9/13/2023 football Edit

Brian Kelly says Zalance Heard will play for LSU moving forward

Luke Hubbard • Death Valley Insider

Analyst

You've probably been hearing Zalance Heard's name a lot leading up to this season. He's a freshman tackle for LSU who was the lone five-star recruit in LSU's 2023 cycle. Heard is a Louisiana native and has rightfully earned a lot of buzz during fall camp.

As the offseason progressed, it was obvious that Heard was good enough to earn some playing time, even with Emery Jones at right tackle. After he didn't see a snap against Florida State in the opener, it seemed Kelly may be holding out on starting yet another freshman tackle, but that was quickly put to rest.

After their Week one loss, Kelly told the media that he expected to give Heard some quality snaps against Grambling, and he did just that. Heard was on the field for 54 snaps at right tackle and faired very well in his first collegiate game.

Earning the teams fourth best run blocking grade, Heard made a case for why he should be on the field more often for LSU. In the post game press conference, Kelly said he thought Heard played well, but he needed to watch more tape before commenting further on his performance.

On Monday, Kelly had his first media availability since Saturday night and he was asked about what he thought of Heards' performance after watching the tape.

"We liked his presence in the lineup. He was assignment correct, he was physical at the point of contact, and we felt like, by and large, for the first time in a collegiate football game, he handled his emotions very well."

— Brian Kelly

While Heard struggled a little bit in pass protection, he showed Kelly and the rest of the staff a lot of traits of an above average offensive tackle. His performance against Grambling was good enough that Kelly plans to use him as a rotational piece for the rest of the season.

"I think we're on track to similarly do what we did in the last game with him. Miles [Frazier] is still starting at guard, but there's going to be a rotation there."

— Brian Kelly

Brian Kelly is one of the best coaches in football at developing offensive lineman, and that became clear last season with the success of Will Campbell and Emery Jones at left and right tackle.

Kelly, understandably, didn't want to throw Heard into the fire against a very good FSU defensive front, so he saved his first collegiate start for this past Saturday. We likely won't see 50+ snaps from Heard many more times this season unless there's an injury on the right side of the line, but expect to see 53 on the field a lot more moving forward.