Link Gumbo: Utah State Week

We are getting into the thick of the fall meaning that there is no shortage of news regarding LSU athletics. Let us take a look at all of the news and notes from the week with Utah State coming into town.

We will begin with some offensive line news. Ed Ingram will start at LG this week as Adrian Magee slides to LT, meaning Saahdiq Charles will be in and out of the lineup. Coach O broke the news at his Thursday press conference.

Ed Ingram quickly claiming his starting job back should come as no surprise. He was a really good player as a freshmen in 2017 and the word is that he stayed in shape throughout his suspension.

Coach O was ambiguous when it came to why to Charles, who has been in and out of the lineup this fall, would be unavailable on Saturday. Charles struggled with injuries throughout fall camp but he has also missed time for what have been deemed “coach’s decisions.”

The bye week came at the perfect time last week for a banged up LSU team but many of those injuries are still issues going into Saturday and certainly something to keep an eye on.

At one point it looked like star DL Rashard Lawrence might play this week. Those plans were put into question after he re-injured himself at Wednesday’s practice. The injury was nothing major but it was just enough to set Lawrence back a week. Lawrence is not expected to play tomorrow.

The tweet below from James Moran recaps the remaining injury news coming out of Thursday’s press conference.

Obviously the big news here is that K’Lavon Chaisson will return. We have seen what LSU’s pass rush looks like without him and it’s not the prettiest thing in the world. The significance of the Glen Logan injury is elevated with Lawrence still being absent. Utah State likes to run their offense at warp speed and that typically calls for a good bit of rotation on defense to prevent players from tiring. If Logan and Lawrence both don’t suit up, the healthier DL will be asked to play a much larger role.

Also announced at the press conference yesterday was the suspension of OLB Ray Thornton. No timetable was announced for when Thornton should be expected back. Thornton does not play a huge role but he has appeared in every game so far this season.

Sticking with personnel news, LSU lost DB Kenan Jones to the transfer portal yesterday. Jones took to Twitter to announce the news himself.

Lanard Fournette has also left the LSU team. Just to be clear, there are no other issues going on here. This was Fournette’s choice. Fournette has already received his degree last May. We all wish the best to Fournette in his future.

For an in depth look at tomorrow’s game click here to read ATVS’ Billy Gomila’s preview.

Other pre-game reads worth your time:

• From Cody Worsham and LSU Sports: A story about senior LSU DB Kristian Fulton and his progression during his time at LSU.
• From Ross Dellenger and Sports Illustrated: A story about how the LSU spread finally came to fruition.
• From Brody Miller and The Athletic ($): A deep-dive on Derek Stingley detailing what goes into to already being one of the best CBs in the SEC at the age of 18.

If you are going to the game tomorrow click here to see the game-day timeline which includes a 9:15 AM walk down Victory Hill.

Given that the LSU kickoff is at, there will be a lot of down time on Saturday after the game to watch other football games. If you are wondering how you should go about that, ATVS and Adam Henderson have you covered.

If you can get past the 11 AM kickoff, tomorrow is not a bad day of football and we even have a top 10 showdown as Auburn heads to Florida. I think Florida wins that but I seem to be in the minority thinking that. I think LSU handles Utah State somewhere in the 49-28 range. Enjoy your college football weekend.