By Michael Bonnette, LSU Associate Athletic Director/Communications
BATON ROUGE – LSU’s Will Campbell and Emery Jones, college football’s top offensive tackle tandem, have been named to the preseason watch list for the Outland Trophy, the Football Writers Association of America announced on Tuesday.
The Outland Trophy, celebrating 79 years since its founding, is the third-oldest major college football award and honors the best interior lineman on either side of the ball. Former Tiger Glenn Dorsey won the Outland Trophy in 2007.
Campbell and Perkins are the cornerstone to one of the nation’s top offensive lines. Last year, the duo helped pave the way for record-breaking performances by Heisman Trophy quarterback Jayden Daniels and the LSU offense.
Both juniors, Campbell and Perkins have started 24 contests together on the offensive line and LSU is 18-6 in those games. In those 24 starts, LSU averaged 38 points and 482.8 total yards.
Among the highlights for the LSU duo include helping Daniels set an SEC record with 606 total yards of offense in the win over Florida in 2023; LSU racking up 701 total yards in the victory over the Gators – the most yards ever yielded by a Florida defense; Daniels setting the SEC mark for total offense in a season with 412.2 yards per game.
Last year, LSU’s offensive line – anchored by Campbell and Jones – was named as one of three finalists for the Joe Moore Award. The Tiger offensive line played a key role in LSU being in the only FBS team to finish in the Top 10 nationally in both rushing and passing yards per game last season.
Campbell, a native of Monroe, La. who prepped at Neville High School, has started 26 games and earned first-team All-SEC honors in 2023. As a freshman in 2022, Campbell earned second-team All-SEC honors as well as being selected as a Freshman All-America.
He’s been named a preseason All-America by Walter Camp.
He’s played every offensive snap in 15 of 17 games against SEC opponents and the Tigers have averaged 39.8 points and 496.6 total yards with Campbell in the lineup.
Jones, a product of Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, took over as the starter at right tackle in week 3 of the 2022 season and has only missed one game since breaking into the lineup. He’s played every offensive snap in 16 of 17 SEC games that he’s appeared.
He earned second-team All-SEC honors in 2023 after picking up Freshman All-SEC accolades as a rookie in 2022.