabers and Maason Smith had big freshman seasons for the LSU Tigers when called upon.

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On Thursday, the Freshman All-SEC team was announced, LSU defensive end Maason Smith and wider receiver Malik Nabers were both named to the team. The league coaches vote on the Freshman All-SEC team.

A five-star recruit coming out of Terrebonne High School, Smith made a significant impact at LSU in his freshman season. Smith started the season as a defensive tackle and then was moved to defensive end. Smith finished the season with 19 tackles, five tackles for a loss, and four sacks. Three of those four sacks came in a game against McNeese State. Smith was having a great season before he got injured and missed the season’s final four games.

Nabers, a four-star recruit, played his high school ball at Southside; he started six out of the ten games he played. Nabers caught four passes for 143 yards and a touchdown against ULM; he had six receptions, his career-best so far in his young career the following week. The Freshman receiver finished the season with 26 catches for 400 yards and three touchdowns.

New Head coach Brian Kelly will have some young talent to work with Smith and Nabers on the roster. With two young players like that, LSU’s future could be bright. It’s up to Smith and Nabers to continue to develop so they can be the best players they can be.

Who were the top offensive players for the LSU Tigers in 2021?

Who stood out most on offense in 2021?

Much like the defensive side of the ball, the offense was under new management. Jake Peetz and DJ Mangas arrived from the Carolina Panthers to run the “Joe Brady” offense that Ed Orgeron wanted to bring back.

Prior to the season even got started the team lost two quarterbacks with TJ Finley leaving for Auburn and Myles Brennan breaking his arm. Arik Gilbert was gone as he transferred to Georgia. The team would be left with just two scholarship quarterbacks.

Early on in the season, it looked as if the passing offense would do enough damage to make up for the lack of a running game. Once Kayshon Boutte was lost for the season, they made more of an effort to run the ball. Against Florida, Ty Davis-Price made history with his school-record 287 yards rushing.

It will be interesting to see how this offense will look in 2022 under new head coach Brian Kelly, who has yet to announce who will run the offense. Perhaps a recently fired Joe Brady gets a phone call?

Looking at the regular season grades for LSU, here is how the top offensive weapons graded out on Pro Football Focus:

What Kayshon Boutte’s season-ending injury means for LSU Tigers

With no Kayshon Boutte, what is next for the offense?

On Monday afternoon, LSU head football coach Ed Orgeron confirmed a report that the team’s receiving threat — Kayshon Boutte — will be out for the rest of the year after exiting Saturday’s game with an ankle injury.

Boutte had eight receptions for 73 yards against the Wildcats when he exited the game with the Tigers trailing 35-14.

It will not be easy to replace Boutte’s skillset or his rapport with quarterback Max Johnson. Boutte is tied for the lead in receiving touchdowns in all of college football with nine touchdowns.

On the year, Boutte has 38 catches for 508 yards and nine touchdowns. After getting the nod for the starting lineup as a freshman in 2020, Boutte finished the season with 45 catches for 735 yards and five touchdowns. He also holds the SEC single-game record for receiving yards after hauling in 14 catches for 308 yards and three touchdowns.

Even through LSU’s struggles offensively at times this year, the Tigers always seemed to rely on and find a way to feature Boutte in the passing attack. How will his absence be felt and what does this mean for the Tigers moving forward?

Other pass-catchers will certainly have to step up. That list starts with Jack Bech and Brian Thomas Jr., the second and third-leading receivers on the LSU offense, both freshmen.

An interesting name to keep an eye out for is freshman Malik Nabers. Nabers has 106 receiving yards on the season but only seven receptions for an average of over 15 yards per catch. The young, downfield threat could potentially see more playing time and could give Johnson and the LSU offense a downfield threat in Boutte’s absence.

The Boutte injury also means the offense needs to prioritize fixing the run game that much more, not that the offensive staff needed any more motivation to do that. The Tigers ran well on Saturday against Kentucky.

Tyrion Davis-Price ran for 147 yards on 22 carries and two touchdowns in LSU’s loss to Kentucky. Orgeron said Monday that he was pleased with the way his team ran the football and said the offensive staff tried out different formations to get the running game going. With no Boutte, an emphasis has to be put on the running backs.

LSU is sitting at 3-3 on the season and has six games remaining, including a matchup at home against Florida on Saturday. It’s the first of four games against Top 25 teams (Florida, Ole Miss, Alabama, Arkansas) who will then finish the season with home games against Louisiana-Monroe and Texas A&M.

Injuries continue to pile up for this year’s Tigers team. Boutte is the latest in a string of impact players to go down and an easy way to sum up how LSU will likely cover up their losses on each side of the ball is that they likely won’t. Especially with such a talented player like Boutte. Just when you think LSU’s season couldn’t weirder or worse, it somehow did today with the Boutte news.

Report: Freshman wide receiver Malik Nabers to miss several games

The LSU Tigers were hit with another injury, freshman WR Malik Nabers will miss several games.

Football season for the LSU Tigers will begin on Saturday as they head to the Rose Bowl for a showdown with the UCLA Bruins. It won’t come without some injury news.

Head coach Ed Orgeron spoke with members of the media on Wednesday morning and stated that freshman Malik Nabers will miss several games. Wilson Alexander of The Advocate reports that Nabers is dealing with a shoulder injury. The Tigers’ wide receiver depth takes a bit of a hit after Nabers showed out during fall camp.

Nabers was expected to see some time in the wide receiver rotation but that will have to wait for now. The team is deep at the position but it could slow the progression of a young wide receiver. Nabers was the No. 8 recruit out of the state of Louisiana in the 2021 recruiting class. Originally committed to play at Mississippi State but flipped on Dec. 16, 2020, and signed his letter of intent to play for Ed Orgeron.

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The Tigers are hopeful they can get off to a fast start in 2021 by taking down the Bruins. Last season LSU fell in the opener to Mississippi State 44-34. This time around they play a nonconference opponent from the Pac-12. This will be the first look for fans of the LSU changes from last year’s team.

Jake Peetz will call the plays from the booth, as will new defensive coordinator Daronte Jones. The kickoff for the LSU-UCLA game is set for 7:30 pm CST and will be aired on Fox.

Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.

LSU flips four-star Mississippi State commitment

The early signing period has been an interesting one for LSU football.

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The early signing period is never without surprises and big moments, and this year was no different for LSU football, who saw Mississippi State wide receiver commitment Malik Nabers flip his pledge from the Bulldogs to the Tigers on Wednesday.

Ed Orgeron consistently stresses recruiting in the state of the Louisiana, and considering the four-star wideout calls Lafayette home, this is a big win for his program.

The 6-foot, 190-pounder originally committed to Mississippi State back in July, and held offers from a number of prestigious programs including Penn State, Notre Dame, Michigan and Texas among others.

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Nabers is currently ranked as the No. 147 overall prospect in the country, the No. 18 overall receiver in the nation and the No. 6 overall prospect in the state of Louisiana, according to 247 Sports.

He’s the second player to flip from Mississippi State to LSU, along with junior college linebacker Navonteque Strong.

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