LSU football: Armoni Goodwin’s injury status at Auburn

LSU football’s running game has slowly improved throughout the season. The Tigers’ ground attack was subpar in the loss to Florida State. However, Brian Kelly and Mike Denbrock used the Southern game to get the running backs on the right path. LSU has run the ball effectively ever since its win over the Jaguars and it’s seen the offense open up more.

A big reason for this improvement is the emergence of Armoni Goodwin. The preseason picture of the backfield was a hazy one. John Emery Jr. was set to miss the start of the season through suspension, Noah Cain was an unknown after transferring from Penn State and fans hadn’t seen much of Josh Williams or Goodwin. The latter emerged as the starter in recent weeks. Unfortunately, he picked up an injury against New Mexico recently.

LSU football: Armoni Goodwin’s injury status at Auburn

Goodwin briefly went to the locker room after picking up a hamstring injury in the win over the Lobos. Although he didn’t return to the game, he was present on the sideline until the final whistle. Goodwin was listed as day-to-day by Kelly after the 38-0 rout, a designation that stuck with him throughout the week.

Kelly officially ruled Goodwin out for Saturday night’s game at Auburn on Friday though.

This development means that the Tigers’ three other running backs will need to step up in Goodwin’s absence. The sophomore has gotten more carries than anyone else thus far with 34. The next closest players are Cain with 28 and Emery Jr. with 20.

The aforementioned veteran duo will likely earn a majority of carries on the Plains.

Cain had a coming-out party of sorts in front of the Tiger Stadium crowd last weekend. After not touching the ball once against Mississippi State, the Penn State transfer broke out for 94 yards on 11 carries. His two touchdowns helped propel the Bayou Bengals over New Mexico as he upped his tally to four scores on the season. Cain seized the opportunity he was given; he’s now put himself in a great position to shoulder the load at Auburn.

Meanwhile, Emery Jr. is still working back to full speed. The familiar face in the Tigers’ backfield missed over a year of action due to academic suspension. He’s looked decent (20 carries for 77 yards; two receptions for 15 yards) thus far, but he’s still not back to his old self. The senior will see this as a prime opportunity to get himself more involved.

To do so though, he’ll need to shake some tackles and boost his yards after contact numbers. Emery Jr.’s current longest rush is only 11 yards—which isn’t good enough to warrant taking touches away from Cain.

As for LSU’s third running back, Williams, he will likely get a heavy portion of the touches in the red zone. Williams has shown already this season that he’s capable of busting off powerful runs and taking tacklers with him. This ability will be especially useful against a tough Auburn defense.

Regardless of how the workload is divided, the Tigers will be just fine. LSU has a handful of running backs who are more than capable of competing at the highest level.