FSU-LSU Preview: New-look Tigers await Seminoles in New Orleans

Florida State heads to New Orleans to take on LSU on Sunday at 7:30 ET (ABC). Joe Tessitore will be handling the play-by-play duties and will be joined in the booth by football analyst Greg McElroy. Katie George will be the sideline reporter.

This will be the season opener for the now Brian Kelly-led Tigers, who went 6-7 last season under then-coach Ed Orgeron. FSU leads the all-time series against the Tigers 7-2.

The last time these two storied programs met was in 1991 when Florida State beat LSU 27-16 in Tiger Stadium. In 1990, FSU beat LSU 42-3 in Tallahassee in a game that saw Bobby Bowden secure his 200th career win as a head coach.

Kelly is in his first season in Baton Rouge after spending 2010-21 at Notre Dame, where he became all-time winningest coach in Irish history after compiling 113 wins vs. 40 losses in 12 seasons in South Bend. Prior to his stint in South Bend, Kelly went 34-6 in four seasons at Cincinnati. Including stops at Grand Valley State and Central Michigan, Kelly has an overall record of 284-97-2 in 32 seasons as a head coach.

Mike Denbrock is LSU's offensive coordinator. Denbrock spent the last five seasons as the offensive coordinator at Cincinnati for Luke Fickell. This is not Denbrock's first time working as an assistant for Kelly. From 2010-16 he served in various capacities at Notre Dame for Kelly, including offensive coordinator in 2014. He also was a part of Kelly's staff at Grand Valley State. Denbrock has also had stints as an assistant at Indiana State and Washington.

Matt House is LSU's defensive coordinator and, unlike Denbrock, House has not worked for Kelly before. From 2019-21, he was the linebackers coach for Andy Reid with the Kansas City Chiefs. He also led the defense for Mark Stoops at Kentucky from 2016 through 2018. Other stops for House at the college level include FIU, Pitt, Gardner-Webb, North Carolina and Michigan State. House also spent time with the St. Louis Rams and Carolina Panthers in the NFL.

LSU roster includes 45 players who have lettered in their career, 24 on offense and 21 on defense. Of those 45 returning letter winners, 28 have started at least one game for LSU. The roster also features 16 players who transferred to LSU and were starters at their previous school.

LSU has a starting quarterback but only Kelly and his coaches and team know who it is. But what we do know is that it is either Arizona State transfer Jayden Daniels or Garrett Nussmeier.

Daniels, who is 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, is a junior and is a dual-threat quarterback. In his three seasons at ASU, Daniels started 29 games, where he passed for more than 6,000 yards and threw 32 touchdowns. He also rushed for over 1,200 yards in his Sun Devil career. ASU was 18-11 in games Daniels started.

Nussmeier, 6-2 and 194-pounds, is a redshirt freshman who saw action in four games as a true freshman. His best outing and most extensive playing time last year came against Arkansas, where he completed 18 of 31 passes for 179 yards with two interceptions and one touchdown. He also saw action against Ole Miss, Central Michigan and McNeese State. For the year he completed 29 of 57 attempts (50.8 percent) for 329 yards.

Kelly's shotgun spread offense is believed to be deepest and most talented at the wide receiver position. The Tigers' first-year head coach said earlier this week that he believes as many as eight wide receivers could be regular contributors to the LSU offense.

The best of the bunch in expected to be Kayson Boutte (6-0, 205), who is a junior. In just 16 career games Boutte has hauled in 83 catches for 1,244 yards and 14 touchdowns. Sophomore Malik Nabers (6-0, 195) is expected to be in the lineup opposite Boutte. Nabers caught 28 passes for 417 yards en route to being named to the SEC Coaches All-Freshman team last season. Sophomore Jack Bech (6-2, 215) led the Tigers in receptions as a true freshman with 43 and totaled 489 yards and three touchdowns. Junior Kole Taylor (6-7, 247), junior Jack Mashburn (6-3, 237) and true freshman Mason Taylor (6-5, 245) are all expected to play prominent roles at tight end.

Noah Cain (5-11, 226) and John Emery Jr. (5-11, 220) were expected to split time at running back this season, and they might, but the duo will not play together until at least week three of the season due to Emery's suspension for the Tigers' first two games. Cain, a senior, is a Penn State transfer who totaled 790 yards in three seasons for the Nittany Lions, where he started eight games. Junior walk-on Josh Williams (5-9, 200) is expected to fill in for Emery. Williams has played in 23 games and totaled 195 yards during his career.

The offensive line is led by senior right tackle Cam Wire (6-6, 307), who is the most experienced player up front with 10 starts and 22 career games. Garrett Dellinger (6-5, 320) won the starting center spot this fall. The sophomore's four starts prior to this have come at guard and tackle. True freshman Will Campbell (6-6, 310) enrolled at LSU in January and won the starting left tackle position during spring practice. Junior Anthony Bradford (6-5, 345), who has five starts in 16 career appearances, and sophomore Miles Frazier (6-5, 325), who transferred from FIU this past spring, will be the starting guards for LSU. Frazier had 11 starts for the Panthers over the course of two seasons.

The strength of the LSU defense is expected to be its front four. The combination of defensive end BJ Ojulari (6-3, 250), defensive tackle Maason Smith (6-5, 300), defensive tackle Jaquelin Roy (6-4, 315) and defensive end Ali Gaye (6-6, 265) combined for 43.5 tackles for a loss and 23 sacks.

Ojulari, a junior, has totaled 71 tackles over the last two seasons and is a constant presence in opposing backfields, having registered 11 sacks and 16.5 tackles for a loss in 2020 and '21. Gaye, a senior, has been almost as productive and disruptive, having totaled 51 tackles including 12 TFLs and 4.5 sacks in his career. He is also athletic, having been credited with eight passes defended over the last two seasons.

Smith was named a Freshman All-America last season after recording 19 tackles, 5 TFL's and four sacks. He was the top defensive line prospect in the class of 2021 according to Rivals. Roy, a junior, has totaled 48 tackles, 10 TFLs and 3.5 sacks over the last two seasons.

LSU operates out of a base 4-2-5 defense but feels it has at least three starting-caliber linebackers. Senior Micah Baskerville (6-1, 228) made 83 stops a season ago, which is tops among returning defenders. He has recorded 171 tackles over the course of four seasons, including 18 TFLs. Mike Jones Jr. is expected to be a starter in his second season at LSU after transferring from Clemson after the 2020 season. Last year he made 34 tackles for the Tigers and has totaled 81 stops over the course of 41 games. Sophomore Greg Penn III (6-2, 238) is also expected to play a major role on the Tigers. As a freshman he started one game and was credited with 11 total tackles.

The Tigers' secondary has a couple of returners from seasons past but has also added a transfusion of talent through the transfer portal. Senior Jay Ward (6-2, 188) and sophomore Major Burns (6-2, 187) are projected to be the starters at the safety spots once again this season. Ward started 11 games last season and totaled 71 tackles, 18 passes defended and had five interceptions. Senior Joe Foucha (5-11, 208) is expected to give the Tigers some added depth after transferring from Arkansas.

Seniors Jarrick Bernard-Converse (6-1, 205), Colby Richardson (6-1, 190), Greg Brooks (5-10, 187), Sevyn Banks (6-2, 205) and junior Mekhi Garner (6-2, 217) are all vying for time at the three cornerback spots.

Bernard-Converse is entering his first season at LSU after starting 47 consecutive games at Oklahoma State, where he was highly productive (216 tackles in 51 career games with the Cowboys). Richardson is another veteran transfer, playing 27 games at McNeese before enrolling at LSU in the spring. Brooks is another new addition after transferring from Arkansas, where he started 31 games and recorded 112 tackles. Banks is another transfer (Ohio State) who made 14 starts for the Buckeyes and totaled 43 career tackles in 36 games. Garner earned third-team All-Sun Belt honors last season at Louisiana-Lafayette. He made 19 starts for the Ragin Cajuns and totaled 63 tackles and was credited with 18 passes defended.

Senior Jay Bramblett (6-2, 202) followed Kelly from South Bend to Baton Rouge. Bramblett was a three-year starter for the Irish and averaged 41.6 yards per punt on 164 chances. Redshirt freshman Damian Ramos (6-2, 183) is expected to handle the place-kicking duties for the Tigers. Ramos walked on at LSU last season but did not appear in a game.

Follow The Osceola on Facebook

Follow The Osceola on Twitter

Subscribe to the Osceola's YouTube channel

Subscribe to the Osceola's podcasts on Apple

Subscribe to the Osceola's podcasts on Spotify