LSU Injury Update: WR Jackson Harris Says He Could Have Returned To Mississippi State Game Saturday

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

LSU wide receiver Jackson Harris is one player you will likely not see on the Tigers’ injury report to be released by the Southeastern Conference office on Wednesday.

Harris left the Tigers’ win over Mississippi State Saturday with an ankle injury in the third quarter and did not return after catching six passes for 85 yards and two touchdowns in the Tigers’ 31-0 win. But he expects to be back when No. 18 LSU (5-2, 2-2 SEC) plays at Auburn (4-2, 2-2 SEC) on Saturday (11 a.m., ABC).

“Yeah, I feel like if the game went differently (and wasn’t a blowout), I could’ve went back out there and played,” Harris said Tuesday during player interviews. “So, we’ll be all good for this week.”

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LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt, who aggravated his previous hamstring injury in the game, will be happy about that. Harris, who later wore a protective walking boot on Saturday, leads LSU in receiving yards with 456 this season on 27 catches. The junior transfer from Hawaii also is first in touchdown catches with five and in average yards per catch among those who have caught more than three passes at 16.9.

“The more passes he throws me and the more plays I make, the more he’s going to trust me to make that play on critical downs and when we need plays,” Harris said. “I’m just really happy for him.”

Leavitt is coming off of one of his best games as he completed 31 of 38 passes for 289 yards and a season-high four touchdowns.

“He’s just a gamer,” Harris said.

Harris has also noticed that about running back Dilin Jones.

“Every time he gets the ball, he’s dropping somebody,” Harris said of Jones, who rushed 18 times for 84 yards and caught eight passes for 58 yards with 54 of those coming after contact. “He makes somebody fall every time. He’s NOT going down on the first guy. So if you see your teammate playing that hard, it just matters more to him. So it’s going to matter more to you. You want to block for him. We can count on him in every situation.”

Harris ran much like Jones when he caught a short pass from Leavitt and made it a 27-yard touchdown in the first quarter after he bulldozed his way through several tacklers near the goal line.

“It’s really just a mindset,” Harris said. “Like Dilin’s always fighting for those extra yards, so I just made the decision to get in the end zone. And my teammates came and pushed me in, too.”