Early Entrees: Ranking the impact of their loss

Take into account their on-field production, depth at position, & leadership

Wing
Minter
Reid
Simon
Ware
Mingo
Montgomery
Logan
Ford
Faulk

1. Montgomery- by all accounts the team leader. Players fed of his emotion and play on the field. LSU is extremely thin at DE in terms of experience. LSU does not have a returning DE that recorded a sack in 2012.

2. Chris Faulk- by far the best lineman on our OL, & one of the top LT's in the nation. On a team that started 3 FR at times this year, his return was huge. Gut wrenching news today of his departure.

3. Eric Reid- Like Montgomery, was a great leader on and off the field. The biggest thing with him, is he got everyone in order in the defensive backfield. With so much youth back there, he will be really missed next year. Can we trust Craig Loston back there? He's been here a while, but if you remember, early in his career a big reason he didnt see the field was because of him not knowing the plays. He will have to be the guy to run things in the Dbackfield. Ronald Martin & Corey Thompson are waiting in the wings.

4. Kevin Minter- Arguably he could be higher, but I think the return of Barrow coupled with our outstanding LB recruiting class last season, it softens the blow a little. Still, he was by far and away the best player on our defense last year. Our best LB in nearly 15 years. Great teammate and leader as well.

5. Brad Wing- a very underrated lost for the tigers. He wasnt the same guy in 2012 as he was in 2011 when he was the best we've ever seen, but the kid could flip field position like no other. With our weird offense at times, he was invaluable. His Aussie buddy punted well in the bowl game, which is promising.

6. Mingo- We will all miss his disruptiveness, but he had an off year in 2012. Still, like mentioned above, we have littler experience at DE. As "off" as he was, he still was a great player off that edge.

7. Bennie Logan- A lot like Mingo he had a disappointing 2012. His 2011 season was great. Freak Johnson out played him this year, but again, we are short on experience at DT. Ego Ferguson has not showed me much, despite getting a lot of snaps. We basically ran an exclusive 4 man rotation at DT, and 2 of them will be gone(Downs/Logan). Maybe Ego can live up to the coolness of his name.

8. Simon- didnt really think he had a great year. Was an outstanding player when he had a lockdown CB on the other side of him(PP7 or MC). He had some picks this year, but most were gifts. Jalen Mills started 13 games and Jalen Collins got plenty of snaps. I dont see much of a drop here.

9. Ware- lets face it, he had his moments but we have 3 other RBs just as talented, if not more. Hill, Hilliard and Blue leave us in good hands.

10. Ford- See above.