LSU tight end Trey’Dez Green left Saturday’s game against Ole Miss in visible discomfort, and for a few anxious hours it looked as if the Tigers might have lost one of their most promising offensive pieces for a long stretch.
Early in the fourth quarter of a 32-24 defeat in Oxford, Green hauled in a pass from Sam Leavitt, turned upfield for 19 yards, and absorbed a hard hit that sent him to the turf. Trainers helped him stand, but he could put little weight on his right leg as he left the field.
The pictures that circulated afterward invited the worst assumptions. A 6-foot-7 target who had already shown the ability to separate on routes and finish runs through contact is the kind of player whose absence can flatten an offense.
Green had collected 14 receptions for 222 yards and a touchdown through the first 11 quarters of his junior season. In the Week 2 win over Louisiana Tech, Leavitt repeatedly found him when drives stalled, connecting on successive gains of 15, 24 and 15 yards that illustrated the chemistry Lane Kiffin hoped would become a weekly feature.
LSU had even awarded Green the No. 7 jersey before the season, a traditional marker reserved for a featured playmaker.
Sunday brought relief that was better than many expected. Green’s mother, Laketrackey Green, posted on Facebook that her son had avoided ligament damage and would not need surgery.
She described the injury as “some bad sprains and bruises” that would keep him out “some games.” Kiffin, speaking with reporters on a conference call, declined to offer a precise timetable.
The immediate effect is still significant: LSU will have to operate without Leavitt’s most productive target for at least the next few contests.
Green arrived at LSU as a high-profile recruit and spent three seasons adding the strength necessary to play through contact at his size. That physical development was beginning to show.
He was not merely a possession receiver; he was creating yards after the catch and forcing defensive backs to account for him in space. Losing that presence, even temporarily, forces the staff to redistribute targets and adjust the ways they try to stretch the field.
The news that the knee itself is structurally sound is the most important detail. Sprains and bruises can still linger, and the exact number of games Green misses remains unknown.
Yet the absence of surgical intervention means the Tigers can reasonably plan for his return later in the season rather than write him off for 2026.
For a player who had just begun to look like a weekly mismatch, that distinction matters.
LSU’s offense will look different in the short term, but the longer-term picture for Trey’Dez Green is no longer defined by the grim images from Saturday night.
