LSU's Mason Taylor named Mackey Award Player of the Week
After entering the season as one of the top tight ends in the country, LSU’s Mason Taylor has had a strong start to the year and has been named the John Mackey Award Player of the Week following his performance in Saturday’s 36-33 win over South Carolina.
The John Mackey Award Player of the Week is presented to the top FBS tight end each week during the season.
Against South Carolina, Taylor became LSU’s all-time leader for receptions by a tight end as he ran his career total to 91 with six receptions against the Gamecocks. Taylor moved past Richard Dickson, who caught 90 passes during his four-year career at LSU from 2006-09.
Taylor’s six receptions led the Tigers and he accounted for 58 receiving yards with 41 coming after the catch. Three of Taylor’s catches resulted in first downs for the Tigers.
Through three games, Taylor has caught 17 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown. He ranks second among all tight ends nationally in receptions.
The honor is the second for an LSU player this week as defensive end Bradyn Swinson earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors on Monday after recording five tackles, a career-best three sacks, and a forced fumble in the win over the Gamecocks.
The Tigers return to action on Saturday, hosting UCLA at 2:30 p.m. in Tiger Stadium. The game will be televised on ABC.
LSU’s passing attack continues to shine
LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier continues to lead LSU’s passing attack, finding several different receivers so far this season from Kyren Lacy to Aaron Anderson, and CJ Daniels, but Taylor has been a consistent for Nussmeier in his four starts.
“It’s been good seeing all the adversity he has to go through throughout the game,” Daniels said. “He makes all the checks and he’s the leader on the field. We have to keep his head high and the sky is the limit for this team.”
For LSU, the work never stops as UCLA comes to town looking for an upset after a home loss to Indiana. For the Tigers, it’s all been about themselves and trying to build off of the thrilling win last week.
Taylor, Daniels, and Lacy are all upperclassmen who help lead the offense this year and the unit continues to evolve as the season wears on. With Ole Miss coming to LSU in three weeks, the pressure is on to find an identity and continue to work.
“I took away that we can be as good as we want to be,” Daniels said. “The sky is the limit and with this team going into an SEC school that’s sold out, it’s hard to come out with a win but we showed a lot of perseverance. Us battling adversity with great maturity, that really shows the grit that we have and what we can do as a team.”
