Brian Kelly: Garrett Dellinger has been ruled out for Alabama game

The decision is in on LSU offensive lineman Garrett Dellinger for Saturday’s rivalry game against Alabama. He has been ruled out, Brian Kelly announced Thursday.

Dellinger is working his way back from a knee injury and Kelly previously said he was considered day-to-day as he comes back. He also said he didn’t want to make the injury worse, which is why he ruled Dellinger out for the matchup against the Crimson Tide.

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“He is better,” Kelly told reporters Thursday night. “But I’m not going to put him in the position that I think he’s at right now.”

That means it’ll be next man up for LSU against Alabama Saturday against 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Brian Kelly: Garrett Dellinger ‘had a good weekend’

During his previous injury update earlier this week, Kelly said Dellinger was looking better as he comes back from the injury. However, he acknowledged the need for a cautious approach to make sure things don’t get worse.

“He had a good weekend,” Kelly said. “He was here this weekend. As you can imagine, that’s a little bit different because he’s got to be able to take a load on that knee. When you’re coming back from a knee injury, it’s easier to, obviously, not have to worry about running and cutting. But you’ve got to be able to take the load, and that’s what we’re working on right now.

“We think we’re going to get him there, but it’s still a process because now, we’re going to add practice onto it. We’ve got to see how he responds each day after practice. We had people leaning on him individually over the weekend. Now, we’re going to be leaning on him for a full practice, and we’ll see how it goes. But he’s making good progress.”