LSU head coach Brian Kelly spoke to the media Monday afternoon about the Tigers’ Week 4 win over UCLA and the next steps in game preparation for South Alabama.

Kelly and Co. are in the midst of a three-game winning streak after defeating the UCLA Bruins in Death Valley on Saturday.

Now we move on to Week 5 and the South Alabama Jaguars are heading to Baton Rouge.

LSU will be without star linebacker Harold Perkins for the rest of the season after he tore his ACL in a game against UCLA, Kelly confirmed Monday.

Who else is on the injury list this week?

LSU linebacker Harold Perkins suffered a knee injury in the fourth quarter on Saturday and many feared the worst when he immediately went to the locker room.

Now the results are in: Perkins is out for this year due to a torn cruciate ligament.

Kelly looked at the impact of Perkins, who is next on offense and doing even more:

The injury: Perkins is out for this year

“It’s an injury that we feel terribly sorry about, especially for Harold and the work he’s done to put himself in a great position,” Kelly said. “You lose players all the time and you just feel terribly sorry for them because they’ve put in so much work and time.”

“Next Man Up” approach: Young players on the rise

“We’ll have someone step in like we’ve had this year,” Kelly said. “We lost Jacobian Guillory, and a true freshman in Ahmad Breaux steps in and plays for us the last three weeks. We lose John Emery, and another freshman in Caden Durham steps in and does a good job for us. And it’s the same here. The next guy will come in and get us back on our feet and put us in a position to be successful as well. That’s tough, but we have really good players that can come in and step in and step in for LSU and move forward.”

How does the pattern change? What is the defense package now?

“If we want to play with three linebackers on the field, the first player to move there would be Whit Weeks (SAM), then West Weeks would move to MIKE linebacker and Greg Penn would play WILL. So if we wanted to play in ‘Buffalo,’ we’d still be in a really good position. In that situation, we’d probably activate Xavier Atkins as the next WILL. So that’s the situation we’d be in if we wanted to stay with the current lineup (against UCLA).

“We would probably also consider going back to a STAR position, with Major Burns as the STAR, supported by Kylin Jackson. That would be the other option we have. So we have the versatility to play in any of those defensive structures.”

LSU cornerback Zy Alexander suffered a concussion early in Saturday’s game against the UCLA Bruins and will continue to complete concussion protocol this week.

Now it’s all about checking off the boxes before game day against South Alabama, but Kelly and Co. are in no rush to get Alexander back on the field this weekend.

The program is happy with the substitutes and can even use Javien Toviano as a cornerback if needed.

LSU will gradually integrate Alexander back into the team as he goes through concussion protocol.

Instant Takeaways: No. 16 LSU defeats UCLA 34-17 in a big win

What’s next for LSU without Harold Perkins?

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