By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE — The phrase “huge leap of improvement” has yet to be associated with LSU’s defense this season.
And there’s a good chance with five remaining games for the No. 19 Tigers, it probably won’t be. At this point, there’s no undiscovered talent on LSU head coach Brian Kelly’s roster.
Therefore, the measuring stick of progress is continuing to correct fundamental flaws such as reducing missed tackles, defensive backs finally turning their heads to locate balls in the air, the defensive line improving techniques to shed blocks and be disruptive, and adjusting the defensive structure to maximize the talent at each position.
After allowing an average of 47 points and 616.5 yards the previous two SEC road weekends at Ole Miss in a 55-49 loss followed by a 49-39 victory at Missouri, the LSU defense took baby steps forward last weekend in a 48-18 home victory over vastly overmatched Auburn.
The most telling sign of improvement was that Auburn punted six times, more than LSU forced in its previous three games combined.
“We were searching for the right defensive structure,” said Kelly, whose 5-2 team hosts run-oriented Army (2-4) in a homecoming game Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in Tiger Stadium. “We were moving (linebacker) Harold Perkins all around. We were in three down (a three-man front). We ran some four down (a four-man front).
“We’ve committed to four down with Harold at the SAM (strongside) backer position. So, everybody now is comfortable in knowing what their assignments are. When you can get your cleats in the ground and play defense, run, hit, get excited – I know those sound like cliches – but that really helps with the confidence of the group. Then, I think we’re playing the ball better in the air on the back end.”
Perkins, who emerged in the last half of last season as a true freshman and won All-SEC first-team honors, started this year at middle linebacker. As the coaching staff began moving Perkins to different alignments in the defense from game to game, he became mentally paralyzed.
Against Auburn, Perkins had his best game as the SAM linebacker in LSU’s 4-3 defensive scheme. Playing mentally unencumbered, he flew around freely and had 5 tackles including 2 for loss and a sack.
“Credit my coaches,” Perkins said. “They put me in the right position to be successful.”
LSU’s cornerbacks, who have given up numerous completions (especially for touchdowns) because they never turned their heads to find the ball in the air, corrected that against Auburn.
“Our corners, particularly Zy Alexander, were tested early on,” Kelly said. “We challenged him to really play the ball in the air. He did a great job.”
Alexander, who had a pair of pass breakups, credited Kelly for advising him to act like a receiver when the ball was in the air coming his way.
“We also took a lot of extra reps after practice,” Alexander said. “Sometimes, we don’t get that many opportunities in practice (to defend passes).”
Sloppy tackling – Kelly counted 34 missed tackles in the Ole Miss loss – had all but disappeared last Saturday vs. Auburn.
“We’ve taken a lot of air out of the (opposing) offense in terms of gap integrity,” Kelly said. “We’re flattening out the gaps much more so there’s not a lot of space.
“The front seven is doing a much better job. So now when safeties and corners are filling, they don’t have huge areas to tackle and we’re creating better opportunities for them to get into tackling space.
“Also, we’re tackling 20 minutes a day now (in practice). We are fundamentally working on tackling every single day until we are in a position where we feel like we’re going to tackle the football the right way.”
Two days after the Ole Miss debacle, Kelly hired former LSU defensive coordinator/D-line coach Pete Jenkins as a consultant. The 82-year-old Jenkins, considered one of the best D-line technicians in football history, has nit-picked and corrected individual flaws across the defensive front.
“Pete’s great,” said Tigers’ backup junior defensive end Paris Shand, a University of Arizona transfer who against Auburn had 6 tackles (including 1½ for losses) and batted down an AU pass. “Every question you have about line play, he knows the answer.
“He really helped us with the timing of how to see when the quarterback is going to throw the ball. He’s helped us overall with everything. You can see that we’re playing better.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com