Where is LSU's defensive rebuild after the spring?

LSU’s spring game concluded on Saturday afternoon in Tiger Stadium, but the questions pertaining to the defense remained prominent heading into the summer months.

New defensive coordinator Blake Baker’s attempt to rebuild the Tigers’ defense won’t yield results overnight. It won’t come in the 15 practices this spring, and it may not even come by the time LSU takes on USC to begin its 2024 season. However, the foundation continues to be set every day.

It starts with the basics. Can Harold Perkins learn the inside linebacker position? Can the edge rusher get a consistent pass rush? Can the secondary avoid giving up the big plays? On Saturday, there wasn’t a lot to the Tigers’ defensive scheme, but you got a clear picture as to where they need to improve as a unit.

“One time we got run by by an elite receiver and that’s going to happen in the spring because we’re going to let kids play,” Kelly said. “Blake was very vanilla today. He probably played two coverages, I think he sent the nickel a couple of times, but that was – we aren’t showing USC anything today. That was vanilla defense. We would have done a lot of gameplanning against an elite receiver, but we can’t have happen is we can’t be playing cover two when we’re supposed to be cover three. We can’t have mental breakdowns like that.”

Mistakes will happen with a completely new staff of coaches and plenty of changes in LSU’s secondary, from position changes to incoming transfers and freshmen getting run, but Blake Baker and his defensive staff have to stop them from repeating. Last year, the mistakes piled up one on top of another, but it’s a new year.

Saturday was also an incomplete look at the defense. Along with the scheme being “vanilla”, the personnel is still a work in progress as well. LSU has multiple defensive players set to arrive on campus over the summer, including names like Dominick McKinley, Gio Paez, and CJ Jackson. 

Kelly knows the talent level on this defense isn’t up to par and he’s intent on adding even more defensive tackle talent in the portal.

“I know the basic tenets of defense relative to the believability, the energy, the want to, which are all important as a foundation, but then we have to execute,” Kelly said. “We need to get some help at the defensive tackle position, which we will, then we have to figure out what our corner position is going to be. We answer those two questions and this defense will be a solid defense.”

Eventually, LSU will become even less dependent on the portal in the coming years. The additions of Corey Raymond, Bo Davis, and Blake Baker give the Tigers a trio of the top defensive coaches in the country and, therefore, a significant boost in recruiting some of the top players in the country. 

“The long approach to this is, just look who’s on campus and who we are recruiting,” Kelly said. We have to win right away and I get that and we’re going to put together a defense that will have us in position to win the SEC, but if you want to look at this from a longer view, I’ve had a lot of players in front of me over the last three months since we hired those two that I haven’t seen in a couple of years. That’s a really good thing because we’re going to get the guys we need at that position and Bo and Corey are making an impact there.”

Help is on the way in the future, but for 2024, Baker’s task is to take the Tigers from terrible to respectable and that is going to require some time.