What Brian Kelly, LSU football players have said about ascending freshman CB Ashton Stamps

BATON ROUGE — Ashton Stamps has earned everything that's been given to him with LSU football.

Stamps, a former three-star recruit and freshman cornerback for the Tigers, needed to attend LSU's Elite Camp three times last summer before finally earning a scholarship offer from coach Brian Kelly and his staff.

Despite being the No. 62 cornerback and No. 28 prospect in Louisiana, according to 247Sports Composite, at the time of his signing last December, Stamps has ridden the momentum of that impressive showing last summer into this one, earning first team reps at cornerback while competing against the Tigers' deep and talented wide receiver room this preseason.

Here's what Kelly, defensive coordinator Matt House and Stamps' teammates are saying about the freshman's impressive start to his LSU career.

Brian Kelly

On how Stamps has matured since signing with LSU in December: "Ashton's a true freshman who put on a lot of weight. I think many of you remember us recruiting him, maybe he was a bit, I would say, underweight at the position for us. We're excited about his competitiveness and his athleticism but we challenged him to get after it in the weight room and he certainly did in the offseason and then this summer and he looks the part. He's doing a really good job as a true freshman."

Greg Brooks

On how Stamps has performed this preseason: "He's doing great. I expected nothing less of him, working out with him since I was a sophomore and college and he was like a junior, sophomore in high school. I expected nothing less."

On how Stamps earned his scholarship offer from LSU: "Head down, working hard, do you know what I'm saying? They had him come out (to recruiting camps) three different times. Each and every time he got better and better and better. I definitely feel like he's going to be a guy that we can count on."

Chris Hilton

On what he has seen from Stamps this preseason: "Ashton is going to be a very, very good player. We saw a play in film, I think he was in Cover 2. He rerouted the receiver, then dropped back and then made the pick. That's something you don't see every day from a freshman. So he's going to be pretty good."

On whether his physical or mental side of the game stands out the most: "I would say probably his physical aspects. Like some of the things (he can do), some of the balls he's breaking on, you don't see that every day."

Sage Ryan

On how Stamps has looked this preseason: "He's going to be a guy in the future and he can be the guy right now. It's going to be hard. He's just done a tremendous job and I feel like he's doing something that I wanted to do my freshman year, make a name for himself early. And that's what he's doing so he can play, he knows the cornerback position. And he has tremendous ability and it speaks for itself y'all. Y'all see what I see."

On what makes Stamps special: "His patience and his footwork. I mean, he looks like a veteran guy out there. I'm not going to lie. It's fun to watch and it's fun to play with him and he knows what he's doing. And when you're comfortable with somebody on the side of you, it just makes it 10 times better to run our defense, and the trust is there."

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Defensive Coordinator Matt House

On LSU's cornerbacks room: "Ashton Stamps has grown up fast."

On what he's seen from LSU's freshmen, including Stamps: "Ashton's a football nut. He's a guy that when you teach him something, he grabs a hold of it."

On what makes Stamps a "football nut": "I'll go ahead and tell you this... the guy came to camp three times to LSU to get a scholarship offer. I think that's all you need to (know) about Ashton Stamps. Like, he wants to be here. He wants to be great. And he's not scared of competition. And sometimes that's not always true right now, right? And he's a dude that embraces competition every day."

Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU football: Ashton Stamps praise from Brian Kelly, teammates