LSU Freshman Tight End Arik Gilbert Named to John Mackey Award Watch List

Gilbert enters freshman season as a dynamic weapon in the SEC

LSU freshman tight end Arik Gilbert was named to the John Mackey Award watch list on Friday. The John Mackey Award is presented annually to the top tight end in the country, with Foster Moreau being the last Tiger tight end to make it on the preseason watch list in 2018.

Not many freshmen in the country enter the 2020 season with more hype than Gilbert, who became the highest ranked tight end prospect ever by 247Sports as part of the 2020 class. Gilbert capped off his stellar high school career by being named the 2019-20 Gatorade Player of the Year for his 1,436-yard, 12 touchdown season at Marietta High School.

He was also the inaugural SI All-American for his final high school season.

The 6-foot-5, 249-pound Marietta, Georgia native was the only freshman who appeared on the watch list and expects to be a vital part of LSU's offense this season. 

With much of the attention set to be focused on junior receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Terrace Marshall Jr., Gilbert could be put in a unique spot where he's matched up with the third or possibly even fourth best cover man on an opposing team's defense. This was pointed out by receivers coach Mickey Joseph in an interview on "Off the Bench" a few weeks back. 

“He’s a special young man,” Joseph said of Gilbert. “He’s quiet, more to himself, not going to say too much. But when he gets onto the field, you can’t tell this kid was in high school last year. His skillset exceeds him right now. 

“He’s a matchup problem,” Joseph added. “When you have [Arik] to the left and Ja’Marr to the right, you’ve got to pick your poison. This kid is going to be great, and he’s probably going to get the third or fourth best cover guy on each team.”

LSU plans to be versatile in the way they use Gilbert, even as a freshman as coach Ed Orgeron has said that there will be scenarios where Gilbert lines up on the outside, the slot as well as on the line of scrimmage. 

Orgeron has even gone as far as to compare the role LSU envisions for Gilbert to that of Calvin Johnson, who new passing game coordinator Scott Linehan coached in Detroit for a number of his Hall of Fame level years.

"I'm considering Arik Gilbert as a wide receiver," Orgeron said in April. "I can't wait for him to come back. Obviously we can use him at tight end but we can split him out at "X" and we can get some mismatches with this kid, especially in the redzone. He's going to be a nice target there for Myles Brennan.

"We can use some of the same plays with Arik that Scott ran with Megatron, I'm not saying he's going to be Megatron but he's a good player."

Just how quickly Gilbert will be able to adjust to the many different assignments LSU will have for him will determine how effective he can be. Based off of the amount of work he's been putting in this offseason, as you can see below, LSU fans should be excited about what's to come from the freshman this season.

I been working, I’m just not with all this social media ish. pic.twitter.com/VGbmtaHsNH

— AG2 (@arik_gilbert) July 8, 2020