LSU Gets Proven Back From Notre Dame Via Transfer Portal

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BATON ROUGE, La. - LSU's questionable backfield has gained experience and yards.

The Tigers gained a commitment from two-year veteran Notre Dame tailback Logan Diggs (6-0, 214 pounds) on Tuesday after Diggs entered the NCAA Transfer Portal on April 27. Diggs led the Irish in attempts last season as a sophomore with 165 and gained 821 yards. In two seasons in South Bend, Indiana, he gained 1,052 yards on 217 carries with 16 receptions for 267 yards.

Diggs is returning close to home and will have two seasons of eligibility with LSU. A native of Boutte near New Orleans and an hour from Baton Rouge, Diggs played at Rummel High in Metairie. He is also returning to his former coach at Notre Dame - Brian Kelly, who left the Irish after the 2021 season for the Tigers. Kelly recruited Diggs, who was a three-star prospect.

LSU's top tailback last season, Josh Williams, gained only 532 yards on 97 carries as quarterback Jayden Daniels led the team in rushing with 885 yards on 186 carries. Williams will be a senior in 2023.

The Tigers' last tailback to gain 1,000 yards and score double-digit touchdowns in a season was Clyde Edwards-Helaire on the national championship team of 2019 with 1,414 and 16 scores. Tyrion Davis-Price gained 1,003 yards with six touchdowns in 2021.

Logan Diggs Joins Crowded But Unproven LSU Backfield

Diggs joins six other scholarship tailbacks at LSU with Williams, seniors Noah Cain and John Emery, junior Armoni Goodwin and freshmen Trey Holly and Kaleb Jackson. None of the returnees have as many carries or yards than Diggs. Williams is the only one with 500 yards in a season. Emery has had academic issues for most of his career. And Williams and Goodwin missed spring practice with knee injuries. Goodwin's status for August practice remains at question.

"We felt there were too many uncertainties," Kelly told the Baton Rouge Advocate last week before Diggs visited over the weekend.

Diggs also is recovering from a lower body injury. He did not play in Notre Dame's spring game on April 22 and entered the portal five days later.

Junior Audric Estime is expected to be the primary back for the Irish in the 2023 season. He led Notre Dame with 920 yards on 156 carries and 11 touchdowns last season.

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Guilbeau joined OutKick as an SEC columnist in September of 2021 after covering LSU and the Saints for 17 years at USA TODAY Louisiana. He has been a national columnist/feature writer since the summer of 2022, covering college football, basketball and baseball with some NFL, NBA, MLB, TV and Movies and general assignment, including hot dog taste tests. A New Orleans native and Mizzou graduate, he has consistently won Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) awards since covering Alabama and Auburn at the Mobile Press-Register (1993-98) and LSU and the Saints at the Baton Rouge Advocate (1998-2004). In 2021, Guilbeau won an FWAA 1st for a game feature, placed in APSE Beat Writing, Breaking News and Explanatory, and won Beat Writer of the Year from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA). He won an FWAA columnist 1st in 2017 and was FWAA's top overall winner in 2016 with 1st in game story, 2nd in columns, and features honorable mention. Guilbeau completed a book in 2022 about LSU's five-time national champion coach - "Everything Matters In Baseball: The Skip Bertman Story" - that is available at www.acadianhouse.com, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble outlets. He lives in Baton Rouge with his wife, the former Michelle Millhollon of Thibodaux who previously covered politics for the Baton Rouge Advocate and is a communications director.