Five-Star Freshman Trey'Dez Green Carving Out a Role for LSU Football

The former No. 1 tight end in America is earning meaningful snaps, finds a new role for the offense.

Sep 21, 2024; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; LSU Tigers tight end Trey'Dez Green (14) runs after a catch against the UCLA Bruins during the second half at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

LSU true freshman Trey'Dez Green has proven to Brian Kelly and the coaching staff that he's deserving of meaningful snaps in year one with the program.

The former No. 1 tight end in America coming out of high school, Green has brought the five-star hype to Baton Rouge with him.

He's an elite-level pass catcher with his outlook quickly becoming a receiving tight end in the future with the purple and gold.

Now, Kelly and Co. have elected to move Green to a slot/receiver role for the remainder of the season in order to get him on the field more.

On average, Green had played roughly six snaps per game during the first seven weeks of the season, but a move to receiver changed his role drastically.

Despite only reeling in one pass for eight yards in Week 8 against the Arkansas Razorbacks, Green played 42 snaps for the Tigers offense alongside Kyren Lacy and Aaron Anderson for most of them.

He earned the start at receiver with the coaching staff pleased with his overall development.

"I thought for his first game where he was in a lot of plays because he was averaging about six plays prior to that, he fared very well," LSU coach Brian Kelly said Monday.

"There's some things we got to work on outside the numbers in terms of releases and such but inside the numbers and hash, he's a difficult target. He's hard to handle inside. He blocked well for us, blocked on the perimeter. He was assignment correct for the most part."

#LSU TE Trey’Dez Green will play a slot/receiver role for the Tigers moving forward.

The former No. 1 TE in America gives the Bayou Bengals more versatility in the passing game.

The Tools: 6’7, 245 pounds.

“We’ve made that decision. That has to happen.” pic.twitter.com/BUpzeyWrFy

— Zack Nagy (@znagy20) October 14, 2024

Green is mismatch nightmare for opponents, Prior to Week 8, he had hauled in three receptions with two of them coming in the form of a touchdown.

The 6-foot-7, 245-pounder out of Louisiana is a versatile weapon that Kelly and Co. believe can change the game in one play, but his usage has been unique through year one in Baton Rouge.

It was clear Kelly and the staff needed to make a move in order to get him on the field for more snaps with a receiver role becoming what needed to be done.

"Quite frankly, I think that's what we have to do," Kelly said last week. "[Trey'Dez] is a talented player. We saw him on the touchdown how easy it is for him to flash his hands. [The ability] to catch the football; he just gives us more versatility."

Moving forward, it's about keeping it simple while providing signal-caller Garrett Nussmeier with another weapon in the receiving game.

"We're gonna keep it to a minimum in terms of what we're doing, but make it impactful," Kelly said. "I think it's important that he gets on the field. I think it's important that he's part of the game plan, and that when you walk away you go, 'Who's that guy?'

"But we can't get him out there and have it that he's making mental errors and not getting lined up and putting us in a position where we're slowing down the offense. So we think we found that (sweet) spot, and I think he's handled it really well."

With redshirt-freshman wide receiver Kyle Parker out for the remainder of the 2024 season after suffering a torn tendon in his tricep, along with veteran Chris Hilton out for all seven games so far this season, Green is the next man up.

No. 8 LSU will head to College Station this weekend for a date against the Texas A&M Aggies in a battle for the top of the Southeastern Conference.

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