LSU moves five-star freshman JaCoby Stevens from safety to wide receiver

By JAMES MORAN | Tiger Rag Associate Editor

One of LSU’s highest-touted freshmen is changing sides of the ball.

Five-star safety JaCoby Stevens worked at wide receiver during LSU’s first day of training camp, LSU coach Ed Orgeron told reporters Monday.

“We made a change,” Orgeron said. “We moved JaCoby Stevens to offense. We need depth at receiver. He’s a talented guy that makes plays. While we feel like he could be a very good defensive player, we’re going to try him out on offense.”

Stevens was the No. 2 ranked safety in the 2017 class, according to 247Sports. He was an early enrollee and played safety during spring practice, though Orgeron never closed the door on contributing on the other side of the ball.

The coach laid out a few factors that played into the move Monday.

For one, the impressive summer showing of fellow freshman safety Todd Harris Jr., in addition to Grant Delpit, John Battle and Ed Paris gave LSU plenty of depth at the safety position.

That, coupled with Stevens’ considerable explosiveness — he played offense and returned kicks in high school — and a lack of depth at wide receiver made it an experiment worth trying.

“The guy can flat out run,” Orgeron said. “He can run. He can play different positions.”

Orgeron said Stevens worked at out of the slot “F” receiver spot during practice Monday. That position means a lot of running due to the built-in jet sweep motions in Matt Canada’s offense.

The coach also mentioned D.J. Chark, Russell Gage, Drake Davis and Derrick Dillon as receivers who had good days on the opening day of practice.