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Lou Tepper Defense
Posted on 1/6/23 at 6:31 pm
Posted on 1/6/23 at 6:31 pm
Maybe this has been discussed before but I don’t recall ever seeing it. I saw a mention of “drop linebacker” in a thread yesterday and it got me thinking. Was his scheme truly bad or was Lou Tepper maybe just ahead of his time?
For those with more technical knowledge of defensive schemes, how did his 3-4 compare to those being successfully run today to counter spread offenses? Was his scheme bad or did he just not have the athletes to execute it with 1990’s college talent which was still mainly recruited to play in primary run stopping defenses?
Secondary question. Of the great LB’s LSU has fielded since then, who could have best fulfilled the Drop LB position? And DJ Welter is not an acceptable answer.
For those with more technical knowledge of defensive schemes, how did his 3-4 compare to those being successfully run today to counter spread offenses? Was his scheme bad or did he just not have the athletes to execute it with 1990’s college talent which was still mainly recruited to play in primary run stopping defenses?
Secondary question. Of the great LB’s LSU has fielded since then, who could have best fulfilled the Drop LB position? And DJ Welter is not an acceptable answer.
31
Posted on 1/6/23 at 6:33 pm to Cincinnati Tiigre
He had a linebacker trying to cover Champ Bailey.
Posted on 1/6/23 at 6:34 pm to Cincinnati Tiigre
quote:Neither was Thomas Dunson
Of the great LB’s LSU has fielded since then, who could have best fulfilled the Drop LB position? And DJ Welter is not an acceptable answer.
The answer is Devin White or maybe now Harold Perkins
This post was edited on 1/6/23 at 6:35 pm
Posted on 1/6/23 at 6:36 pm to ehidal1
Perkins definitely came to my mind. The other 2 were Ali Highsmith or even Laron.
Posted on 1/6/23 at 6:37 pm to Cincinnati Tiigre
Interesting topic! I think Patrick Queen would have fit that role well.
Posted on 1/6/23 at 6:41 pm to Cincinnati Tiigre
Terrance O’Bryant was supposed to be the drop linebacker.
I think he was like 6-1 215 back then. That was smaller than the bradies and trevs that would come after him. he was a coverage LB.
He was always hurt and Tepper called him the “glass man”.
Tepper based his defense on linebackers like this in college but not every player was Simeon Rice.
It’s a different world between college and pro.
But I do think Tepper was actually ahead of his time. Just WAAAAAAAY too early.
I think he was like 6-1 215 back then. That was smaller than the bradies and trevs that would come after him. he was a coverage LB.
He was always hurt and Tepper called him the “glass man”.
Tepper based his defense on linebackers like this in college but not every player was Simeon Rice.
It’s a different world between college and pro.
But I do think Tepper was actually ahead of his time. Just WAAAAAAAY too early.
This post was edited on 1/6/23 at 6:44 pm
Posted on 1/6/23 at 6:43 pm to dstone12
You have just mentioned he that which shall never been named and worse LSU defense in history. Why do you bring this curse upon us?
Posted on 1/6/23 at 6:47 pm to TutHillTiger
quote:
You have just mentioned he that which shall never been named and worse LSU defense in history. Why do you bring this curse upon us?
You remind me of the the guy that wrote for the Louisiana Hayride.
I think he named the late dinardo era the:
quote:
Time of Unspeakable Darkness
Posted on 1/6/23 at 6:48 pm to TutHillTiger
He was our DC my JR and SR years at LSU. Every game we'd have an opposing WR streaking down the field and nobody was within 25 yards of him 
This post was edited on 1/6/23 at 6:49 pm
Posted on 1/6/23 at 6:49 pm to Cincinnati Tiigre
don't put that evil on me Ricky Bobby...
Posted on 1/6/23 at 6:59 pm to Cincinnati Tiigre
Posted on 1/6/23 at 7:04 pm to Cincinnati Tiigre
Tepper was not ahead of his time.
Posted on 1/6/23 at 7:06 pm to Cincinnati Tiigre
quote:
The other 2 were Ali Highsmith or even Laron.
Laron the goat safety would need to stay a safety imo.
Larson the goat shortstop edited to Laron. How does this always happen
This post was edited on 1/6/23 at 7:57 pm
Posted on 1/6/23 at 7:07 pm to Cincinnati Tiigre
quote:
Laron.
He was a safety. Led the 2003 team in tackles as a true freshman.
Led the team in tackles in 2003,2004,2006.
I think he and Bradie james might be the only ones to lead the team 3 times.
I could also be totally misremembering the stat.
This post was edited on 1/6/23 at 7:11 pm
Posted on 1/6/23 at 7:12 pm to Cincinnati Tiigre
Tepper was a hot name at the time, and he wrote a book about linebacker play to cash in. Orgeron did the same with Flip the Script. You can now buy these books for 50 cents at the Dollar Store.
Posted on 1/6/23 at 7:16 pm to Cincinnati Tiigre
Give him a generational pass rusher and a unicorn hybrid LB/DB and he would have looked like a genius. Hell give him recruting classes like we've had in the past 15/20 years and he would have been serviceable. He just didn't have the horses and he couldn't adapt it to the talent he had.
Posted on 1/6/23 at 7:28 pm to ehidal1
If I was Thomas Dunson, I would have punched Lou Tepper in the dick for having me to guard Champ Bailey in that 1998 game. That was bullshite.
Posted on 1/6/23 at 7:37 pm to Cincinnati Tiigre
The average football player could not think his way through the Lou Tepper processes and coverages. 
Posted on 1/6/23 at 7:50 pm to Jim Rockford
quote:
He just didn't have the horses and he couldn't adapt it to the talent he had.
LSU actually had top 10 recruiting classes during Tepper’s tenure. That’s what made the defensive collapse even more inexplicable. I remember listening to post-game breakdowns on Talkin SEC (or whatever radio show Max Howell co-hosted at the time). They, too, were stupified by Tepper’s end goal. The term they kept using over and over was “ very vanilla” to describe LSU’s defense, which seems eerily reminiscent of Pellini’s issues. So I’m guessing there were issues translating Tepper’s scheme—if the scheme even worked at all.
This post was edited on 1/6/23 at 7:53 pm
Posted on 1/6/23 at 7:53 pm to Cincinnati Tiigre
The drop LB was supposed to defend the flat zone. It wasn’t like he was being asked to guard a WR man to man. Tepper’s scheme was zone based. The problem was we would drop 8 and still not have anyone near the receiver when the catch was made. And of course only sending 3 meant the QB had all day to find these wide open targets. A recipe for disaster.
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