Mason Taylor named to the Pre-Season Watchlist for the Mackey Award ahead of 2024

The John Mackey Award was established in 2000 named after former Syracuse Tight End John Mackey who spent ten seasons in the NFL while also becoming the first president of the NFL's Players Association. The Award is annually given out to the tight end that best exemplifies the play, sportsmanship, academics, and community values of John Mackey. The LSU Tigers have never had a tight end that's won the Mackey Award.

This season the LSU Football team will have a nominee on the watchlist and one of the front runners in Mason Taylor. Heading into his Junior season, Mason Taylor is one of the leaders of this team with both is play and his leadership. This will be Mason Taylor's third season as a key contributor for the LSU Tigers and his biggest season yet.

As a true freshman, Taylor made his mark with an emergent season catching 38 passes for 414 yards and three touchdowns. In 2023, injuries hampered Taylor a bit along with the emergence of Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr as he only caught 36 passes for 348 yards and a touchdown.

This season, with the departure of Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas, the LSU offense will need to lean on Kyren Lacy and Mason Taylor early on. The Reliaquest Bowl showed what Taylor's upside could be this season as he caught seven passes for 88 yards in a game started by Garrett Nussmeier.

The 2022 Signing Class has a chance to cap off an incredible legacy

In 2022, LSU signed the Nation's 12th ranked recruiting class which didn't lead to massive expectations from the group. Starting from their freshman year, Harold Perkins, Will Campbell, Emery Jones, and Mason Taylor have anchored this team. If you add in transfers like Jayden Daniels, Greg Brooks, Kyren Lacy, Mekhi Wingo, and Slade Roy then this group has a strong case for one of LSU's best recruiting classes if they can finish strong in 2024.

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