GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
In this new era of less significant bowl games outside of those in the College Football Playoff, it is best to look at the third-tier Texas Bowl between LSU and Baylor (each 8-4 and not ranked) on New Year’s Eve as a taste of spring.
The outcome of the bowl (2:30 p.m., Tuesday, ESPN) will mean little considering the depleting rosters to the NCAA Transfer Portal and to self-preservation leading into NFL Draft preparation. So this will not be No. 2 Georgia (11-2) vs. No. 7 Notre Dame (12-1) on New Year’s night in the playoffs at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. That winner advances to a national semifinal.
The LSU-Baylor winner will realize everything is not big in Texas, if whoever it is hasn’t already. The loser will finish 8-5, which would still be a success for Baylor as coach Dave Aranda is coming off a 3-9 season and three losing seasons in his five years.
A 9-4 or 8-5 season for LSU coach Brian Kelly would not make a lot of difference. Both are mediocre considering he was 10-4 and 10-3 in his first two seasons and got off to a 6-1 start with a No. 8 ranking this season. But much of that disappointment has already been cleansed with LSU’s newfound success in the NCAA Transfer Portal.
As of Monday, the Tigers’ portal class was ranked No. 1 in the nation by 247sports.com.
So, suddenly, Kelly predicting that LSU will reach the 2025-26 national championship game after beating Oklahoma to finish the 2024 regular season doesn’t sound quite so wacky.
What is more important about this bowl is that Kelly will get an excellent preview of spring practice and what he needs to get done before the 2025 season. No longer are bowls, for the most part, about upperclassmen topping off their careers. These are much more preseason games leading into the next season and a last look at a myriad of players before the recruiting and portal classes of 2024-25 join the team.
For example, LSU will start a revamped offensive line against Baylor.
LEFT TACKLE
-Redshirt freshman Tyree Adams (6-foot-7, 305 pounds) from St. Augustine High in New Orleans, is expected to open at left tackle in the second start of his college career. He opened against Nicholls State this season in week two and played in six other games. He will be replacing junior Will Campbell, a first team All-SEC player the last two seasons who is skipping the bowl after putting his name in for 2025 NFL Draft as a projected high first round selection. A four-star prospect, Adams was the No. 22 prep offensive tackle in the nation in 2023 by 247sports.com and the No. 12 player in Louisiana.
LEFT GUARD
-Redshirt freshman Paul Mubenga (6-5, 311) of Buford High in Buford, Georgia, will start at left guard for the fifth straight game. He replaced four-year senior starter Garrett Dellinger, who missed the final four games with a high ankle injury. Dellinger has opted out of the bowl to mend his injury and prepare for the draft. Another three-star signee, Mubenga played in five games as a backup before Dellinger’s injury. He did not play in 2023. Another three-star player, Mubenga was the No. 35 prep offensive tackle in the nation and No. 59 player in Georgia.
CENTER
-The only offensive line starter in the 2024 season who will remain at his position for the bowl game is redshirt freshman DJ Chester (6-6, 318) of Eagle’s Landing Academy in Conyers, Georgia. Chester started all 12 games this season. He played in four as a true freshman in 2023. A four-star prospect, Chester was the No. 8 interior offensive lineman in the nation and No. 5 player in Georgia.
RIGHT GUARD
-Third-year sophomore Bo Bordelon (6-6, 310) of Raceland has been practicing with the first team at right guard and is expected to start for the first time in his career. He replaces senior right guard Miles Frazier, a four-year starter, as Frazier has moved to right tackle for the bowl. That was because junior three-year right tackle starter Emery Jones Jr. opted out of the game after putting his name in for the next draft. Jones is considered a middle-round selection. Bordelon played in 12 games as a backup in 2024 after playing in 13 in 2023. He played in three games in 2022 before redshirting. Bordelon played at E.D White High in Thibodaux before transferring to Newman High in New Orleans for two seasons. A three-star recruit, he was the No. 61 offensive tackle in the nation out of Newman in 2022 and No. 34 prospect in the state.
RIGHT TACKLE
Fifth-year senior Miles Frazier (6-6, 326) of Milford Academy in Camden, New Jersey, will start his first game at right tackle since the 2022 season against Southern. He started all 12 games this season and 13 last season at right guard. As a sophomore in 2022, he started 13 of 14 games with nine at left guard, three at right guard and the one at right tackle. Frazier started 10 games of 11 games at left tackle for Florida International in the 2021 season before transferring to LSU. He played in four games as a true freshman at FIU in 2020 after signing as a three-star prospect.
“I like our group,” Kelly said before departing for Houston. “Tyree Adams will get an opportunity. We have great confidence in him. Paul Mubenga will continue to play for us. Bordelon gets an opportunity to play some football for us. Miles Frazier has position flexibility, so we can move him out to tackle to give us some help out there.”
2 TRUE FRESHMEN OFFENSIVE LINEMEN COULD PLAY
Kelly and offensive line coach Brad Davis have also gotten a good hard look at a pair of 2024 four-star offensive linemen signees in Coen Echols (6-3, 310) from Katy High in Katy, Texas, and Weston Davis (6-2, 282) from Beaumont United High in Beaumont, Texas. Echols was the No. 5 interior offensive lineman in the nation by 247sports.com, 154th overall prospect and No. 26 player in Texas. Davis was the No. 13 offensive tackle, No. 140 overall prospect and No. 25 Texas product.
“Coen Echols is a guy that we have a lot of trust in,” Kelly said. “We really like the progression of Weston Davis, who can play tackle for us on both sides. We really feel good about the guys who we’re going to put out there. And as an offensive line, we’re going to be able to compete with anybody.”
Baylor will be a good defense for the new offensive line to start out against. Aranda’s defense is far removed from some of his units at LSU from 2016-19 when he was coordinator. The Bears rank 65th or worse in the nation in four major defensive categories and below LSU’s defense. Baylor is No. 85 against the pass (227.6 yards a game), No. 83 in total defense (382.8 yards a game), No. 77 against the run (155.2 yards a game) and No. 65 in points allowed a game (24.8).
This bodes well for LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier as he returns from a dislocated, right throwing shoulder suffered in the season finale against Oklahoma. He came back in that game, but Kelly was cautious with him early on in bowl practices.
“He is 100 percent now,” Kelly said.
Junior wide receiver Chris Hilton is not exactly a fresh face. He has played in 24 games since 2021, but he missed all but five games this season with an ankle injury. He looked like a new man in the 37-17 win over Oklahoma in the regular season finale on Nov. 30 with two acrobatic touchdown catches of 40 and 45 yards.
Hilton caught just five passes for 130 yards on the season, but Nussmeier will be looking for him against a porous Baylor secondary as senior wide receiver Kyren Lacy opted out of the bowl and veteran CJ Daniels entered the transfer portal and moved on to Miami. Lacy led LSU in receiving in 2024 with 58 catches for 866 yards and nine touchdowns. Daniels was fourth with 42 receptions for 480 yards.
True freshman tight end Trey’Dez Green should get significant targets as well with three-year starting tight end Mason Taylor (55 catches, 546 yards, 2 TDs) not playing in the bowl to prepare for the draft. Green caught seven passes for 48 yards and two touchdowns in the 2024 season.
DEFENSE RETURNS STRONG
On defense, LSU lost junior safety Sage Ryan to Ole Miss via the transfer portal, and senior safety Major Burns didn’t want to play in the bowl. So, coordinator Blake Baker will be able to watch a lot of snaps from true freshman safety Dashawn Spears (6-3, 202) of Denham Springs High as well as sophomore cornerback Javien Toviano (6-1, 206) of Martin High in Arlington, Texas.
Most of LSU’s senior starting defensive players wanted to play their last game in this bowl, and should be commended. They are old school. Those are defensive ends Bradyn Swinson and Sai’vion Jones, linebacker Greg Penn III, defensive tackles Paris Shand and Gio Paez and cornerback Zy Alexander.
“We’ll have a very competitive football team,” Kelly said. “We don’t have one guy who’s like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to do this?’ These guys want to play.”
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