The state of LSU's wide receiver room heading into 2024

Heading into the 2024 season, the Tigers are losing their two best receivers to the NFL Draft in Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas as well as freshman four-star, Jalen Brown who announced a transfer to Florida State. There's no doubt those losses will be huge, but LSU has been a wide receiver factory over the years and will still have plenty of talent on the outside.

With national signing day over and the early transfer portal window coming to a close, I thought it would be a good time to go through and see what LSU's WR room will look like in 2024.

With the departure of Nabers and Thomas this offseason, LSU is set to retain 12 of their receivers for the 2024 season as long as nobody jumps into the portal late. The returnees are headlined by Kyren Lacy, who announced his return prior to LSU's bowl game, Aaron Anderson, Chris Hilton Jr., Shelton Sampson, Khai Prean and Kyle Parker.

Kyren Lacy will likely enter 2024 as WR1 for Garrett Nussmeier in his first season as the Tigers starting quarterback. In 2023, Lacy caught 24 balls for 463 yards and seven touchdowns in his second season with the Tigers. Lacy was a solid third option for Jayden Daniels this season, but he'll need to work on his consistency if he wants to be a true No.1 option in this offense in 2024.

Aaron Anderson was a big get for LSU in the transfer portal a year ago. The former five-star from New Orleans left Alabama after his freshman season, which he redshirted, and joined Brian Kelly's squad in his home state. He was set to play a major role on special teams while being a gadget player on offense, but after fumbling a punt in week one, Anderson was in the doghouse and finished the year with 12 catches for 59 yards. He should take a step up in 2024, and while he probably won't be the Tigers kick returner because of an addition they made in the transfer portal, he should see a bigger role in the offense next season.

In Chris Hilton's third season as a Tiger, many saw him as a burner who can take the top off a defense, but he wanted to prove he's a more well-rounded receiver than that. Though he was outshined by Nabers, Thomas and Lacy, Hilton showed some flashes of what he could be. Entering his fourth season in Baton Rouge, Hilton should see his numbers rise and should at least start the season as the WR2 or WR3. If Hilton can get somewhere between that 400-500 mark, I'd consider it a successful season for the Zachary native.

Shelton Sampson, a four-star freshman from Baton Rouge, finished his freshman season playing 35 snaps, but didn't record a catch.

Coming into LSU, Sampson was ranked as the 18th best WR in the nation and the fifth best player in the state of Louisiana. Standing at 6-foot-4, 190-pounds, Sampson will be the Tigers tallest receiver next season. He's not as fast as some of the other receivers on this team, but he's quick and moves smooth for his size. Despite not being much of a factor in 2023, I think Sampson could quickly earn himself some playing time in his second season in the purple and gold.

Kyle Parker came to LSU as four-star wide receiver who ranked as the 36th best at his position. Parker played the second most snaps of any of the freshman receiver (25), but also didn't record a catch in his freshman season.

Coming in at 5-foot-10, 181-pounds, Parker is one of the smaller, but faster receivers on this team. His speed, quickness and route running give him a great opportunity to be an impact player in this offense in 2024. He's very well-rounded as a wideout and could be one of the sharpest route runners on the team.

Khai Prean was the fourth and final four-star wideout the Tigers brought in with their 2023 class. He ranked as the 44th best WR in the class and the 20th overall player in the state of Louisiana.

Prean is another shorter receiver, standing at 6-feet tall, but he weighs in at 202-pounds, making him the biggest receiver in this class. As a senior in high school, Prean caught 61 passes for 1,097 yards and 14 touchdowns. While he's a bit bigger than the other three receivers in this class, he can still beat you with his speed. He clocked a 10.94 100-meter dash and a 21.7 200-meter dash in high school.

Prean rounds out a very good class of wide receivers for LSU, and I would expect them all to play a role in this offense next year, even if it's in limited fashion.

Prean saw some time practicing on the defensive side of the ball leading up to LSU's ReliaQuest Bowl against Wisconsin, it may have been a temporary solution to help with numbers, but it will be interesting to see where he lines up once spring practice gets underway.

Here are the returning receivers stats from the 2023 season.

Zavion Thomas was the first wide receiver transfer the Tigers brought in this offseason. Thomas, a transfer from Mississippi State, is coming off a 40 catch, 503 yard season as a receiver, but he also shined in the return game, totaling over 300 return yards which included a 94 yard touchdown.

Thomas should compete with Lacy, Anderson, Hilton and the rest of the Tigers receivers for a starting gig in 2024 and he'll likely be the Tigers No. 1 option on kick and punt returns. Expect to hear Thomas' name called a lot next season as he makes the move back to Louisiana for his junior season.

The second a final receiver LSU has brought in through the portal so far is CJ Daniels. The former Liberty standout led his team in receptions, yards and touchdowns in 2023.

Coming off a 55 catch, 1,067 yard, 10 touchdown season, Daniels is instantly the most experienced receiver on the roster. He has two years of eligibility left and should be a day one starter for the Tigers.

In the 2024 class, the Tigers brought in three more wide receivers to add to the mix. The first and highest rated of the three is Kylan Billiot, a four-star wideout from Houma, Louisiana who is the 6th ranked player in the state of Louisiana and No.211 nationally cracking the latest Rivals250 update.

Billiot was a three-sport athlete in high school, playing football, track and basketball at Terrebonne High School. He's a speedster, running a 10.27 100-meter dash and a 20.39 in the 200-meter dash this past year.

Like the other freshman, Billiot will have a lot of people in front of him on the depth chart, but his speed and 6-foot-3 frame could allow him to get some playing time in his freshman season.

Jelani Watkins is the second four-star wide receiver the Tigers brought in with the 2024 class.

Watkins is another speedster who is a two-time Texas 200-meter dash state champion, clocking in at 20.54 seconds. He also ran in the 100-meter dash, clocking in the same 10.27 time of Billiot and is ranked as one of the top indoor track and field prospects in the country.

Watkins plans on running track at LSU alongside playing football. He's another guy who's speed and talent could get him on the field his freshman season, but he's got a lot of guys ahead of him he'd need to jump during offseason camp.

Michael Turner rounds out LSU's 2024 wide receiver class. The three-star recruit played his high school ball at John Curtis and won a state championship in 2022.

The 6-foot-2, 155-pound receiver played both sides of the ball in high school, finishing his senior season with 25 catches for 519 yards and six touchdowns while totaling 29 tackles, one interception and a fumble return for a touchdown.

Turner also ran track, clocking in a 10.5 100-meter dash this past season. He's another very talented wide in the 2024 class, but he'll have a lot of work to do if he wants to see the field in his freshman year.

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