Brian Kelly rules out two players for Week 8 against Army

LSU won’t be at full-strength for its matchup against Army this weekend. On Thursday, head coach Brian Kelly revealed offensive tackle Emery Jones and defensive lineman Mekhi Wingo will be out for the contest, per The Bengal Tiger’s Matthew Brune.

Wingo’s injury is nothing new. The standout junior played limited snaps against Auburn due to injury issues. Meanwhile, Jones’ injury is fresh, occurring in LSU’s 48-18 win over Auburn on Saturday. Following the victory, the starting right tackle was diagnosed with a right ankle sprain.

While Kelly’s announcement is disappointing, it won’t come as a shock to LSU fans. On Monday, the 61-year-old head coach listed the two players as doubtful.

“We’ve got two guys that are doubtful for this weekend,” Kelly said. “That’s Emery Jones and Mekhi Wingo. They’ll be listed as doubtful. We’ll see how they progress throughout the week.”

While Jones and Wingo will be limited to the sideline, Kelly announced wide receiver Chris Hilton Jr. will suit up for the Tigers’ showdown with Army. Hilton was the only LSU player unavailable in the Tigers’ win over Auburn. Hilton has been out since LSU’s loss to Ole Miss on Sept. 30.

LSU refuses to overlook Army

Although the Tigers will miss their two starters on Saturday, their absence shouldn’t lead to an LSU loss. The Black Knights are 2-4 on the season while the Tigers boast a 5-2 record and 4-1 mark in the SEC. Despite LSU’s expected advantage in the outing, Kelly isn’t allowing his team to overlook Army.

“It’ll be important for our guys to think about what’s important right now,” Kelly said on Monday. “The bye week’s not important right now. We don’t go to the bye week this week. This week, we need to focus on our development and we need to focus on our process and we need to focus on Army. If we focus on anything else, we’ll get beat.

“This football team is not a team that can play with the dimmer. We’re either on or off. We need to be on. If we’re locked in and doing our thing the right way, we’re going to have a good Saturday. If we’re not, we’re gonna struggle. We’ll talk about that today when we meet. We’ve got to be locked in on our process and how we prepare this week against a really tough opponent.”

LSU and Army will clash at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.