Connect with us

Published

on

BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU coach Brian Kelly sounds confident that Alabama transfer Aaron Anderson can transform the fifth-ranked Tigers’ return game from a turnover-prone liability into a game-breaking asset.

“He’s pretty dynamic,” Kelly said Monday. “It’s just a different look back there.”

Anderson, a receiver from New Orleans, was named LSU’s primary returner on Monday as the Tigers prepared to face No. 8 Florida State in Orlando this Sunday night.

It’s a rematch of a season opener last year that saw special teams blunders by LSU — including two muffed punts — play a pivotal role in a 24-23 FSU victory that was decided on a missed extra point after the Tigers had scored a potential tying touchdown at the end of regulation.

The rematch is “going to come down to the execution of the littlest things, and as you guys know, it came down to that the last time we played,” Kelly said. “Fielding the football cleanly, executing extra points — all those things mattered and will matter again in this matchup.”

Malik Nabers, who enters this season as one of the nation’s mostly highly regarded receivers, took on punt-return duties in last season’s Labor Day weekend matchup in New Orleans. Although he’s been an exceptionally sure-handed and prolific receiver, fielding punts didn’t seem to suit him early last season. He was responsible for both muffed punts.

The 5-foot-8, 190-pound Anderson, who starred at Edna Karr High School in New Orleans’ “West Bank,” had planned to go to LSU throughout high school. But Anderson decommitted in 2021 when then-coach Ed Orgeron, who’d coached LSU to a national title in 2019, resigned during the second of consecutive non-winning seasons that followed.

Anderson took a redshirt year as a freshman last season at Alabama because of a knee injury that wiped out most of his season. Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide saw their hopes for a third-straight SEC West crown in 2022 derailed by an overtime loss at LSU last November.

The Tigers went on to secure the SEC West title in what was Kelly’s first season in Baton Rouge after coaching at Notre Dame for the previous 12.

With expectations for the Tigers soaring this past offseason, Anderson returned to his home state. In addition to working toward a regular role as a receiver who also could contribute to the perimeter running game, Anderson had been auditioning throughout training camp in August to take over as the primary returner.

Kelly has liked what he’s seen from Anderson, who as a high school track athlete posted several sub-11-second times at 100 meters.

“From a special teams standpoint, that’s what we were looking for,” he said. “Our miscues last year were evident. We didn’t field the ball very well.”

This season, Kelly said, “we think special teams should and can be a positive for us and influence games.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Kelly yells at LSU player, gets yelled at by other

Published

on

By

Kelly yells at LSU player, gets yelled at by other

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — LSU coach Brian Kelly was caught on camera screaming at one player and getting yelled at by another.

The sideline scenes were clear signs of frustration for a program that was on its way to losing a third consecutive game, at unranked Florida on Saturday. Now, the Tigers (6-4, 3-3 SEC) will be the ones out of the polls following the 27-16 defeat.

And the LSU fan base might be out of patience with Kelly.

“This is a simple exercise of do you want to fight or not?” Kelly said after his team’s latest loss. “Do you want to fight and take responsibility as coaches and players that we’re not playing well and we’re struggling right now?

“There’s a rough spot here that we have to fight through, and we have to do it together.”

Kelly appeared to get into it with wide receiver Chris Hilton Jr. in the first half. Kelly got in Hilton’s face after a play, and online lip readers suggested Kelly eventually called Hilton “uncoachable.”

Late in the third quarter, cameras captured wideout Kyren Lacy yelling at Kelly on the sideline after an empty possession.

In the clip, Lacy could be seen apparently letting Kelly have it. The coach’s eyes widened as he seemingly realized what was happening. The ABC camera quickly cut away from the interaction.

LSU lost to Florida for the first time since 2018. This one came despite the Tigers running 92 plays and having the ball for more than 41 minutes.

“We’re going to put guys on the field that are going to fight and do everything they can do to correct where we are right now — and that is struggling with consistent execution,” Kelly said. “I think we’ve seen it enough to know we have to be better as coaches and players.”

Kelly’s streak of 10-win seasons will end at seven. Kelly won double-digit games in each of his last five seasons at Notre Dame and extended it with consecutive 10-win campaigns in Baton Rouge.

But losing three in a row, to Texas A&M, Alabama and Florida, makes it impossible to get past nine victories.

Continue Reading

Sports

Smart critical of CFP committee after UGA victory

Published

on

By

Smart critical of CFP committee after UGA victory

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia coach Kirby Smart wouldn’t say if being ranked 12th by the College Football Playoff selection committee motivated the Bulldogs to prove a point in Saturday night’s game against No. 7 Tennessee.

Coming off last week’s ugly 28-10 loss at Ole Miss, their second defeat of the season, the Bulldogs would be the first team left out of the playoff if the 12-team bracket was based on the current rankings. No. 13 Boise State would have received the automatic bid as the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion and have jumped them.

That’s probably not the case anymore, after Georgia manhandled Tennessee 31-17 at Sanford Stadium.

“I don’t know what they’re looking for. I really don’t,” Smart said of the CFP selection committee. “I wish they could really define the criteria. I wish they could do the eyeball test where they come down here and look at the people we’re playing against and look at them. You can’t see that stuff on TV, and so I don’t know what they look for. But that’s for somebody else to decide. I’m worried about our team.”

For the first time in a while, Georgia looked pretty good on both sides of the ball against Tennessee. The Bulldogs fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter but came back to tie the score at 17 at the half. Tennessee had only eight first downs and didn’t score in the final 30 minutes. It was the ninth time a Josh Heupel-coached team has scored fewer than 20 points; four of them came against Georgia.

The Bulldogs won their 29th consecutive game at home and defeated the Volunteers for the eighth straight time, all by double digits.

“Our kids showed resilience,” Smart said. “I’m proud of them. Look, it was a week ago, a couple of hours, that we were dead and gone. People had written us off. It’s hard to play in this league, week in and week out, on the road.”

After the Ole Miss loss, Georgia fell from third to 12th in the CFP rankings. Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the chairman of the CFP selection committee, said the Bulldogs’ inconsistent offense and turnovers were reasons why.

“They’re not in that environment,” Smart said. “They’re not at Ole Miss in that environment, playing against that defense, which is top five in the country with one of the best pass rushers in the country, and they’re fired up. They got a two-score lead, and they’re coming every play. They don’t know. They don’t understand that.”

Georgia has played the most difficult schedule in the FBS, according to ESPN’s College Football Power Index, and has the third-best strength of record, which reflects whether an average Top 25 team would have a team’s record or better against its schedule.

The Bulldogs also lost 41-34 at Alabama on Sept. 28 after falling behind 28-0 in the first half. They defeated Clemson 34-3 in their opener and won 30-15 at Texas on Oct. 19.

Adding a dominant victory over Tennessee should help Georgia’s CFP chances. It closes the regular season with two non-SEC games at home, against UMass on Saturday and rival Georgia Tech on Nov. 29.

“It’s just the tale of each week, and we’re trying to be the cumulative, whole, really good quality team and not be on this emotional roller coaster that’s controlled by people in a room somewhere that may not understand football like we do as coaches,” Smart said. “We as coaches, look at people and say, ‘What can we do better? How do we get better?’ I respect their decision. I respect their opinion. But I mean, it’s different in our league.”

One of the big reasons for Georgia’s success against Tennessee was quarterback Carson Beck, who completed 25 of 40 passes for 347 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He had thrown 12 interceptions in the previous six games.

Beck also scored on a 10-yard run that gave Georgia a 24-17 lead with 5:32 left in the third quarter.

“I didn’t really feel any pressure, to be honest,” Beck said. “I stood up in front of the team on Monday and talked to them about how I felt about how our season has gone. I told them that whatever has happened has happened and that all we can control is what we can control moving forward.”

Georgia’s offensive line didn’t allow a sack, while the Bulldogs sacked Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava five times. Georgia had 453 yards and went 5-for-5 in the red zone.

“I think everybody understood the situation that we were in,” Beck said. “When our backs are against the wall, the only way out is through what is in front of you.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Sources: No. 2 ’25 QB Lewis decommits from USC

Published

on

By

Sources: No. 2 '25 QB Lewis decommits from USC

Julian Lewis, the No. 2 player and quarterback in the 2025 class, decommitted from USC on Sunday, sources told ESPN, sealing a seismic development for one of the nation’s top prospects in the closing weeks of the recruiting cycle.

Lewis’ decommitment, which had been expected, comes the day after the 6-foot-1, 195-pound quarterback took an unofficial visit to Georgia for the game against Tennessee. He also visited Colorado on Oct. 26 and expressed interest in Indiana throughout his recruitment.

The plan remains for Lewis to commit in the upcoming weeks and enroll early in school, according to sources. He’s the top uncommitted player in the class of 2025 and his choice looms as one of the biggest stories of the early signing period with Colorado, Georgia and Indiana expected to contend for his signature before the signing period opens Dec. 4.

Sources also told ESPN on Sunday that four-star Texas A&M quarterback pledge Husan Longstreet, No. 47 in the 2025 ESPN 300, has flipped his pledge to USC in the wake of Lewis’ departure from the Trojans’ incoming class.

USC quarterbacks coach Luke Huard attended Longstreet’s playoff game at Corona Centennial High School in California on Friday night, and ESPN’s No. 4 pocket passer visited the Trojans during their game against Nebraska on Saturday.

Lewis had been verbally committed to the Trojans since Aug. 22, 2023. Yet questions had swirled over his recruitment from the summer into the fall and all the way through to his decommitment from USC on Sunday.

Lewis’ move marks the latest blow to a USC class that has now lost six commitments from the 2025 ESPN 300 in this cycle.

That list of high-profile departures from Lincoln Riley’s incoming class includes five-star defenders Justus Terry and Isaiah Gibson, and Lewis’ exit stands as USC’s third recruiting loss in the past seven days following the flips of defensive lineman Hayden Lowe (Miami) and cornerback Shamar Arnoux (Auburn).

The Trojans sat ninth in ESPN’s latest class rankings for the 2025 cycle prior to Lewis’ decommitment.

With the move, Lewis instantly regains status as the one of nation’s most sought-after uncommitted prospects. He first entered that realm in 2022 when he burst onto the national scene with 4,118 yards and 48 touchdowns while leading Carrollton to the Georgia 7A state title game in his freshman season.

That debut campaign earned Lewis a place as the No. 1 prospect in the 2026 class before he reclassified into the 2025 cycle earlier this year, several months after his commitment to USC last August.

Continue Reading

Trending