LSU left Oxford with a loss and two of its most impactful players on crutches. Today brought clarity on both injuries. One is a season ending blow, while the other is a much better outcome than it first looked.
Junior defensive back Dashawn Spears will miss the rest of the 2026 season with a torn ACL that he suffered against Ole Miss, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz. The report says that an MRI on Sunday confirmed the injury.
Spears, who plays the STAR position, went down in the second quarter on a 22-yard run by Kewan Lacy. He stayed down for a bit before he was helped off the field without putting weight on his left leg. He had seven tackles, a sack and a pass breakup through LSU’s first two games.
The loss stings on both a team and a personal level. Spears was in his first season as a full time starter, and NFL scouts had recently mentioned him as an emerging prospect for next year’s draft. Sophomore CJ Jimcoily replaced him after the injury.
Trey’Dez Green’s injury looked serious in real time. He was hurt in the fourth quarter after taking a nasty pair of low hits from Ole Miss defenders, and was helped off the field by trainers. Green was carted off to the locker room and returned to the sideline with crutches. The news ever since has been surprising, yet encouraging. His mother, Laketrackey Green, posted on Facebook that his MRI showed nothing torn, just bad sprains and bruises, and that no surgery is needed. She also said he will miss games. The amount of games is still unknown.
Lane Kiffin said both players were on crutches, calling it “not ideal for sure.” He did not give either player’s status for Saturday’s game against Texas A&M, but Dashawn Spears’ torn ACL was announced shortly after.
Green was having himself a strong start to the season also. He has 14 catches for 222 yards and a touchdown this season, and he left Saturday’s game with four catches for 60 yards. At 6-foot-7 and 242 pounds, he is a much taller target for quarterback Sam Leavitt than his backups are, junior transfers Zach Grace and Malachi Thomas. Neither backup tight ends had a catch in the game.
The timing is rough. LSU dropped the game 32-24 after trailing 24-7 at halftime and rallying back to tie the game in the fourth quarter. Kiffin said the injuries to Spears and Green were “more impactful than the loss” itself.
We’ll update this story when LSU releases its official injury report ahead of Texas A&M.
— Eric Palmer, TigerSources