11/1/2023 football Edit

What the Mekhi Wingo injury means for LSU moving forward

Luke Hubbard • Death Valley Insider

Analyst

On Monday, LSU fans got some bad news regarding their star defensive tackle, Mekhi Wingo. The man who was given the honor of wearing No. 18 for LSU this season was battling through a lower body injury for most of the year, and before the Army game, Wingo was ruled out to give him time to rest and get better.

Unfortunately, during that time, Wingo and the training staff decided it's best if he got surgery for his injury, and Brian Kelly announced on Monday that he's likely out for the rest of the regular season. The surgery has a six week recovery time, so if LSU makes a bowl game or the College Football Playoffs, we could see Wingo back for post season play.

Wingo posted on his twitter account yesterday that he'll "be back for the playoffs."

Although losing Wingo is a huge blow to the defense, Brian Kelly is confident in the other guys they have on the defensive line and says if you lose one player and can't have someone else step up and play, then you're not really a great football team.

"Clearly we'd love to have [Mekhi] Wingo in the lineup, but he has an injury and we're built for injuries. You can't be built for 11 players, we have depth. We have good players that will step up and be ready to play, and they'll play at a high level. It's part of football. In this game, if you lose one guy and you're not able to answer the bell then you're not very good. We have a good football team. We're going to miss him, but we have guys that are going to step up and compete at a high level."

— Brian Kelly

So how will LSU go about replacing their sack leader? Well, they're going to start by playing many of the other guys who have played really well for them on the defensive line.

Some of those guys include Jordan Jefferson, Paris Shand and Bradyn Swinson. All three of those players have come in as rotational pieces and have played at a high level for this team. Jefferson is one of the highest graded players on their defensive line this year, Shand plays very sound and technical football and Swinson has been one of LSU's best pass rushers this season (which we saw at the end of the Missouri game).

Brian Kelly talked about all three of these guys during his Monday press conference, and here's what he had to say about the trio of defensive lineman:

"I think Jordan Jefferson is playing at a high level, he's graded out as our best defensive tackle. He's physical at the point of attack and uses his hands well. He's getting great separation and uses great gap integrity, he's playing really well. Paris Shand, technically is very very good. He's grading out at the top of our defensive line over the last three weeks, and [Bradyn] Swinson has been really good in pass rush."

— Brian Kelly

I'm not going to sit here and tell you losing Mekhi Wingo isn't a big loss for this team, because it is. He's not only this teams sack leader, he provides a voice in the locker room. His teammates have talked all year about Wingo's leadership, so not having him on the field will be a big blow.

Fortunately for LSU, they have a bunch of guys who have been waiting for their opportunity to shine. Jefferson, Shand and Swinson have all had good playing time, but this will be one of their first opportunities to go out there and prove they can play at a high level all game.

With the addition of Pete Jenkins this season, we've seen the defensive line turn a corner, and losing one guy won't stop these kids from playing hard, physical and sound football on the defensive front.