re: What are your thoughts on our defense if Greg Penn, Sage Ryan, and Major Burns start

As long as Sage doesn’t start at corner I’m fine with this

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What are your thoughts on our defense if Greg Penn, Sage Ryan, and Major Burns start

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We’ve seen other LSU players (especially LB) struggle for a couple years then really light it up as seniors/upper classmen.
Damone Clark comes to mind.

I also think that, while these guys have some limitations and may never be stars, the new coaching staff can have them playing better to the point where they aren’t liabilities

I expect all 3 will play better than many think and be better than most here will ever be willing to give them credit for.

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The guy was a stud last year, even though most fans have no idea.

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He wasn’t as bad as some remember but man it’s hard to forget a couple plays (can’t remember if it was aTm or the bowl game) where he looked like he didn’t even belong on a high school field.

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Penn can be a solid LB with better coaching and scheme. Like someone said earlier, you can’t judge some of these guys from their play last year. The Matt House scheme was a disaster for multiple reasons.

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I agree. Penn plays hard and seems to be a leader and hard worker that the coaches trust. He’s just slow for a P5 LB in modern football.

Positioning and reaction are critical for someone like Penn to be successful. If you put him in a system like we ran last year, you are exposing his biggest weakness and making it worse. You are taking a guy who is already a step slow for the position and slowing him down even more by making making think and diagnose. And that’s if the system is implemented well. We have all the evidence in the world that it wasn’t last year, which just makes it all worse.

Put Penn in a more aggressive scheme where the defense is trying to dictate rather than read and react to what the offense is doing, and he has an opportunity to improve. There’s no guarantee how much, but Baker’s system and LB coaching should get the most out of him, whatever that is.