By KACE KIESCHNICK, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
LSU running back Dilin Jones has been a weapon for the Tigers’ offense all season long, but over the last two games, he has emerged as a lethal threat in the passing game.
The Wisconsin transfer was LSU’s most targeted player in the 31-0 win over No. 16 Mississippi State, catching eight of nine for 58 yards. The week before at Kentucky, he was the Tigers’ leading receiver with 84 yards on seven receptions. Before those two outings, he had just 11 catches for 48 yards all season, but he said his use as a receiver has been going on behind the scenes the whole time.
“I feel like everything we’ve been doing at practice just translates to the game. I might get a little more in the game, but been working on it all season long,” Jones said after the win over the Bulldogs.
While his usage against Kentucky was an emphasized schematic answer to what the Wildcats were trying to do offensively that the Tigers returned to throughout the game, versus the Bulldogs, his production was a product of quarterback Sam Leavitt making the smart choice and dumping the ball down to one of his best play makers on check downs.
“He does an incredible job making the first guy miss in check downs and making explosive plays for me,” Leavitt said. “It’s super easy for me to just check the ball down and go get a first down. So shout out to him, and he does an incredible job – just puts his head down and comes to work every single day”
Jones was known as a physical, downhill runner when he came to LSU, and he was certainly not a receiving back. He had just nine catches for 21 receiving yards in his 10 games as a Badger over the last two seasons. He has continued to gain tough yards in the run game and ranks fourth in the Southeastern Conference with 566 yards on 128 carries this year. Against the Bulldogs, he took 18 carries for 84 yards and had 58 yards after contact, according to Pro Football Focus. He credited his background in wrestling for his exceptional balance.
“Never want to let the first man bring you down,” Jones said. “Really, it’s just a mentality. You want to be able to stay on your feet and make them make the tackle. That’s what they’re supposed to do. Don’t tackle yourself with them.”
But anybody who has watched the Tigers this season knows he has done much more than just bulldoze defenders with his 5-foot-11, 211-pound frame. He has made guys miss in the open field and navigated traffic with explosive cuts and twitchy jukes. Leavitt said he does something no other teammate of his ever has.
“Sometimes he’ll make a joke and I’ll normally see the vision like, hey, set him up and he’s gonna bounce it outside, and he’ll have a few a day where it’s like he goes a completely different direction than I would have thought,” he said. “It completely shakes a defender. It shakes my vision which is pretty funny, so I don’t really know how some people can tackle him in space.”
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