Brian Kelly says defensive front showed 'really positive things' in spring game

The LSU Tigers‘ spring game may have ended in a 32-32 tie, but that didn’t stop some defensive players from jumping off the page and standing out. Head coach Brian Kelly spoke about some of those players, starting with newly added EDGE Ovie Oghoufo, who joined the team this spring from the transfer portal.

“I thought there were some really positive things right? Ovie Oghoufo is a really good addition certainly, I think he had probably a sack on each side against our right tackle and our left tackle,” Kelly admitted. “I thought that we were really clean inside, I thought we played good, fundamentally sound football there.”

Oghoufo is an experienced journeyman who spent three seasons at Notre Dame followed by two at Texas before landing in the Bayou this offseason. But he is not the only incoming transfer that’s made an impact already, as Oregon State transfer linebacker Omar Speights has also turned some heads during the spring.

“I mentioned Omar, his addition is going to be really big for us. He made a great tackle in space against the running back, that says a little bit about his versatility and what he can do in the box, out of the box,” Kelly said.

Speights has spent the last four seasons with the Beavers, accumulating 304 tackles in the process. He’s an experienced linebacker that may be able to teach a thing or two to one of the Tiger’s most talented players looking to build off of his impressive freshman season last year, Harold Perkins.

“Perkins was really good, and the plays that kind of stand out to me is we ran a counter and he was able to slip the second puller and make a TFL play and that requires training and he’s been really good picking those things up,” Kelly explained.

Perkins made the SEC All-Freshman team last season and was named a freshman All-American by the Football Writers Association of America. And him continuing to elevate and grow his game combined with being surrounded by fresh, experienced talent could be a recipe for success for the Tigers front seven this upcoming season.

“So I think all in all the development of Harold at the linebacker position, the addition of OV and in particular Omar, those guys have been really big for us and they were the holes if you will that we were looking to fill with mature players,” Kelly concluded.