LSU offensive lineman Emery Jones leaves game vs. Auburn with injury

LSU offensive lineman Emery Jones suffered an injury in the first half of Saturday’s contest against Auburn and left the game. Jones made his way off the field with assistance from the training staff and Tigers coach Brian Kelly and did not put any weight on his left leg.

The starting right tackle was later seen heading to the locker room on crutches with his shoe and sock removed from his left foot. Freshman Lance Heard entered the game as his replacement.

Jones was later declared to be out for the remainder of the game, according to the LSU radio broadcast.

If the injury to Emery Jones turns out to cause him to miss more than this game, it would be a huge blow for the Tigers. He was named a second team preseason All-SEC election after earning all-conference freshman honors in 2022.

Jones started 12 of 14 games for the Tigers last year as a true freshman and has remained in that role for the first six games this season. That experience will be difficult to replace, though Heard does bring talent as the No. 4 offensive tackle in the 2023 recruiting class according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

LSU has so far managed to hang on to an early lead as it finds itself ahead 20-7 with two minutes remaining in the first half. The Tigers offensive line had held up OK, giving up just one sack and paving the way for 132 yards rushing thus far.

Brian Kelly says Auburn ‘is a team that’s not going away in second half’

LSU took a 20-7 lead over Auburn into the half in Death Valley on Saturday night, and head coach Brian Kelly was fairly pleased with his team after two quarters. Outside of needing to be a bit more clinical in the red zone, Kelly was pleased with the offensive and defensive performances.

And he’s certain the red zone issues will need to get ironed out. Kelly is confident Auburn is a team that can cause his LSU squad problems if allowed to hang around.

“Well pretty good. We got off to a better start. We hadn’t got off to a very good start the last couple of weeks. So, that was important. We made a couple of mistakes and they did a really good job of keeping us out of the end zone. We want to convert, obviously, when we get into the red zone. Turn those into touchdowns,” Kelly said to ESPN sideline reporter Katie George.

He continued, complimenting his LSU defense for giving up just seven points after weeks of struggles to keep points and yards off the board.

“Defense is playing pretty good. We need to keep that up in the second half and this is a team that’s not going to go away. It’s going to be four quarters. We knew that coming in and it’s going to be a great second half.”