{"id":48371,"date":"2023-05-06T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2023-05-06T13:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=48371"},"modified":"2025-09-13T15:12:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T19:12:34","slug":"kyren-lacy-lsu-catch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/05\/06\/kyren-lacy-lsu-catch\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyren Lacy: LSU&#8217;s Catch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Grab a brush and paint this picture: it&#8217;s a sunny day in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the LSU Tigers are playing in their annual Spring game. The stands are\u2026 well, they\u2019re pretty empty because of an incorrect weather forecast. And then, out of nowhere, a player emerges from the second string shadows, catching a one-handed, 70-yard touchdown pass that leaves everyone stunned. Who is this mystery man, you ask? None other than LSU&#8217;s own underdog wide receiver <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/kyren-lacy-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyren Lacy<\/a>, who caught just one pass on nine targets in last year&#8217;s Spring game. Yes, you heard that right. One catch on nine targets. He might\u2019ve been playing blindfolded back then, but he certainly isn\u2019t now.<\/p>\n<h2>Spring Game Recap<\/h2>\n<p>The LSU Spring Game ended in a 32-32 tie, with the defense having its own set of scoring rules. The offense featured some notable players, including Lacy, but we\u2019ll get to him. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/malik-nabers-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Malik Nabers<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/brian-thomas-jr-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brian Thomas Jr.<\/a> looked to be in their usual, impressive form at the wide receiver position. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Quarterback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jayden-daniels-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jayden Daniels<\/a> looked nearly perfect and showed improvement in his precision when throwing to the flats, out routes, and crossing routes. He also demonstrated a willingness to throw deep, although he did overthrow his longest pass. Daniels finished the game with two touchdowns and no turnovers. Backup quarterback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/garrett-nussmeier-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Garret Nussmeir<\/a> also put up decent numbers, also finishing with two touchdowns and no turnovers.<\/p>\n<p>Linebacker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/harold-perkins-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Harold Perkins Jr.<\/a> stood out as a natural at the Mike Linebacker position and made some impressive plays, including a TFL on a blitz through one of the inside gaps. Perkins, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/greg-penn-iii-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Greg Penn III<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/omar-speights-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Omar Speights<\/a> will head up the linebacker room when fall rolls around.<\/p>\n<p>The secondary was led by <strong>Zy Alexander<\/strong> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jakailin-johnson-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">JK Johnson<\/a>, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/laterrance-welch-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Laterrance Welch<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/denver-harris-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Denver Harris<\/a> playing on the second team. Welch was the only player to have any pass breakups in the game and looked fantastic. However, Coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/coaches\/brian-kelly-2.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brian Kelly<\/a> mentioned in his press conference that there is work to be done in the secondary. Specifically in regard to tackling.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Field goal kicking was a weakness for both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/damian-ramos-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Damian Ramos<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/nathan-dibert-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nathan Dibert<\/a> as they both missed their only attempt beyond 40 yards, leaving the starting position up in the air. The punt returner position is also undecided after trying out several players, including last year\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/gregory-clayton-jr-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Greg Clayton<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, there were some standout performances, but there is still work to be done before the team is where it needs to be.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>More on Lacy<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Back to the star of the show. Lacy, a <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/player\/kyren-lacy-46085550\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three-star recruit out of high school<\/a>, wasn\u2019t heavily recruited by LSU. He mentioned in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Z-TJ4VG1wbw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">interview with Matt Moscona on After Further Review<\/a> that he\u2019d been to a few LSU camps in high school, but nothing more. Lacy ended up playing at Louisiana Lafayette, transferred after his sophomore season, then had a pretty ugly junior year at LSU. He looked especially rough in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2022\/11\/28\/texas-am-aggies-finish-off-strong-against-lsu\/\" target=\"_self\">Texas A&amp;M game<\/a> with a few critical dropped passes. All things considered, last year\u2019s mistakes were nearly forgotten because of this:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">KYREN LACY ONE HANDED GRAB AND TO THE HOUSE! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TFEm3Yd8Zu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/TFEm3Yd8Zu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Matthew Brune (@MatthewBrune_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MatthewBrune_\/status\/1649849324690640897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 22, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Or, at least the conversation surrounding him has taken a turn after that superhuman snag and run.<\/p>\n<p>You might be thinking, &#8220;Was it a fluke?\u201d Maybe. \u201cAre we blowing this out of proportion?\u201d Absolutely. That\u2019s what Spring games are for. Either way, he caught four of his five targets in the spring game and led the team in every receiving category. Yes, Daniels was brilliant, completing 10 of his 11 passes. So, credit to Daniels. Nonetheless, We should admire Lacy&#8217;s turnaround. He&#8217;s now all but cemented himself as the number three wide receiver at LSU, and will likely be in the starting lineup alongside Nabers and Thomas Jr.<\/p>\n<p>Now, why didn&#8217;t we see his potential before? Well, for starters, Lacy had limited playing time. The biggest reason, though, was mistakes. Several balls bounced off his hands last year that were more than catchable. While that may sound like a bad thing on the surface, it&#8217;s actually a pretty good omen. It meant he was getting open. As they say, hindsight is 2020. By looks, Lacy isn\u2019t anything special. Though, he\u2019s not <i>not<\/i> special. He&#8217;s 6-2 and 212 pounds; he\u2019s built like your typical wide receiver. Last season he caught 24 passes for 268 yards, with his longest being a 45-yarder. Nothing special. Heck, you could even call it mediocre. Now, with that one-handed catch, he&#8217;s a legend. Okay, he\u2019s not a legend at all, but we can have fun with some hyperbole once in a while, can\u2019t we?<\/p>\n<h2><b>Brian Kelly\u2019s Input<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Kelly had fair praise for Lacy in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bBQV5yXI0ZU\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">post-game presser<\/a>, and shed a little light on the improvement everyone saw from the wide receiver. \u201cThe work that he\u2019s been doing is much more about consistent approach in practice,\u201d said Kelly. \u201cI think we\u2019re starting to see how that\u2019s translating to performance.\u201d The head coach also shared his thoughts on Lacy\u2019s opportunity to see more playing time this season. \u201cLacy being very dynamic with the football in hands adds to a mix of receivers that can, obviously, be very good for us in the SEC,\u201d he said. It\u2019s a good sign because Nabers and Thomas Jr. can\u2019t carry the entire load at the wideout and slot. Or, it wouldn\u2019t be preferable. Coach Kelly seems confident that Lacy can be a solid 3rd target for Daniels. If that is the case, we\u2019re looking at a dangerous trio.<\/p>\n<h2><b>The Objective Truth<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Bringing this conversation back down to Earth, you cannot judge a player on a single game or a single play. And you certainly cannot on a single catch in a Spring game. Spring games are, historically, little indication of how well a player\u2019s season will go. In all likelihood, Lacy will have a decent year hovering around number three or four on the team in receiving production. Maybe one day we&#8217;ll be watching him on Sundays, catching game-winning touchdowns on his way to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballhof.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NFL&#8217;s Hall of Fame<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Then again, maybe he&#8217;ll just be a really cool high school football coach who can say he once caught a one-handed, 70-yard pass in an LSU spring game. The truth is, any player\u2019s spring performance means very little. This is simply an indicator of what Lacy is capable of when he\u2019s hot. He may not have had an electric start to his college career, but he has proven that anything is possible with his performance on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-48461\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/04\/USATSI_20518330_168400536_lowres-300x214.jpg\" alt=\"Kyren Lacy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/04\/USATSI_20518330_168400536_lowres-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/04\/USATSI_20518330_168400536_lowres-1024x731.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/04\/USATSI_20518330_168400536_lowres-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/04\/USATSI_20518330_168400536_lowres.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Photo courtesy:SCOTT CLAUSE\/USA TODAY Network \/ USA TODAY NETWORK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grab a brush and paint this picture: it&#8217;s a sunny day in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the LSU Tigers are playing in their annual Spring game. The stands are\u2026 well, they\u2019re pretty empty because of an incorrect weather forecast. And then, out of nowhere, a player emerges from the second string shadows, catching a one-handed, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4508,"featured_media":48461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,35584,3],"tags":[729,3173,4211,86,20,9916],"class_list":["post-48371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-fbs","category-lsu-tigers","category-sec","tag-brian-kelly","tag-college-football-spring-camp","tag-jayden-daniels","tag-lsu-tigers","tag-sec","tag-zy-alexander"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4508"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48371"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78512,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48371\/revisions\/78512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}