Kiffin pulls Trey'Dez Green over Auburn hip-drop tackles

Green was the best story of the day for LSU right up until Kiffin explained why he wasn't on the field for most of the second half.

Jon Blau

@Jon_Blau

Lane Kiffin used some caution with Trey'Dez Green in his first game back from a knee injury. Kiffin said he pulled LSU's star TE because Auburn defenders were using a "hip-drop" tackling technique (legal in the NCAA, banned in the NFL) during the game. t.co/XqJEKdOqzJ

Kiffin didn't hold back. "Fortunately, he didn't get hurt worse when they were trying to hip-drop tackle him," he said. "That was unfortunate, and he was really concerned about that. So we actually took him out." He also said Green is "still kind of limping, and pushing through." That's your star tight end, a few weeks off a knee sprain, worried enough about how he was getting brought down that his coach shut him down in a road SEC game.

Pulling him still didn't mean Green had a quiet day. He finished with 5 catches for 50 yards and a 15-yard touchdown, and almost all of it came before the break: 4 catches, 40 yards and the score in the first half. On that touchdown he trucked through 4 Auburn defenders and dove into the end zone, which is a pretty good way to announce you're back. Kiffin summed it up simply: "You just feel different when he's there."

Here's the backstory. Green got hurt at Ole Miss on Sept. 19 in Week 3, and LSU caught a break when tests showed sprains and bruising, no torn ligaments and no surgery. Kiffin spent the following weeks hinting that he'd be back sooner than people expected, saying he was out of the brace and "getting closer." Auburn was the first time he'd played since Oxford.

The hip-drop is the bigger argument here. It's the move where a defender grabs the ball carrier from behind, spins his hips and drops his full weight onto the guy's lower legs. It's been tied to ACL tears and high ankle sprains, which is exactly what you don't want landing on a knee that's still healing. The NFL banned it in 2024. College football hasn't, and the NCAA Rules Committee's reason is that officials would have a hard time calling it consistently in real time. So it's legal on Saturdays, Green's knee was the one getting tested, and Kiffin said it out loud.

The blowout made the call easy this time. You can sit your best pass catcher when you're rolling on the road. The question is what LSU does when the game is close. Green gets 2 weeks of rest before Alabama on Nov. 7, and if he's still limping and the hip-drop is still legal, his snap count in that game is the thing to watch. Don't be surprised if Kiffin keeps bringing up the rule all the way to Tuscaloosa.