re: Ngl I’m excited for what baker does with the defense year 2

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I don't understand the folks who think those games were the result of poor playcalling or gameplans. How many times did guys like Ryan, Burns, and Gilbert have the opportunity to make a tackle and just didn't? Do we really think that guys like Bo Davis, Corey Raymond, Peoples, and Baker simply don't know how to contain a running quarterback? This is like the posters here who thought Yeskie suddenly forgot how to coach pitchers.

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It’s like folks don’t realize it’s hard to stop a mobile qb when your missing your most athletic defender ( Harold Perkins) and have safeties who are horrendous tackling in space and taking proper angles to ball carriers

Getting good players is only part of the solution. I am stil not convinced that we are teaching good technique to DBs, which have sucked in the past.
Coaching technique matters, especially to defensive players. Also, safeties need to have great football instinct and play reading ability (Honey Badger was the GOAT in this area). I am not convinced that we have these type of safeties, but we will know soon enough.

I’m excited to see some improvement.

Idk how good they’ll be, but I’m excited to find out.

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last year's bama game was yet another embarassment in Tiger Stadium.

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SCe and Aggie games laid the footprint

Bama & 2 weeks to prepare executed it perfectly

Ngl, we are “hoping” for a lot this year on both sides of the ball that doesn’t seem realistic considering BK’s body of work at LSU. The DL & OL are a huge mystery and we really didn’t see a great improvement on defense as a whole throughout the season. It was inconsistent at best. Considering the last couple years, removing Star players, we haven’t seen any considerable development of players either. In your OP you site 5 players to step up. Seems a little high. If the Safeties & DTs step up I’d feel ecstatic.

Not to be doom and gloom but this feels like another 8-9 win team about to hit the field. Defense will be better but it’s unknown where and how. Glaring issues last year were DL (run game), LB run fits, Safety coverage busts, and small CBs who struggled to get off blocks, tackle, & man cover (when allowed). There is a lot of room for improvement but don’t think we have the players or coaching to surpass 9 wins. I “hope” I’m wrong.

Baker showed last year that he calls the 1st half very vanilla which killed us. A plus for Baker, the 2nd half he tightens up a lot and that’s a good sign of a competent scheme/analytics coach. The first 4 games of the season you have to be aggressive on D or you’re going to play from behind, see 2024 schedule USCw - UCLA. Was brutal to watch the defense in a 1st half through most of the season.

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The DL & OL are a huge mystery and we really didn’t see a great improvement on defense as a whole throughout the season.

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The OL you can say that but not the DL.

Payton, Pyburn, Guillory, Butler and Gooden are proven vets. Dom, Breaux, and Reliford all played big time snaps last year and all have pro talent. Mitchell had a really good spring. The DL is only a question mark for those that don’t follow the team closely.

As far as the defense not improving. We went from over 100th in total defense to 60 something. We were also 14th is sacks. Again you only didn’t see improvement if you didn’t pay attention.


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we haven’t seen any considerable development of players either

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Again not paying attention. Swinson and Jones were light years better last year compared to 2023. We saw Weeks develop into an all SEC player last year.

I'm excited about the defense this year, but at the same time, I get what people are saying about our inability to defend the zone read.

Our DE's nearly 100% of the time go for the RB and let the QB run free, untouched. Maybe our guys are coached differently. But I would assume the DE should stay with the QB even if he hands the ball off to the RB.

Is it a coaching thing? Are our linemen too dumb to understand the scheme? IDK. But they HAVE TO get it fixed if we're to be a championship team this season.

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Payton, Pyburn, Guillory, Butler and Gooden are proven vets. Dom, Breaux, and Reliford all played big time snaps last year and all have pro talent. Mitchell had a really good spring. The DL is only a question mark for those that don’t follow the team closely.

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That’s an opinion not based on any pro grades or facts. Spring ball doesn’t mean shite anymore, hate to tell you. Potential is not a valid talking point. The DL is a huge freaking mystery we’ve lost, according to you, 2 of our most improved players. Facts is we don’t know what we are getting at all from the DL group until they play a game. It’s all hype and bs until then.

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As far as the defense not improving. We went from over 100th in total defense to 60 something. We were also 14th is sacks. Again you only didn’t see improvement if you didn’t pay attention.

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Speaking to paying attention…. My comment was specifically directed toward improvement throughout the season. Not year to year, but that’s knit picking. And frankly, you have a point…One would hope a 2nd year coach would begin to gel with the players through the second year and put together some stronger performances as the year went on. It was a crap shoot for the defense nearly every game, and within that from possession to possession. Albeit, they improved year to year, we were 60th best. Bravo!!

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Again not paying attention. Swinson and Jones were light years better last year compared to 2023. We saw Weeks develop into an all SEC player last year.

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Swinson, a transfer from Oregon after sophomore season. Put it all together year 4 at LSU. Hard to say he was a LSU developed player. Not detracting LSU’s (People’s) contribution, of which I’m sure there was. That’s 1 guy. OP named 5.

Jones has nearly identical stats from 23 to 24 he also has a slight uptick in playing time. Came in as a big time recruit, not sure we got the best out of him while at LSU.

While Weeks is a star (of which I highlighted as an exception in my OP) his increase in performance is also contributed to playing time increase out of need. Namely Penn jumping gaps and Perkins getting hurt. It was obvious when he was on the field who the better LB choice was but took a season & a half to get real playing time. You can even look back at game threads of ppl calling for him to play. Was weird.

Anyway, my two cents.

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Theses last few years of blowing the 1st game make me very cautious of drinking the koolaid

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Kool-Aid drinking is strictly for Pumptard Cheerleaders.

So, you say you can WALK ON WATER, then fricking WALK ON WATER! (Win the first game and make the CFP)

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Will they perform up to your hype?

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I haven’t said how they will perform. I’ve just stated we have veteran players. I’ve never said anything about hope and potential. I gave you facts. Games played. Accomplishments. Draft grade. We have 5 guys with over 25 games played in college. Thats not unproven guys. Thats considered extremely veteran in college football.