Without Trey’Dez Green, LSU needed somebody to step into the void and change the shape of the passing game. Jackson Harris did exactly that.
The Hawaii transfer, a wide receiver who had done little damage through the first three weeks, exploded for six catches, 163 yards and two touchdowns in LSU’s 35-6 win over Texas A&M on Saturday. With Green sidelined by a knee injury suffered in the fourth quarter at Ole Miss, Harris became the downfield answer LSU had to find.
He wasted no time making his presence felt. Harris grabbed a 19-yard catch on LSU’s first big throw of the night in the first quarter, then hauled in a 26-yard pass and turned it into a touchdown just before halftime. His biggest play came early in the third quarter, when he beat the Aggies for a 57-yard catch-and-score that pushed LSU ahead by 17.
That kind of production was nowhere in the script. Harris had only five receptions for 117 yards entering the game, but Lane Kiffin said the staff had been waiting for him to seize a bigger role.
“Talked a lot with Jackson this week, even right after warmups as we were out there, about really stepping up,” Lane Kiffin said. “He had done really well. He (just) hadn’t gotten many opportunities.”
Kiffin also pointed to the traits that made Harris useful in this spot. He said Harris had shown those same qualities in practice and on tape since arriving at LSU.
“He ran well with the ball, and (had done) the things we had seen on tape, why we had brought him here,” Kiffin said, discussing the positive attributes Harris had shown in practices and games since arriving at LSU. “A big, sleek outside receiver.”
Harris wasn’t working alone. Winston Watkins chipped in with five catches for 107 yards, and Eugene Wilson added a circus catch in the third quarter to keep another scoring drive moving.
Sam Leavitt had plenty to do with the breakout night, too. Playing through a left hamstring injury, he turned in his best passing performance, going 17 of 23 for 312 yards. He attacked downfield more effectively than he had with Green available, completing five passes of 20 yards or more.
Leavitt did have one mistake: a tipped pass behind the line of scrimmage that became an interception. Still, once the second quarter wound down, he settled in and worked almost entirely from the pocket before giving way to backup Landen Clark in the fourth.
“Everybody (knew) what (the situation) was with Trey’Dez coming into the week,” Leavitt said. “To be honest, it was me giving (the non-Green weapons) more opportunity. They’ve been showing it week in and week out.”
The matchup with Texas A&M made Harris’ surge even more important. The Aggies’ defense is built around its secondary, and LSU needed someone besides Watkins to create space and win contested downs. Watkins had already been LSU’s main slot threat, but the Tigers still lacked a receiver who could stretch the field and serve as the trusted option on third-and-long.
Harris filled that role for one night. In Green’s absence, LSU needed a new reliable target, and on Saturday the Tigers found one. “A lot of those plays (to Harris),” Kiffin said, “were kind of similar play-action, Trey’Dez type of plays.”
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