LSU’s receiver room has turned into one of the more interesting storylines of the early season, and true freshman Corey Barber Jr. just made it a lot harder for Lane Kiffin to ignore him.
The Tigers loaded up at the position this offseason, bringing in nine receivers through the portal and giving new starting quarterback Sam Leavitt a crowded menu of options. Five games into the year, the picture is clearer than it was in September, but there’s still a real question hanging over who deserves the next slice of snaps behind the top names.
Barber answered that question in a big way in last week’s win over McNeese. The former Ole Miss commit turned in the best outing of any true freshman in college football during Week 5, earning an 84.0 grade and finishing with seven catches for 83 yards and two touchdowns. For a freshman to produce like that, even against a lower-tier opponent, is the kind of performance that gets a staff’s attention fast.
And it may come at the expense of a veteran. Barber’s breakout has put more pressure on Kansas State transfer Jayce Brown, who has not delivered the kind of production LSU expected in his first season with the program. Fans have already started to get restless, though the issue has been softened somewhat by the impact of Jackson Harris and Winston Watkins Jr.
The numbers only sharpen the case for Barber. He now has eight catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns, while Brown sits at eight catches for 89 yards. That gap isn’t massive, but it’s enough to make the conversation real.
Brown still has time to flip the script, and he could go on a run over the next few weeks that makes all of this moot. Until that happens, though, LSU has every reason to keep looking at Barber Jr. as a player who can give the offense a jolt and maybe eat into Brown’s snaps.
Saturday night’s game against Kentucky gives both receivers a chance to make their case.
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A lot will hinge on the play of Sam Leavitt, Ty Benefield, Jordan Seaton and Davhon Keys, four LSU pieces whose recent form and responsibilities make them central to the matchup. Whether the Tigers can settle in against a confident Kentucky team may come down to how steady that group is when the game starts to tighten. [Read more 🡒]