By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
It was hard to miss No. 4-ranked defensive tackle signee Deuce Geralds at running back Tuesday during short-yardage snaps at an LSU spring practice.
An early enrollee last January from the Tigers’ class of 2026, Geralds (6-foot-0, 279 pounds) was the No. 68 player in the nation and No. 7 in Georgia from Collins Hill High in Suwannee, Georgia. Redshirt freshman linebacker Zach Weeks (6-3, 230) was also seen in the backfield.
“Yeah, that would be the issue of having you guys at practice right there,” Kiffin said laughing at a press conference following the practice. “Wasn’t ready for that.”
But he let it go.
“We’re looking at a lot of different things, and it’s that time of year to do that – look at people in different roles,” he said. “We run a program that’s about creating a new box, not just thinking outside of it. A couple of years ago, we had a 310-pound tailback named JJ Pegues, and so we look at everything.”
Pegues (6-2, 315), a defensive tackle with the NFL Las Vegas Raiders, gained 69 yards on 21 carries and scored seven touchdowns for Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels in the 2024 season in the “Jumbo” package when he wasn’t playing defensive tackle.
Kiffin’s mentor, Nick Saban, changed players position often when he was LSU’s coach from 2000-04. He moved reserve tailback Josh Reed to wide receiver in 2000. And Reed became one of the greatest receivers LSU has ever had as he was named a first team All-Southeastern Conference player in 2000 and ’01 and was a consensus first team All-American and the Biletnikoff award winner in 2001. Saban also had defensive backs Corey Webster and Ronnie Prude play wide receiver and had wide receiver Michael Clayton play safety.
LANE KIFFIN HAS NICK SABAN’S “OBSESSION”
“Maybe a little bit,” Kiffin said when asked if he got that idea from Saban while his offensive coordinator at Alabama from 2014-16. “I think more from him comes as I find myself now with like the obsession of winning. The obsession of every day, like, ‘There’s got to be something that we can do better.’ And I find myself like that, and I think maybe now our coaches get annoyed with me like I did with him, like where you’re never pleased.”
Saban won the 2003 national championship at LSU and six more at Alabama in 2009, 2011, ’12, ’15, ’17 and ’20 before retiring after the 2023 season to a career in football analysis at ESPN.
“I find myself like that,” said Kiffin, who won three national titles as an assistant coach with two at USC and one at Alabama, but none yet as a head coach. “That’s what I feel I’m taking from him more than different positions.”
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