Andre Antony Returning in 2021, Zach Von Rosenberg Going Pro

UPDATE

Add Jabril Cox to the list of departures. Cox also announced Sunday he’ll be entering the NFL Draft. This felt like the biggest given, Cox by most accounts has a high second round/late first round draft pick grade.

Sunday was a good news/bad news kind of day for the 2021 LSU football team.

The good news came in the form of senior defensive end Andre Anthony tweeting that he too would be returning to school for the 2021 season. Anthony follows a recent trend of starting players deciding to come back to LSU like Ed Ingram, Ali Gaye, Chasen Hines and Liam Shanahan.

Anthony had the best year of his LSU career in 2020, setting personal bests in tackles, 24, tackles for loss, 5.5, and sacks, 5.5. Anthony led the Tigers in tackles for loss and sacks.

As we talked about when Ali Gaye announced his return, LSU could have an awfully good defensive line in 2021 with Anthony, Gaye, BJ Ojulari, Jaquelin Roy and true freshman Maason Smith all on hand.

For those of you keeping track, the players LSU is still awaiting decisions on include Austin Deculus, Glen Logan and Dare Rosenthal.

The bad news for LSU is that Zach Von Rosenberg elected to enter the 2021 NFL draft.

Von Rosenberg has had a fascinating career. He was taken in the sixth round of the 2009 MLB Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates after a stellar pitching career at Zachary High School, which included being named the state’s Mr. Baseball twice and winning four state titles.

Von Rosenberg hung up the baseball spikes in 2014 and in 2016 walked on to the LSU football team originally as a tight end. Von Rosenberg was eventually awarded a scholarship and served LSU’s starting punter for the past four seasons. He was on the All-SEC freshman team in 2017 and was a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award this past season.

“Life can knock you down and I have had some dark days,” Von Rosenberg said in his statement. “But life’s failures are not what define you. it is how well you respond to the adversity that defines you.

“LSU will always be a part of me. I will cherish these memories and the friends I’ve made forever. There is nothing like a Saturday night in Death Valley inhabited by a hundred thousand rabid purple and gold fans! And there is no energy like Tiger Stadium energy. It is truly a one-of-a-kind experience and that is what college football is all about.”

LSU did sign Peyton Todd from West Monroe to its 2021 recruiting class. Todd is considered the No. 1 punter prospect in America.