Kent State senior running back/wide receiver Dri Archer is expected to play Saturday night at LSU, coach Paul Haynes told the Kent/Ravenna (Ohio) Record Courier.
Archer (5-feet-8, 175 pounds), one of the fastest players in the nation, injured his left ankle on the Golden Flashes' first drive of the season, against Liberty. He hasn't played since.
"We'll see how long he goes," Haynes told the paper about Archer. "He's going to try to play. How much, I don't know, but I know that he wants to play and he's going to try to go."
Archer practiced on a limited basis this week, Haynes told reporters.
Before the season, NFL.com draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah named Archer as one of the most explosive players in the nation. Archer has excellent speed, quick feet and elusiveness; he led the nation with 10 runs of 40-plus yards last season, as per cfbstats.com. He ran for 1,429 yards and 16 TDs last season and also is a dangerous receiver and kick returner (three touchdowns on 16 returns last season); Archer also had 39 receptions for 561 yards and four scores. He and Trayion Durham (6-1, 238) were the nation's leading returning rushing tandem; they combined for 2,745 yards and 30 touchdowns for Kent State last season.
Archer has seen extensive action just once in his career against a "Big Six" conference opponent and ran for 78 yards and a TD on eight carries against a bad Kentucky team last season.
His speed is legit: As a high school senior in the largest classification in Florida, Archer finished second in the state track meet in the 100 meters -- one spot ahead of Denard Robinson; the winner in state-record time was Dentarius Locke, now one of the nation's top college sprinters at Florida State.
Archer played in the same backfield at Venice (Fla.) High as Florida H-back Trey Burton.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.