Brian Kelly updates status of Maason Smith for LSU spring game
Maason Smith went down on the first series of the first game of the season in 2022. The second-year defensive tackle was set to be one of the top defensive linemen in the SEC entering the year, but his focus quickly shifted to recovery for the 2023 season.
Initially, he was set to miss the entirety of the spring season, but in the final week of spring ball, Smith put the pads back on and was back lined up going through drills with his teammates. The sheer size and athleticism was obvious. His first-round potential stands out even though he’s not yet back to 100 percent.
Smith is limited to only drill work right now, unable to do any one-on-ones or scrimmage participation. When Brian Kelly was asked about Smith on Thursday, he made it clear that Smith was not going to play in the spring game on Saturday.
“It’s just not something that is worth the risk,” Kelly said. “He’s in a position where he can do a lot of the drill work, but to put him into a spring game, there’s no advantage from that perspective. We’ll give him more time to get his leg stronger to the point where his first contact will be in August. That’s probably the prudent thing.”
Kelly has operated with caution throughout the spring and as a result his team is getting more healthy as it heads into the summer months.
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Building depth
Another benefit of resting Smith and All-SEC defensive tackle Mekhi Wingo is the ability for the rest of the defensive linemen to get more repetitions. Rebuilding the defensive line was a key point for Kelly over the offseason and now several questions have been answered, especially on the interior.
“You get to see the versatility of Jacobian Guillory,” Kelly said. “His ability to really develop during the spring because he got so many reps playing the one and the three. He was definitely a beneficiary. I would say Tygee Hill also got a lot of reps and made good progress. Then I would say Paris Shand stands out to me. He needed reps because we needed to find out about him, but he got so many that you could see his progress during the spring. Fitzgerald West benefited greatly from coming over from offense to defense and getting work. Those interior defensive linemen are all going to be rotational guys for us once Mekhi Wingo and Maason Smith get back to full go and Justin Jefferson will be in there as well. We feel really good about where we are with the defensive line because of the spring.”
Smith will continue his rehab with his sights set on fall camp. As one of the more forgotten about all-conference caliber players in the SEC, there’s a tangible excitement to get him back on the field, but still time to make sure he checks every box before returning.
