Quarterback Jayden Daniels was in clear and serious pain multiple times late in LSU's loss to Texas A&M in the regular season finale, and he's spent the past two days in a walking boot to protect his injured ankle.
The good news: It's more precautionary than anything else. Daniels' exams were positive on Sunday, and head coach Brian Kelly said he's hopeful his quarterback will be participating at practice on Tuesday. The injury was not a high-ankle sprain, which is a positive for Daniels to be able to have his full mobility for a date in the SEC Championship against Georgia this weekend.
"He's going to need to have, obviously, all of his mobility and more and early indications look pretty good," Kelly said. "So we'll have a better understanding tomorrow. But the report was good today and we'll take it from there."
Daniels has been one of the biggest catalysts for the Tigers' surprise run to the SEC title game in the first place, largely due to his elite dual-threat ability. He's completed 68% of his passes on the season for 2,566 yards and 15 TDs, while also rushing the ball 174 times for 824 yards and another 11 TDs. Those 26 combined TDs come against just four total turnovers (2 interceptions and 2 fumbles).
It's a bit of positive news after a painful fall, figuratively and literally, in a game that could've set the Tigers up for an upset bid with everything still in front of them. The 38-23 loss dropped LSU to 9-3 and effectively eliminates the Tigers from College Football Playoff consideration. Still, an SEC Championship title in Year 1 of the Brian Kelly era would still be a massive victory, and the team will need to be at full strength to have any realistic shot of upsetting top-ranked Georgia.
That's expected to be the case for LSU's starting running back Josh Williams, who missed the finale against the Aggies.
"We're obviously very conservative with him and making sure that we got, you know, him at what we considered full 100%," Kelly said. "He's the kind of runner that needs that. And I think we feel very good that he's going to be able to be part of the game plan this weekend."
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MORE FROM BRIAN KELLY
WAS AN SECC APPEARANCE A REALISTIC GOAL FOR THIS SEASON?
Call it what you want, no one expected the 2022 version of LSU football to seriously contend for an SEC West title. But upsets of Ole Miss and Alabama landed the Tigers in exactly that spot. Was that, honestly, the goal going in? Here's what Kelly had to say.
"We didn't have a board in our team room that said, you know, SEC West championship. Our board was about standards and getting to that standard, building better habits, how we fought how we prepared," he said. "So it was much more about a process than it was for any particular goals. So, I'd be lying to tell you that that was one of them or wasn't one of them, because it really wasn't even part of our thought process. It was really about getting our guys to, you know, live to a standard that we have set within the program. And that's generally what most coaches are looking at in Year 1. You're not you're not thinking about outcomes quite as much."
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HOW BIG WAS THAT BOUNCE-BACK PERFORMANCE FOR JOHN EMERY?
After ball-security issues plagued John Emery late in the season, the senior running back was one of the few bright spots in the loss to Texas A&M, pounding in a career-high three touchdowns in the loss.
"I think he needed it for himself. You know, I think that obviously he took it hard last week, the week before, not taking care of the football. And, you know, [RB coach Frank] Wilson does a great job of making sure that those guys understand how important it is," Kelly said. "So it was great to see him come back this week ... with his career best three rushing touchdowns. So a really nice way to respond from some adversity and that's what this game gives you the opportunity for and it was good to see it."
WHAT HAPPENED AGAINST A&M
"I think, uncharacteristically, we've played with traits over talent all year and some of those traits were not there as much," Kelly said. "Playing smart, having a great attention to detail. You know, some of the focus that's necessary, for some reason those things weren't in place. And we have to play with those traits.
"And, yeah, we have talent and our talent has to show as well, but the real success of this team has been the ability to rely on traits and talent and some of those traits were not there for whatever reason. And our players know it. They took it hard after the game, they care. They really want to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again. We can get beat, but we don't want to be beat with not bringing our very best. And so you know, unfortunately, it's one of those lessons to be learned in terms of how you need to prepare each and every week, and, again, I think our team understands that."
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