LSU’s initial injury report for this week’s trip to Auburn featured potentially big developments in terms of roster availability for the SEC showdown.
Junior tight end Trey’Dez Green (East Feliciana, Zachary) was no longer listed on the Tigers’ injury report for the first time since being knocked out of Sept. 19 game at Ole Miss.
The top returning weapon on offense caught 14 passes for 222 yards and one touchdown in two and a half games before missing the past month with a sprained and bruised right knee and would represent a major boost for quarterback Sam Leavitt and company and matchup problem for opposing defenses upon his return.
Additionally, none of the players who exited this past Saturday’s game against Mississippi State — senior edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen, wide receivers Jackson Harris and Eugene “Tre” Brown III and freshmen defensive end Lamar Brown (University Lab) — were listed on Wednesday’s report to the SEC.
Umanmielen’s eight sacks thus far tie the Ole Miss transfer for second nationally, and he remains on pace to challenge LSU’s program record of 12 in a single season (Arden Key, 2016).
Harris has particularly emerged in the past four games since Green’s injury to become the team’s leading receiver at midseason with 27 receptions for 456 yards and five touchdowns.
Kiffin declined to update the availability status of either player Monday. But linebacker T.J. Dottery, close with Umanmielen going back to their time together at Ole Miss, said Saturday his teammate had told him he would be fine, and Harris met with reporters Tuesday and shared a similar sentiment on his own status.
Linebackers Whit Weeks and Charles Ross II, safety Dashawn Spears (Denham Springs) and wide receiver Phillip Wright III (Destrehan) remained listed as out for this week.
Freshman defensive tackle Richard “Big Rich” Anderson, the former Edna Karr star, was listed as doubtful.
Anderson is one of 15 Tigers to have played defensive snaps in all seven games thus far as a key rotation member of an interior group that has emerged as a strength on the unit.
The 6-foot-3, 330-pound freshman has three tackles and a pair of quarterback hurries thus far.
