GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
You may notice that LSU sophomore running back Caden Durham is literally lighter on his feet this season.
It was noticeable on LSU’s first play of the 2025 season last week when he kept his balance and ripped a 24-yard run in the 17-10 win at No. 4 Clemson before finishing with 74 yards on 17 carries and 22 yards on three catches.
Look for more of the same when the No. 3 Tigers (1-0) host 37-point underdog Louisiana Tech (1-0) on Saturday night (6:30 p.m., ESPN+, SEC Network+) in the 2025 home opener at Tiger Stadium.
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The No. 6 running back in the nation last year from Duncanville, Texas, Durham led all freshmen rushers in the Southeastern Conference in 2024 with 753 yards on 140 carries. That’s a 5.4-yard average, and he scored six touchdowns with 28 catches for 260 yards and two scores in making the All-SEC freshmen team.
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And over his last eight games, Durham played on a pair of dislocated toes. Over that span, he gained 101 yards on 21 carries with three touchdowns in the win at Arkansas, 91 yards on 20 rushes in the loss at Florida and 80 yards on 11 carries in the win over Oklahoma.
“After South Alabama, I played every game with two hurt toes,” he said at player interviews on Wednesday. “The pain killers didn’t work. I can tell you that. I had a plate in my shoes. I had to have a different sole in the shoe. Then I had something else on top of my cleat to protect from somebody stepping on my foot. So, it was a whole lot to go onto that cleat.”
Just watching him, you couldn’t tell he was hurting.
“It was a tough task for sure,” he said. “Just mentally telling yourself, ‘You’ll be all right. You got it. Fight through it.’ I felt like what I was going through, somebody else done did it, too. So, I can do it, too.”
The toes have healed.
“I was cuttin’ and runnin’ with the hurt toes, so you know, imagine now,” he said. “I’m good. It’s amazing.”
And back to regular soles and cleats.
CADEN DURHAM, THE POET?
“Yes, sir, regular and degular,” he said. “Feels good now.”
Yes, Durham throws in an occasional rhyme.
A significant part of LSU’s creative running attack that was key in controlling the clock and the ball in beating Clemson last week was new run game coordinator Alex Atkins, formerly Florida State’s offensive coordinator.
“I wouldn’t say new plays,” Durham said. “But he added a little wrinkle-dinkle to it, you know. He brings a lot of excitement to the team. He’s always laughing, having good energy. He just wants the best out of everybody.”
The playbook of offensive coordinator Joe Sloan looked like it had new pages. And a completely revamped offensive line dominated Clemson’s highly rated defense.
“I’d say yes,” Durham said when asked if Atkins had impacted the line. “But then again, BD (offensive line coach Brad Davis) had the O-line going in the right direction anyway. So, he (Atkins) just made it a little different. Like I say, he added wrinkle-dinkle to the play calling, and make everything better.”
LSU coach Brian Kelly, Sloan, Davis, Atkins and “Wrinkle-Dinkle,” you might say, also stuck with the running game despite trailing 10-3 entering the third quarter and gaining only 22 yards on seven rushes in the second quarter. Durham had exactly one yard on one carry in the second period.
In other words, there was no wrinkle or dinkle.
“We talked about it on the sideline,” Durham said. “Like, ‘We’ve got to run the ball. We’ve got to establish the run. If we don’t establish the run, then it’s not going to work.’ We all knew what was coming ahead.”
Durham rushed 10 times for 38 yards in the second half as LSU possessed the ball for 20:33 to 9:27 over that span.
“We stuck to it, stayed together,” Durham said. “We just kept on pushing.”
And that’s easier to do on located toes.
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