NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

The LSU Tigers football season is inching closer, now down to double digits on the countdown clock. Kickoff against the Clemson Tigers is now just 97 days away.

As we continue to look back at the history of the Bayou Bandits to celebrate and prepare heading into the first game, there is also the matter of getting to know the current-day players.

Here is a look at the past and present of No. 97 at LSU:

No. 97 – DE Dylan Carpenter

While the Tigers did a lot of work in changing their roster around this offseason, Carpenter remains at LSU for his redshirt junior campaign. He was a three-star recruit out of St. Amant, La. He has never really played a huge role in the defense, but has been developed by Blake Baker and that defense for a while now.

Carpenter was a member of the 2023 recruiting class. Since then, he's played fewer than 200 snaps on the defensive side of the ball. 119 of them came last year, though, so he's moving in the right direction.

So far in his career, the defensive end has recorded 15 tackles, 2 sacks, and 2.5 TFLs. He could probably step into the role of Jack Pyburn as a run-defense-first sort of EDGE rusher.

He has always projected as more of a run-defense player, and that's certainly something that the Tigers could certainly use, as most of their investments at that position were more focused on bringing down the quarterback.

Carpenter may not have made a huge splash yet, but he has stuck around, and that certainly says something in this modern day of college football. Perhaps this will be his year to carve out a spot in the rotation.

Highlighting Former Players Who Wore No. 97

DL Glen Logan (2016-2021)

It felt like Logan was at LSU for forever, and that's partially because he was. Over a half a decade in college is long, though his story is more that of poor timing. He redshirted as a freshman 2016, which is normal, and then his redshirt senior season was 2020, so he got another.

The Destrehan alum started for four years and picked up 110 tackles with 10 TFLs and seven sacks. He went undrafted in 2022 and then spent three years in the XFL/UFL.

DL Al Woods (2006-2009)

Woods is more known for his NFL career, but he was great for the Tigers as well, and was on the 2007 BCS National Championship, and that was his first real season as a contributor. He picked up 72 tackles with 8 TFLs and 3.5 sacks during his career.

He was then drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL draft, was cut in September, and then went on to have a 14-year career in the league.

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos