COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Friday availability sheet did what Wednesday's only hinted at: it took the Aggies' second-leading rusher out of the probable column for Death Valley.
Texas A&M running back Jamarion Morrow was downgraded from questionable to doubtful on Friday's Southeastern Conference availability report before Saturday's 6:30 p.m. CT kickoff at No. 10 LSU, KBTX reported. Under SEC policy, doubtful means roughly a 25 percent chance to play; questionable means about 50 percent.
Wide receiver Ashton Bethel-Roman remained questionable. Wide receiver Terry Bussey stayed listed as out for the season after the lower-body injury he suffered on the opening kickoff against Kentucky.
No. 23 Texas A&M (2-1, 0-1 SEC) visits the Tigers (2-1, 0-1) on ABC in the Aggies' first road game of the season. The Friday change is the first hard shift in the backfield expectation since midweek boards kept Morrow and Bethel-Roman in the same questionable bucket.
What Morrow's tag actually removes
KBTX noted Morrow ranked second on the team in carries through the opening two games - 56 yards and a touchdown on 16 attempts - and had caught all four of his targets for 36 yards. Pro Football Focus counts cited in the same report credited him with 24 snaps in the 48-20 win over Arizona State.
He did not dress for last Saturday's 31-21 home loss to Kentucky, and neither did Bethel-Roman.
Freshman KJ Edwards saw extra work with Morrow out against Kentucky before leaving that game injured in the second quarter, KBTX reported. Edwards does not appear on this week's Aggies availability list, which leaves the staff working from a thinner documented rotation even before Morrow's Friday downgrade.
Bethel-Roman started the first two games and has two catches for 13 yards on five targets across 56 snaps, per the same local report citing PFF. His questionable tag still leaves a coin-flip chance he is available; it does not restore the snap volume Bussey took as a wideout and returner before the season-ending injury.
LSU's board is thinner too - and still not a trade
Friday's Tigers sheet, also carried by KBTX, lists tight end Trey'Dez Green, safety Dashawn Spears and wide receiver Phillip Wright III as out. Cornerback Ja'Keem Jackson is questionable.
ESPN's game preview, updated midweek, framed Green and Spears as key absences after injuries in LSU's 32-24 loss at Ole Miss - Spears with a season-ending ACL injury while blitzing, Green expected to miss multiple games but not necessarily the year.
