Brian Kelly provides update on running back health

LSU head coach Brian Kelly offered a brief health update on his running back room on Tuesday with the Tigers’ season opener less than two weeks away. The week prior, a trio of running backs appeared to be limited during an open portion of practice.

That trio — Armoni Goodwin, Logan Diggs and Josh Williams — will be integral to LSU’s success this season. And the good news is whatever limited them is not a problem any more.

“They practiced today for the first time. So we had a full complement of running backs out there today,” Kelly said on Tuesday.

Those three, along with John Emery Jr — who has gotten his academic troubles out of the way, it seems — and Noah Cain will be the five main backs for LSU this year, and Kelly will be glad to rotate guys in and out, keeping legs fresh and avoiding future situations where depth gets depleted.

A five-man running back rotation might seem deep, but absent a bell cow back emerging, Kelly will be happy to share the rock.

Kelly thinks depth at running back is key for LSU this year

Jayden Daniels dominated LSU‘s rushing attack in 2022, but head coach Brian Kelly is expecting a more balanced attack from his offense this season.

Still, the Tigers have been down numbers in the running back room all off-season long. If they ever got to full health, keeping a flexible rotation will only benefit LSU in the long run in 2023.

“We’ve only had four running backs that were actually healthy at one time. Even with the number of eight sounds crazy, there’s the natural wear and tear on backs, we wanna keep them healthy,” Kelly said earlier in camp. “The real advantage is that we can keep these guys fresh throughout the entire season.

Cain leads the returning backs with his 10 touchdowns from a season ago despite rushing for just 409 yards in 2022. Williams averaged 5.5 yards per carry to go along with six touchdowns, and if Goodwin can remain healthy, he can be a strong goal-line piece having scored on five of his 45 rushing attempts in 2023. John Emery also totaled 504 all-purpose yards for eight touchdowns as well.

Diggs finished his final season with Notre Dame having carried 165 rushing attempts for 822 yards and four touchdowns before transferring to LSU. He also added 10 receptions for 211 yards and two touchdowns in the passing game from the running back position.