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LSU adds d-line help, landing sought-after Division II transfer
By Andrew Olson
Published:
LSU added some experienced production to its defensive line on Wednesday.
The Tigers turned to the transfer portal, bringing in Jay’viar Suggs. The Grand Valley State transfer announced his pledge to LSU via social media.
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A native of Flint, Michigan, Suggs heads to the SEC after 5 seasons at Grand Valley State. It took him a while to see the football field. He redshirted in 2019 before the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19 and then did not log any playing time in 2021.
Over the past two seasons, Suggs played in 22 games. He registered 21 total tackles each year for a career total of 42. That number includes 14.5 career tackles for loss, with 8 sacks. He is also credited with 9 pass breakups and 2 forced fumbles.
Last week, Suggs posted that LSU, Kentucky, Michigan and Wisconsin were his top 4 teams after also being recruited by USC, Florida State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas and others.
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LSU adds at a position of need
LSU has been looking for help on the defensive line. The Tigers notably missed out on defensive tackles Damonic Williams (TCU to Oklahoma) and Simeon Barrow Jr. (Michigan State to Miami).
Interestingly, it was a question from WAFB’s Jacques Doucet about pursuing transfer d-linemen that led to Brian Kelly’s comments about “not buying” players that made headlines last week.
Doucet: “So the interior D-linemen, where are you right now with that?”
Kelly: “Well, I think I made it pretty clear in a number of the press conferences I had that we were in the market in recruiting in the transfer portal looking for defensive linemen. It hasn’t fared very well quite frankly because we’re selling something a little bit differently. And that is, we want to recruit, we want to engage, we want to build relationships, we want to develop, retain and have success. We’re not in the market of buying players. And unfortunately, right now, that’s what some guys are looking for. They want to be bought. …”
With Suggs commitment, LSU has now added a 6-3, 282-pound lineman who produced the past two seasons. LSU’s scholarship count is reportedly at 82, giving the Tigers room to potentially add more players.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
