Brian Kelly provides Armoni Goodwin, Garrett Dellinger injury updates

Fresh off a win over Alabama, No. 7 LSU is getting healthier for the home stretch as it looks to defend its lead atop the SEC West and clinch a spot in Atlanta for the conference championship game. On Monday, coach Brian Kelly provided Armoni Goodwin and Garrett Dellinger injury updates.

The prognosis for both is positive.

“Garrett Dellinger looked good. We worked him out yesterday,” Kelly said on Monday. “Much better. I think he’s in a great position that he could play this weekend.”

Dellinger was a late-week scratch against Alabama, with the guard still recovering from an MCL injury that has kept him on the sidelines recently.

Goodwin, on the other hand, suffered a hamstring injury earlier in the season but returned two weeks ago in a win over Ole Miss. He saw eight carries in that game but carried it just once against Alabama this weekend.

However, Kelly reassured local reporters Monday that Goodwin’s limited usage had to do with the gameplan rather than an aggravation of his injury.

“He’s doing well. Came back from a tough injury,” Kelly said. “I think when you look at certain games, coach Wilson has a sense of who he wants to go with and he felt like he had a one-two combination that he wanted to stick with, much more physical group in there. But Armoni can play physical as well. I think he was more interested in we did so much chipping with those backs he wanted a bigger presence in there.

“But we have great confidence and faith in Armoni and expect him to continue to help us down the road.”

With Armoni Goodwin, Garrett Dellinger injury problems nearly in rearview, LSU ready to close out strong

LSU is sitting at 5-1 in SEC play with two conference games remaining. It has a half-game lead on Ole Miss, which it has already beaten.

All the Tigers need to do to sew up the division’s spot in Atlanta is win one more SEC game and have Ole Miss lose one more SEC contest or win both remaining SEC games.

Regardless, the win on Saturday over Alabama was obviously massive. It left even Kelly emotional.

“I mean, I had never beaten Alabama,” Kelly said. “And so, you know, those things are kind of like…you want to check the box and move on. So yeah, you get a little emotional about those moments. And I was emotional not for myself but I was emotional for our team. Because I know what we looked like in January. And to see where we are today, that’s pretty emotional, right?”

Emotions aside, LSU needs to get ready to go on the road to face an Arkansas team that could pose some problems.

If Garrett Dellinger’s injury is no longer a problem, an offensive line that has really begun to establish itself in recent weeks will be even deeper. And Goodwin is available as needed already.