What is Chris Hilton's injury status for LSU football for UCLA game? Find out here.
BATON ROUGE — There's been a slight change in Chris Hilton's status for LSU football's matchup with UCLA this weekend.
LSU coach Brian Kelly told reporters following the team's practice Thursday that the junior wide receiver is now "probable" to play against the Bruins on Saturday (2:30 p.m., ABC).
Hilton, the Zachary native, has missed the first three games of this season with a bone bruise he suffered during the team's practice leading up to its season opener three weeks ago.
In his absence, Aaron Anderson and freshman Kyle Parker have seen time. Anderson has played well in his opportunity, hauling in 15 catches for a team-leading 223 yards and a touchdown. Anderson also leads the Tigers in yards per catch (14.9) and yards receiving per game (74.3).
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If Hilton is able to play, Kelly said LSU's offense will be reinjecting necessary experience to its lineup but he anticipates it taking some time for Hilton to get back into the swing of things.
"He's been with the program for three years, so that experience," Kelly said. "He knows the offense very well. It's easy to talk about the speed, which he has it. What emerged late in the season and into the bowl game, was his tracking the ball downfield extremely well. That's an element we'll see more of. I thought we did a better job of that in the South Carolina game of tracking it downfield.
"You can't be out almost a month, then put him in and expect Chris Hilton to tear it up. It takes a while for him. I hope everyone's expectations are, 'Look, it's going to take him some time.' But he's going to help us."
Kelly said the rest of LSU's injury report ahead of the UCLA game is defensive lineman Jalen Lee is out for the game with a shoulder injury and linebacker West Weeks will be a game-time decision.
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Will Chris Hilton play for LSU football vs. UCLA?
