How soon may we see DaShawn McBryde at Safety for LSU?

At a school with as rich of a history at defensive back as LSU has it's rare to see a true freshman take the field in the secondary. A few of the players to accomplish this feat are Patrick Peterson, Grant Delpit, Tyrann Mathieu, and LaRon Landry. The LSU Tigers may have the next player in this long list of incredible defensive backs with freshman safety Dashawn McBryde.

McBryde is the highest-ranked early enrollee from the 2024 signing class, as the second-ranked safety in the class and the 54th-ranked player in the country. He came to LSU with high expectations coming off of a great Senior year at Denham Springs with 51 tackles, 9 interceptions and 3 defensive touchdowns.

This Spring, McBryde has been a standout not only with his ability in pass coverage but, also as a tackler. Brian Kelly had the following to say about McBryde following the Spring Game:

"He's a tackler, which we really like for somebody with that size. Sometimes you don't get a tackler at 6-foot-4 at that position because you expect they're going to have great range, but he's a really good tackler. I could see that today."

- Brian Kelly

Coming off a season where LSU struggled mightily, especially in the secondary McBryde has put himself in a great position to receive a ton of playing as a true freshman. Sage Ryan and Major Burns had their struggles in 2023 and seemingly blew a coverage in the Spring game resulting in a touchdown.

The Tigers have a rare talent with McBryde at safety and he'll certainly find his way onto the field one way or another in 2024 the questions is when rather than if.

The LSU football team opens the season against USC in Las Vegas so given what we know about Brian Kelly he likely won't start a true freshman in the secondary against a Lincoln Riley offense. The following week LSU will host Nicholls where we'll certainly see McBryde in some capacity. The next two games after that are against South Carolina and UCLA where we could see McBryde moved up the depth chart if the secondary has underperformed.

Which other true freshmen may make an early impact?

When it comes to true freshmen making an early impact you're typically only going to see early enrollees make an impact. McBryde is the highest-rated of the early-impact players and has made a push for early playing time. The same can be said for true freshman edge rusher Gabriel Reliford who finished the Spring Game with two sacks, a QB hurry, and four tackles. If any of the Summer enrollees are going to make an early impact it'll be Dominick McKinley as the five star recruit will be joining a weak defensive line room.