What LSU head coach Brian Kelly said about injuries, facing Alabama
LSU's Brian Kelly kicked off the SEC's weekly Wednesday teleconference. During his 10-minute slot with reporters, Kelly addressed facing Alabama and provided the latest injury updates on some of the Tiger's key players.
Here are some of the highlights from Kelly's 10-minute window this week.
Opening Statement...
"We were off last week and certainly preparing for an outstanding football team in Alabama. Our guys are certainly prepared for the very best. We’re going against a Heisman Trophy winner and a consistent, elite football team that Coach Saban puts out there each and every week. So we know the challenge in front of us, but it’s an exciting opportunity for our football team to play in Tiger Stadium on national TV and we welcome the challenge. We know it’s gonna be a great one. But these are the games that you look forward to playing when you go to LSU, and that’s why these kids come here. Again, our preparation will be the key here as we continue to go through the week, and again, we’ll have to play our very best and our players will have to be at their very best against a great opponent."
On the latest on LSU’s injured players…
"(John) Emery practiced well the last couple of days, so he is a go. (Jack) Bech has practiced well. He is a go. (Garrett) Dellinger was better yesterday. I’m gonna still reserve judgment on him until we get to game day. He would probably be a day-to-day situation."
On how Dellinger affects the offensive line starters…
"I don’t think we would put him back into the starting rotation, but he would be somebody that would be able to be in a rotation for us, which would be very beneficial in being able to take some of the snaps away from the rotation at the guard position. And if it can give us that kind of depth at the guard position, that helps us out in the long run. It’d be great to get him back. We don’t need him back for 60 snaps, but if we could get 20-25 really good, quality snaps, it just makes us more effective throughout the game at the guard position."
On getting BJ Ojulari and Harold Perkins on the field at the same time…
We have the ability to make defensive calls that have them on the field the whole time, so we just wanted to add that into our defensive call structure to make sure that’s what we felt was best for our team, that they could be on the field at the same time. We had to do that in certain situational calls, meaning third down or some nickel or dime situations. Now, we can play base defense with both of them on the field, so now we have the ability to do that at any time, and that’s really the biggest difference."
On defending Bryce Young...
"There’s no real good answer. If I had one, I certainly would be voicing it. In many instances, you can’t defend him because he’s so elusive and he wants to throw the football. He could take off so many times, but he’s trying to find receivers down the field and just has a great awareness, a sense. He’s a true quarterback. He’s not a scramble-around guy that is just throwing it up there. He’s very intentional about everything that he does. He’s not taking sacks. He’s the Heisman Trophy winner, and he should be. He’s the best player in college football."