{"id":49451,"date":"2023-08-15T17:00:04","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T21:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=49451"},"modified":"2023-08-13T12:44:35","modified_gmt":"2023-08-13T16:44:35","slug":"early-standouts-of-lsu-fall-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/08\/15\/early-standouts-of-lsu-fall-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Standouts of LSU Fall Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

The LSU Tigers took the field last week to begin Fall Camp. While expectations are high for this year\u2019s team, questions remain at a few position groups. LSU seems to have added talented players at the cornerback position, but time will tell if they can play at the level required for the Tigers to reach their lofty goals. The running back position has several options but no clear-cut leader with\u00a0<\/span>Josh Williams<\/span><\/a>\u00a0nursing an injury.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tiger fans know what to expect from certain players. For example,\u00a0<\/span>Malik Nabers<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Maason Smith<\/span><\/a>\u00a0have been dominant. Fortunately for LSU, lesser-known players have stepped up in hopes of making a name for themselves in 2023. Today, we\u2019ll cover five players who have stood out in the first week of fall camp.<\/span><\/p>\n

Early Standouts of LSU Fall Camp<\/h2>\n

Duce Chestnut, Cornerback<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Much has been said about the wide receivers mercilessly beating the defensive backs early on in camp. However, transfer cornerback\u00a0<\/span>Duce Chestnut<\/span><\/a>\u00a0reportedly has been a bright spot and could be a starting cornerback against Florida State. According to\u00a0<\/span>Sage Ryan<\/span><\/a>, a returning defensive back, \u201cHe\u2019s a great player, as you can see. He broke up\u2026he had five PBU\u2019s in one day. So that\u2019s crazy.\u201d Defensive Coordinator\u00a0<\/span>Matt House<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0described him as a \u201cheady player\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chestnut was a four-star recruit as a high school prospect and an All-ACC player at Syracuse. LSU signed four\u00a0<\/span>transfer corners<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in 2023. Texas A&M transfer\u00a0<\/span>Denver Harris<\/span><\/a>\u00a0generated the most excitement from fans, but Chestnut and Southeastern transfer\u00a0<\/span>Zy Alexander<\/strong>\u00a0are getting the most first-string practice reps at this point.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chris Hilton, Wide Receiver<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Now in his third season, the speedy redshirt sophomore finally appears healthy enough to turn potential into production. The son of two former Southern University track athletes,\u00a0<\/span>Chris Hilton<\/span><\/a>\u00a0has always had the eye-popping athleticism and speed to threaten a defense. Injuries and a stacked depth chart combined to relegate him to an afterthought. Suddenly,\u00a0<\/span>Kayshon Boutte<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Jaray Jenkins<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are off to the NFL. This is Hilton\u2019s best chance to break into the rotation, and it appears that he is ready to capitalize.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hilton has bulked up to withstand the physical nature of the SEC. He also scored two 40-yard touchdowns in Saturday’s practice. Offensive Coordinator\u00a0<\/span>Mike Denbrock<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0spoke on the progress of Hilton, \u201cI love the direction that Chris is going in. He\u2019s really, I think as much as anybody, he is beginning to stake his claim to some playing time.\u201d Hilton does not have the size of receivers like Kyren Lacy or Brian Thomas, but he offers a different element that could help open the Tiger offense.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mac Markway, Tight End<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Of the three true freshman tight-end signees, 6\u20196\u201d<\/span>\u00a0Ka\u2019Morreun Pimpton<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0is the most gifted pass catcher. We chose\u00a0<\/span>Mac Markway<\/strong>\u00a0as a standout because he’s shown off impressive receiver skills that contradicted projections as him as more of an in-line, blocking tight end. Markway has proven to be a better route runner and receiver than originally thought, so his well-rounded game could make him more valuable than any tight end on the roster other than Mason Taylor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Denbrock stated that Markway has had the best camp out of freshmen tight ends so far. It\u2019s a credit to the coaching staff that LSU went from having one quality tight end in 2022 to apparently four that they can trust in just one year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zalance Heard, Offensive Tackle<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

It appears that\u00a0<\/span>Zalance Heard<\/strong>\u00a0is not one to sit quietly and wait on an opportunity. In an awe-inspiring display of humility, Heard announced that he would beat out his former high school teammate and freshman All-American\u00a0<\/span>Will Campbell<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for the left tackle spot at LSU. That could be a stretch, but the physical prowess that Heard has exhibited in fall camp will not allow the staff to keep him off the field.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heard has held his own against\u00a0<\/span>Mekhi Wingo<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and the talented LSU defensive line. It’s too early to know where he will make his mark on the offensive line this year, but he\u2019s more likely than not to find his way onto the field somewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Andre Sam, Safety<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Andre Sam<\/span><\/a>\u00a0started for three seasons at McNeese and one season at Marshall. He\u2019s as experienced as one can get at the college level. While experience is one thing, playmaking ability is another. Sam has consistently made plays throughout fall camp. He\u2019s broken up passes and made interceptions at one of the thinnest positions on the LSU team.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even with the cornerback questions on this team, they at least have numbers at the position. Nobody knows what to expect at safety after returning starters\u00a0<\/span>Major Burns<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Greg Brooks<\/span><\/a>. Andre Sam\u2019s ability can add depth to the position, as well as flexibility. There has been talk of three safety looks on defense, and Sam could prove to be much more valuable than most thought when he committed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo Credit: SCOTT CLAUSE\/USA TODAY Network \/ USA TODAY NETWORK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The LSU Tigers took the field last week to begin Fall Camp. While expectations are high for this year\u2019s team, questions remain at a few position groups. LSU seems to have added talented players at the cornerback position, but time will tell if they can play at the level required for the Tigers to reach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4690,"featured_media":49464,"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":[3,8,2056],"tags":[7945,10383,86,7894,4580,6781,20,3402,10382,9916],"class_list":["post-49451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sec","category-fbs","category-top-25","tag-fall-camp","tag-kamorreun-pimpton","tag-lsu-tigers","tag-mac-markway","tag-matt-house","tag-mike-denbrock","tag-sec","tag-top-25","tag-zalance-heard","tag-zy-alexander"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49451","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\/4690"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}