Dilin Jones arrived in Baton Rouge with a clear lane to carve out a role, but the LSU running back room has turned into something more interesting than a simple depth-chart move.
The Wisconsin transfer committed to LSU on Jan. 13, one day after returning starter Caden Durham pulled his name from the transfer portal. Two weeks earlier, Harlem Berry - the top-rated rusher in the portal class of 2025 - announced he would stay at LSU through the coaching change. Instead of sending Jones searching for a softer path, the crowded room pulled him in.
“I like competition,” Jones said after practice on Tuesday. “That’s going to drive me to be the best player that I am. The guys in the room help me push myself to be a better me.”
So far, that competition has brought out Jones’ best. He worked with the first group in spring ball and has held that spot through preseason practices and scrimmages. Jones said the daily battle has forced him to play quicker and make decisions with more conviction.
Lane Kiffin has noticed. The LSU head coach has repeatedly pointed to Jones’ work ethic, footwork and physicality across the offseason, and on “In The Bayou With Tyrann Mathieu,” he called him an under-the-radar player to keep an eye on.
Jones is no stranger to carrying the load. Last season at Wisconsin, he won a preseason position battle and became the Badgers’ leading rusher before a turf toe injury ended his year.
The Laurel, Maryland, native started the first seven games and finished with 76 carries for 300 yards and two touchdowns. He was a consensus four-star prospect out of Our Lady of Good Counsel High in Olney, Maryland, where he also ran track and wrestled.
That wrestling background, he said, still shows up in his game.
“Being physical and then knowing your balance, knowing your strength, I’d say that played a big part in it.” Jones said.
At 5-foot-11, 206 pounds, Jones is the biggest back in LSU’s room. He describes himself as a physical runner, but he also knows that staying on the field takes more than power between the tackles.
“Almost every running back can run the ball,” Jones said. “It’s what you do without the ball in your hands, being able to block, go out there, run routes, everything else other than running the ball, but for sure, you got to be able to run the ball, too.”
That matters in a room where the styles are different but the talent is obvious. Berry, at 5-foot-10 and 193 pounds, brings quick burst and speed; he ran for 491 yards and two touchdowns on 104 attempts last season. Durham, listed at 5-9 and 204 pounds, offers elusiveness and a low center of gravity; he led LSU with 111 carries for 505 yards and three touchdowns last year.
Jones said the entire group has taken a big step since he got to campus.
“The growth is crazy,” Jones said. “We all came a long way blocking-wise, physical, and just being able to play the game fast.
We just really came a long way. Everybody in the room.”
A big part of that development has come from LSU’s new running backs coach, Kevin Smith. Smith, an All-American at Central Florida and former NFL player, followed Kiffin to Baton Rouge after three seasons coaching backs at Ole Miss. He helped turn Kewan Lacy into an All-American in his first season at Ole Miss last year after Lacy had played just six games as a freshman at Missouri.
Jones has felt that impact already.
“He’s done a lot for me,” Jones said. “He’s a great teacher, and then just being out there, he’s able to break everything down for you. And he really coaches routes like he’s a receiver coach.”
Jones caught only nine passes for 21 yards last season, so expanding that part of his game will matter. Still, most of his work this fall is expected to come in the middle of the field, behind a rebuilt offensive line that Jones says is giving LSU a different look up front.
“They’re not average O-linemen,” he said. “They’re very athletic. They can do everything you need them to do.”
And from Jones’ view, the effort doesn’t stop when practice ends.
“The extra stuff they do after practice, seeing meetings with them, all the extra, how long they’re in here and really how hard they work. They’re in here every day, day and night, working hard, doing stuff after practice, after lifting, extra walk-throughs,” he said.
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