LSU cornerback Aidan Anding is expected to miss his sophomore season this fall after an Achilles injury in Saturday’s scrimmage.
Coach Lane Kiffin confirmed Tuesday the loss of the former Ruston star, who had been having a strong spring overall including a two-interception performance Saturday.
“A difficult injury — Achilles and out for the season,” Kiffin said. “And he was playing great. He was actually one of the two players of the game defensively Saturday. So, really unfortunate for him. It’s the second season-ending injury. That’s a big thing in this sport different than other sports. Injuries are real in this sport. And a lot of times as you look back to your really good seasons, you’ve got to have some breaks that way and avoid those.
“I’ve looked at everything in that — even limiting practice. But we don’t even tackle at all. But both injuries had nothing to do with scrimmage type of plays, contact plays. They both were just freak injuries, which a lot of times that is where they come from in football. A lot of it’s not from the actual tackling.”
The 5-foot-11, 170-pound cornerback, a former multisport standout at Ruston, joins another former Louisiana all-state star on the sideline after former Evangel Christian defensive end Gabriel Reliford‘s injured his knee early in spring.
Both players were expected to be notable pieces of the rotation as their respective positions, with Kiffin admitting Tuesday that the new development of Anding’s loss does present another challenge in terms of cornerback depth.
“Concern,” the coach said. “But, again, back to where are you in my concerns, you don’t have a spring portal. So when people talk about coming into a program and change, get used to the players that you have, you see things and you go to the spring and the second window. Well that’s for the first year gone, and that just it what it is. That makes it more challenging in your first year flipping the roster, and that’s a good example. You get an injury like that, well, you don’t have a portal to go change. You can’t put ’em on IR and pick someone off waivers like in the NFL. So that’s a concern, but just one we’ve got to deal with.”