With kickoff against Clemson now 31 days away, LSU’s countdown has turned to No. 31 - and right now that belongs to a young linebacker who’s still climbing.
CJ Jimcoily is one of those players LSU clearly likes to keep developing. The Tennessee native arrived with a real two-way feel to his game, and that makes sense considering he played for Tigers legend Kevin Mawae in high school.
At 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds as a recruit, he had the kind of frame that could have fit at linebacker or defensive back. He chose linebacker, and he’s already packed on plenty of weight, now listed at 218.
Jimcoily may not be in line to start yet, but the path forward looks straightforward enough: keep growing on defense, keep doing the work on special teams, and wait for the moment his number gets called more often. That part already seems to be coming into view. He’s got four career tackles, with 186 special-teams snaps and 32 snaps at linebacker, according to Pro Football Focus.
The recruiting profile matched the upside. Jimcoily came out of high school as a four-star prospect, ranked No. 388 nationally, No. 41 among linebackers and No. 10 in Tennessee on the 247Sports Composite Rankings.
LSU has a creative defense and a deep enough group that the challenge isn’t just finding talent - it’s finding the right opening for it. Jimcoily looks like one of those players waiting in the wings.
Before Jimcoily, No. 31 belonged to a memorable LSU back in Domanick Williams, who also went by the last name Davis during his playing days. He arrived in Baton Rouge from 1999 to 2002 and spent much of that time behind Labrandon Toefield before taking over the starting job in 2002. By the time he left LSU, he had piled up 2,056 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns.
Williams was taken by the Houston Texans in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL draft and made an immediate impact. In the Texans’ second season, he won Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year honors and topped 1,000 rushing yards in each of his first two years.
Over his first three NFL seasons, he totaled 3,195 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns, along with 154 receptions for 1,276 yards and five more scores. A knee injury in 2005 ended his season and, ultimately, his career.
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