Dominick McKinley injury update: Brian Kelly reveals 'fairly significant' issue LSU DT faces

Dominick McKinley, LSU’s top-rated freshman in their latest class, has yet to appear this season. That’s in part due to his youth but also because of an injury that he’s trying to manage during the week.

Brian Kelly discussed how the Tigers are managing McKinley’s development as a young prospect during his press conference on Thursday. He said that process has slowed to begin with as the freshman defensive lineman handles a matter of turf toe that will likely keep him out for another week or two to close out September.

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“So, he’s had a bit of a setback with turf toe,” Kelly revealed. “It’s been, it’s been fairly significant, you know. He’s getting scarring down on that joint, which is allowing him to do much more.”

“I’d say that, you know, it’s probably another week or two to get this toe where, you know, he really can be powerful with it,” noted Kelly. “I think, after that, we’re going to accelerate him as quickly as possible and see where that takes us.”

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With that, LSU is bringing McKinley along slowly in practice. That’s to get him right but also give him the chance to catch up to all the changes since he has started college life.

“He’s on our demo squad right now and he’s doing a really good job,” said Kelly.

“You know, there’s a lot of things going on in your first year, right? He’s playing college football, he’s going to class, now he’s dealing with an injury for the first time,” Kelly continued.

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McKinley, a native of Lafayette, played high school football at Acadiana. He was a Five-Star+ prospect there as the No. 13 overall recruit in the 2024 cycle. That’s according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He also rated as the No. 3 DL and the No. 1 player out of Louisiana.

With his pedigree, McKinley was the top commitment out of 29 for the Tigers in ’24. That class finished at No. 7 in On3’s 2024 Industry Football Team Recruiting Rankings.

LSU expects to play McKinley at some point in his first season this year. They just need him to be cleared for it first before he can take the field for the Tigers.

“He’s a young man that we have an eye towards playing this year but we’ve got to get him healthy first,” said Kelly.

“His future is bright but it’s going to take a little bit longer to get him there.”