By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – No. 14 LSU hasn’t had a true freshman crack the starting lineup this football season other than sporadic one-game starts.
It’s a vast contrast from a year ago when then-true freshmen Will Campbell (left offensive tackle) and Mason Taylor (tight end) were starters from day one. They were eventually joined in the starting lineup by true freshmen Emery Jones Jr. (right offensive tackle) and Harold Perkins Jr. (linebacker) LSU head coach Brian Kelly played 15 true freshmen last season.
Heading into Saturday’s regular-season finale vs. Texas A&M, Kelly has played 22 true freshmen but most of those have been on special teams.
Here’s a look at the Tigers’ most significant true freshmen of 2023 who will push for significant playing next season:
- LB Whit Weeks, 6-3, 222, Watkinsville (Ga.) Oconee County:Weeks, the younger brother of Virginia junior transfer West Weeks, made 31 of his 38 tackles (seventh on the team) this season in a four-game stretch after transfer starter Omar Speights suffered a hip flexor injury in game 2 vs. Grambling.
He had 8 tackles at Mississippi State in his first college start, 9 each the next two weeks vs. Arkansas and at Ole Miss and 5 at Missouri.
“Coming into fall camp, I was running with the twos and not really with ones,” said Weeks, who’s expected to play against Texas A&M after missing the last two games with a gash on his foot. “I knew if my time would come, I’d make the most of it.”
- DB Javien Toviano, 6-1, 201, Arlington (Texas) Martin:A 5-star recruit as a safety and No. 3 nationally at his position, Toviano has 25 tackles and a pass breakup in 11 games with the Tigers switching back and forth between safety, nickel and now a starting corner.
“It has been a bit of a transition, but I pride myself on being versatile,” Toviano said. “Whether it’s safety or corner or whatever the team needs to play that position.
“I’ve been bouncing around since springtime. I started at corner, worked into nickel and two or three weeks ago went back (to corner).
“At the end of the day, it’s football. You backpedal, you open up and you’re defending the ball. That’s my mindset.”
- RB Kaleb Jackson, 6-0, 225, Baton Rouge’s Liberty Magnet: His powerful, explosive running, either from the backfield or as a kickoff returner, is eye-catching.
Jackson has rushed for 149 yards and three TDs in 11 games and has returned 10 kickoffs for an average of 24.9 yards.
Against Mississippi State, he trucked MSU freshman safety Issac Smith in the same fashion that former LSU all-American back Leonard Fournette leveled an Ole Miss defender in 2016. Fournette saw Jackson’s run and jokingly tweeted, “That man (Smith) has a family in the stands.”
“I had a really good view,” said LSU junior starting running back Logan Diggs of Jackson’s steamroller run. “Once he bounced outside, I knew he’d either run over someone, jump over someone or just run past them. Kaleb is a really special running back. I’m taking him under my wing, teaching him everything that I know so he can be the best that he can be.”
- RB Trey Holly, 5-7, 192 Farmerville’s Union Parish High: The state of Louisiana high school all-time leading rusher leader (all divisions) with 10,523 yards has made the most of his limited plays in LSU’s crowded veteran running back room.
Yet having played in just two games, he rushed for 110 yards on 10 attempts including a memorable 67 yard run vs. Army for his first college touchdown. For his effort, he was named SEC Freshman of the Week.
“Man, that was amazing,” Holly said of his almost straight-line TD sprint. “I always dreamed about playing in Death Valley (Tiger Stadium), so that was like a dream come true.”
Holly said he’s waiting his turn for more playing time next season while absorbing as much as he can from LSU’s upperclassmen backs like Diggs and senior Josh Williams.
“I’ve still got a lot to learn,” Holly said. “Josh, Logan and all the upperclassmen are showing me the way. Each and every practice, I’m asking them questions. It’s a joy because they are my and Kaleb’s older brothers.”
Holly said he and Jackson – “my brother from another mother,” Holly said – had a plan to attend LSU together.
“We always talk about being the one-two punch you guys are going to see in the upcoming years,” Holly said.
- TE Mac Markway, 6-4, 250, St. Louis (Mo.) De Smet Jesuit: Ranked as the nation’s No. 3 tight end by ESPN.com and No. 8 by Rivals.com, Markway started vs. Mississippi State in place of injured starter Mason Taylor who Markway gives credit for mentoring him this season.
“I’ve learned so much just mentally from him,” Markway said of Taylor “like just learn how to process everything a little bit quicker.”
Markway has 3 catches for 16 yards in 10 games this season, including his first college TD last Saturday against Georgia State when he broke wide open to grab a 3-yard scoring strike from QB Jayden Daniels.
“I was really talking to my dad the night before (then game) how it would be awesome to score a touchdown as a freshman,“ Markway said. “Just to get that one was like a dream come true.”
- CB Ashton Stamps, 6-0, 188, New Orleans’ Archbishop Rummel:Just a 3-star recruit, Stamps was the buzz of pre-season training camp with interceptions and pass breakups galore.
His impact this season hasn’t been as dramatic. He has 17 tackles including 8 last week vs. Georgia State, but he has steadily learned on the job playing in all 11 games and starting vs. Ole Miss.
“You might not get into the game until the third quarter, and you might be cold when you get in there,” Stamps said. “It might be a little disadvantage because you’re not warm, but you just got to make the most of the opportunity. You’ve got to be ready.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com