Tag: Bo Davis

4 things we’ve learned about LSU in 2024

LSU is halfway through its regular season. Here’s four things we’ve learned about the Tigers.

We’re already halfway through the college football regular season. LSU has six games down with six more to go.

LSU’s first six games didn’t lack intrigue. LSU’s played four games against Power Four opponents and three came down to the wire. LSU came up short against USC in Week 1 but staged comebacks against South Carolina and Ole Miss to jump out to a 2-0 start in conference play.

After the Ole Miss upset, LSU is up to No. 8 in the AP Poll, five spots better than where it began the year at No. 13.

Given all that LSU lost after 2023, a 5-1 start is impressive. You can’t make the playoff in the first six games, but you can get knocked out of it. LSU did enough to stay alive and remain in the thick of the playoff race.

Here, we’ll look at five things we’ve learned about LSU in these last seven weeks. We had a lot of questions about this group entering the year and now with a good sample size to look at, many have been answered.

The receiver depth is even better than we thought

Receiver was somewhat of a question for LSU after losing [autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag] and [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag] That type of production is hard to replace in one offseason, but LSU is managing just fine with a plethora of talented options.

[autotag]Kyren Lacy[/autotag] leads the way with 30 catches for 463 yards. His five-catch, 111-yard performance vs. Ole Miss made it back-to-back 100-yard games for the fifth-year senior.

[autotag]Aaron Anderson[/autotag] is enjoying a breakout year with 30 catches for 452 yards. Both marks rank in the top 10 among SEC receivers.  Transfers [autotag]CJ Daniels[/autotag] and [autotag]Zavion Thomas[/autotag] are both making impacts too.

Along with the receivers, tight end [autotag]Mason Taylor[/autotag] leads all SEC tight ends with 33 receptions.

This group doesn’t have the same explosiveness element as last year’s, but it’s deep and dependable.

Defensive development is ahead of schedule

LSU brought in a new staff on the defensive side of the ball, hoping to accelerate the development and get the most out of its young talent. We’re seeing that so far.

Start at defensive tackle, where [autotag]Bo Davis[/autotag] continues to get competent production from its interior defensive line despite losing [autotag]Jacobian Guillory[/autotag]. True freshmen [autotag]Ahmad Breaux[/autotag] and [autotag]Dominick McKinley[/autotag] are both in the rotation while veteran transfer [autotag]Gio Paez[/autotag] is on track to set career highs in stops and pressures.

At linebacker, Blake Baker has sophomore Whit Weeks playing like a star. Greg Penn has shown progress too.

LSU hired Corey Raymond to rebuild the secondary, and we’re already seeing the impact for LSU’s corners. The Tigers look much more comfortable in man coverage and playing balls in the air. Zy Alexander leads all SEC CBs in PFF coverage grade after week seven.

The OC transition could have been smoother

LSU’s offense is good, but it’s still experiencing some hiccups as it figures out its identity. Mike Denbrock took the OC job at Notre Dame after leading the best offense in the country at LSU in 2023.

Brian Kelly didn’t have to look far for Denbrock’s replacement, promoting QB coach Joe Sloan and WR coach Cortez Hankton.

Sloan called plays before in his time at Louisiana Tech, but this is his first time doing it at this level.

LSU has struggled to recreate last year’s success on the ground. Regression was expected without Jayden Daniels’ legs, but the fall is significant. After leading the country in EPA/rush last year, LSU ranks 94th this year.

Nussmeier isn’t a threat with his legs and LSU is yet to find an adjustment that makes up for that.

The drop-back game is one of the best in the FBS, but consistency is an issue. Nussmeier was uncomfortable early against Ole Miss but eventually settled in. Expect Sloan to get his QB in rhythm early against Arkansas.

LSU shows poise under pressure

All offseason, Brian Kelly spoke about the maturity of this team. He said it was the most “player-led” group he’s had since arriving in Baton Rouge. That’s starting to show up on the field.

LSU hasn’t played many comfortable games this year. Outside of South Alabama, virtually every game was close at one point. That said, LSU found a way to be 5-1.

The Tigers came up short at the end vs. USC, but LSU hung in there to get big conference wins against South Carolina and Ole Miss. Both wins required big plays late in the game.

Ideally, you’d like to see LSU controlling more games than it is, but remaining cool under pressure isn’t a skill every team has. It’ll come in handy with more close games in the coming weeks.

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What Jacobian Guillory’s injury means for the LSU defense

LSU football will be without DT Jacobian Guillory for the rest of the year. What does that mean for the Tigers defense?

LSU’s defense took a massive hit with the announcement that defensive tackle [autotag]Jacobian Guillory[/autotag] would miss the entire season with a torn Achilles. Guillory, a fifth-year senior, was one of the only returning players with experience on the defensive line.

[autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] and staff spent much of the offseason shopping around the transfer portal for impact defensive tackles. The Tigers came up short for the services of highly touted transfers [autotag]Domanic Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Simeon Barrow[/autotag], but LSU managed to land [autotag]Gio Paez[/autotag] and [autotag]Jay’Viar Suggs[/autotag].

Paez and Suggs brought much-needed experience and offered a significant boost to LSU’s depth up front. Paez ended up winning a starting job next to Guillory. Now, with Guillory’s injury, Suggs joins Paez on the first line.

This area was a concern for LSU entering the year. Even with Guillory, Paez and Suggs aren’t proven at an SEC level. Paez was a rotational player at Wisconsin while Suggs is moving up from the Division II level.

Paez and Suggs are now positioned to be the focal points of LSU’s defensive line. It’s hard to read much into what we saw against Nicholls State, but Kelly was impressed by the defensive tackles in the USC contest. Paez and Suggs weren’t disruptors, but they avoided huge mistakes and didn’t get pushed around by a good USC offensive line.

Still, Guillory was LSU’s best defensive tackle by a decent margin. He was a blue-chip recruit with significant SEC experience. He’s proven as an interior pass rusher and a guy who can plug the run. After an offseason with [autotag]Bo Davis[/autotag], he was primed for a career year.

That’s hard to replace.

As LSU’s SEC schedule gets underway, the Tigers will face some of the best offensive lines in the country. Most OL’s LSU sees will have a better overall talent level than LSU’s interior defensive line.

The Tigers have some promising freshmen at this spot. But they’re just that — freshman.

[autotag]Ahmad Breaux[/autotag] has already played 30 snaps, which comes as no surprise after Kelly said he was one of LSU’s most ready freshmen, physically and mentally.

If Breaux is ahead of schedule and Paez and Suggs hold their own, LSU will be fine. There will be some rough games, sure. But LSU can live with that trio.

That’s counting on a lot to go right, though. Breaux will have some growing pains and Suggs’ transition from D-II to the SEC won’t be seamless.

LSU will get another test this Saturday when it travels to South Carolina, but that’s just the start of a schedule that won’t offer many breaks.

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Brian Kelly highlights tackling as an emphasis for LSU’s secondary in 2024

One of the position groups that struggled the most for LSU last fall was the defensive backs.

One of the position groups that struggled the most for LSU last fall was the defensive backs. They were a weak link to a defense that gave up a ton of points and was ranked as one of the worst teams in not only the SEC but the NCAA.

This season, the Tigers have a new defensive coordinator in [autotag]Blake Baker[/autotag] and he looks to fix some of the issues LSU had last fall. Between Baker, [autotag]Bo Davis[/autotag], [autotag]Kevin Peoples[/autotag], [autotag]Corey Raymond[/autotag], and [autotag]Jake Olson[/autotag], I believe the defense will be a lot better. With that being said, [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] recently stated he wants the safeties to do a better job tackling.

“I think from the safety position we’ve got to continue to stress them in tackling,” Kelly said, per On3. “That’s really going to be a big piece for us is can we erase some mistakes up front? And when we say mistakes up front, if we cut a gap loose, if there’s an issue up front relative to a run fit, can those safeties erase for us? And we’re not there yet. We need to continue to evaluate that.”

As a safety, you are the final line of defense between a running back or a receiver and the endzone. If you don’t make the tackle, it’s six points every time.

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Is LSU the new favorite for 5-star safety Jonah Williams?

LSU is continuing to make waves on the recruiting trail this summer.

LSU landed the nation’s top corner earlier this month, picking up a commitment from [autotag]DJ Pickett[/autotag]. Is LSU on its way to adding the top safety too? On Wednesday, On3’s Billy Embody logged a prediction for LSU to land five-star safety [autotag]Jonah Williams[/autotag].

In a rare consensus agreement, all four major recruiting sites rank Williams as the No. 1 safety in the 2025 class. Overall, Williams rates highest at 247Sports, where he’s the No. 7 player in the country.

Williams would be the fourth industry five-star to join LSU’s 2025 class and the Tigers’ third top 10 overall recruit, joining Pickett and QB [autotag]Bryce Underwood[/autotag].

LSU has stiff competition. Oregon was considered the favorite not too long ago while Texas and Texas A&M are making noise as well. LSU appears to be capitalizing on recent recruiting momentum along with a more organized NIL effort.

[autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] is counting on the 2025 class to restock the defense with talent after firing and replacing the entire defensive staff. Among the new but familiar faces are defensive line coach [autotag]Bo Davis[/autotag] and secondary coach [autotag]Corey Raymond[/autotag]. Both are renowned for their ability on the recruiting trail and we’ve seen it pay off this summer.

If LSU manages to land Williams and Pickett, the Tigers have two five-stars that can propel LSU back to DBU status and put an end to the inconsistency LSU’s seen on the backend during the Kelly era.

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How LSU can keep adding to its 2025 defensive tackle class

Here’s how LSU can beef up its defensive line depth in the 2025 recruiting class.

Few positions are as important to LSU recruiting in 2025 than the defensive tackle spot. [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] hired defensive line coach [autotag]Bo Davis[/autotag] to rebuild that room after LSU wore thin this offseason.

The 2025 class is off to a good start. Davis landed two four-stars in July, picking up commitments from [autotag]Zion Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Brandon Brown[/autotag]. But LSU won’t call it quits there, remaining involved with several uncommitted defensive tackles.

One to watch is [autotag]Walter Mathis[/autotag], a three-star out of Savannah, Georgia. The 247Sports Crystal Ball has Mathis headed to Miami, but the On3 Prediction Machine considers LSU a heavy favorite.

The 247Sports Composite rankings slate Mathis as the No. 434 ranked player in the country, placing him 49th among defensive tackles. Rivals is the highest on Mathis’ talent, giving the prospect four stars.

Another name worth remembering is [autotag]Xavier Ukponu[/autotag]. Like LSU’s two current DT commits, Ukponu is from Texas.

Schools like Arkansas, Florida, Texas and Texas A&M remain in the mix, but the On3 Prediction Machine likes LSU’s chances.

As far as longshots go, [autotag]Kevin Oatis[/autotag] is worth monitoring. He’s one of the top-ranked uncommitted defensive tackles. Out of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, LSU could have a tough time prying him away from Mississippi State and Ole Miss.

LSU’s class is secure at the top, but now, the Tigers need to establish some depth. LSU wants to avoid another situation like the one this offseason, where the staff turned to the portal just to fill out numbers on the defensive line.

Signing deep classes is a way to do that.

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LSU’s 2025 class building momentum for elite 2026 class

Louisiana’s 2026 recruiting class gives LSU the chance at another elite group.

LSU’s 2025 recruiting class is shaping up to be the best in Brian Kelly’s career and the best LSU’s had in a long time.

Its led by five-star QB and No. 1 overall recruit [autotag]Bryce Underwood[/autotag]. He’s joined by two more five-stars in CB [autotag]DJ Pickett[/autotag] and RB [autotag]Harlem Berry[/autotag]. Both players are considered the top recruits at their respective positions too.

The 2025 class is far from finished. With just 18 commits, LSU will look to add more. Ensuring the current commits make it past the finish line is critical too.

But it’s never too early to look ahead to 2026 when LSU could assemble a class just as strong. Louisiana is set to have one of its best high school crops ever next year, setting LSU up for another elite haul.

According to On3, 247Sports and Rivals, defensive lineman [autotag]Jahkeem Stewart[/autotag] is the top player in the country. Stewart hails from St. Augustine High School in New Orleans, a place that produced the No. 1 overall recruit 10 years ago in [autotag]Leonard Fournette[/autotag].

Stewart gives LSU the chance to land the nation’s top player in back-to-back classes. There’s a long way to go in his recruitment, but the On3 Crystal Ball gives LSU a 90.9% chance of landing Stewart. Underwood and Stewart in consecutive years is the type of core you can build a national title team around.

Stewart isn’t the only Louisiana product in the top 10. Offensive lineman [autotag]Lamar Brown[/autotag] sits at No. 5 overall. Given how strong LSU offensive line coach [autotag]Brad Davis[/autotag] is at recruiting Louisiana, it would be hard to imagine Brown going anywhere else.

Not further down the list, Baton Rouge safety [autotag]Blaine Bradford[/autotag] is on his way to earning a five-star. He’s out of Catholic High School, where LSU has several previous connections.

LSU has three five-stars committed in 2025 and the Tigers may not even leave the state to reach that total in 2026. With Stewart, Brown and Bradford, LSU can land the strongest core the state’s produced in some time.

There’s also OT [autotag]Brysten Martinez[/autotag] and safety [autotag]Aiden Hall[/autotag], two more top 50 recruits in Louisiana.

What might have LSU fans particularly excited is how good the Louisiana defensive tackle group is in 2026. Stewart’s at the top, but [autotag]Richard Anderson[/autotag], [autotag]Dylan Berymon[/autotag] and [autotag]Darryus McKinley[/autotag] are three more top 300 prospects that LSU won’t have to go far to get.

Davis was able to turn around LSU’s offensive line after he capitalized on a strong 2022 Louisiana class that included [autotag]Will Campbell[/autotag] and [autotag]Emery Jones Jr.[/autotag]. The 2026 class can have a similar impact on the defensive side for [autotag]Bo Davis[/autotag].

The 2026 cycle has barely begun, but if LSU seizes on the momentum of 2025, it will be another special group. Kelly landed top 10 classes in 2023 and 2024. He came to LSU to work with this caliber of talent.

But there’s a difference between a top-five class and a top-two or three class. Top-five classes keep you in contention, but top-three classes allow you to compete with Georgia. That’s where Kelly and LSU look to be headed.

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Brian Kelly says LSU expecting young guys to take next step on defense

LSU and Brian Kelly are expecting a group of young defenders to take a step in 2024.

[autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] knows his defense wasn’t up to par last year. It led to a change-up with the entire defensive staff with Kelly firing defensive coordinator [autotag]Matt House[/autotag] and hiring [autotag]Blake Baker[/autotag]. Along with Baker, LSU brought in [autotag]Bo Davis[/autotag] and [autotag]Corey Raymond[/autotag]. Two of the most heralded assistant coaches in the country.

“We know that defensively, we need to reach a higher level of play,” Kelly told the SEC Network on Monday morning.

“We played a lot of young guys on defense that we expect to take that next step this year,” Kelly said.

LSU didn’t land many top prospects in the transfer portal, so LSU will be counting on the development of the younger defenders to be the answer on defense.

Eight underclassmen played 70 snaps or more on defense for LSU last year. The biggest name in that group is [autotag]Harold Perkins Jr.[/autotag], who has All-American potential as he enters his junior year.

Up front, LSU will need a step forward from [autotag]Da’Shawn Womack[/autotag]. The former five-star recruit showed flashes in 2023, but will have a bigger opportunity in 2024.

On the backend, defensive backs [autotag]Ashton Stamps[/autotag] and [autotag]Javien Toviano[/autotag] fit the same bill. Both were thrown into the fire as true freshmen last year and it’s hard to imagine the LSU secondary finding success if they don’t contribute this fall.

LSU remains talented and has the chance for a strong young core of defenders to emerge this fall. If it all comes together, expect to see LSU back in the College Football Playoff.

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LSU continues rebuild of defensive tackle room with 2 commits

LSU’s two newest additions on the defensive line are two more steps in the right direction.

When LSU hired [autotag]Bo Davis[/autotag] in January, I wrote about just how massive the addition was. It’s rare that a position coach can completely move the needle for a program, but that’s what Davis did at Texas.

Davis provided the Longhorns with the best interior defensive line in the country, headlined by T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II. According to PFF, the duo were the top two graded defensive tackles in the country. After working with Davis, both went on to be NFL draft picks.

Sweat and Murphy were both highly touted recruits, but neither was the slam-dunk prospect that some five stars are. Per 247Sports, Sweat was a three-star and the No. 27 ranked DT in his class. Murphy was a four-star but sat outside the top 250.

On July 4, Davis and LSU landed two DT prospects that fit similar criteria. Two composite four-stars in [autotag]Brandon Brown[/autotag] and [autotag]Zion Williams[/autotag]. Brown ranks as the No. 324 overall prospect in the 247Sports Composite Rankings. Williams isn’t that far behind, sitting at No. 298.

They are the first two defensive tackle commits in LSU’s 2025 recruiting class which is sorely in need of interior defensive linemen. That’s why Davis was brought to LSU, to address that need at defensive tackle. Brown and Williams are the first steps to getting this room where it needs to be.

LSU hit the transfer portal to add depth for the upcoming year. The Tigers missed on top targets like [autotag]Damonic Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Simeon Barrow[/autotag] but added [autotag]Jay’Viar Suggs[/autotag] and [autotag]Gio Paez[/autotag]. The top piece is rising fifth-year senior [autotag]Jacobian Guillory[/autotag], but he’ll be off to the league after this year.

The Tigers have some prospects in the pipeline with [autotag]Dominick McKinley[/autotag], [autotag]De’Myrion Johnson[/autotag], and Ahmad Breaux, but you need to stack classes to get the needed depth.

A dominant interior defensive line can change the outlook for a defense. LSU thought they had that heading into 2023 with [autotag]Maason Smith[/autotag] and Mekhi Wingo, but poor defensive coaching mitigated that.

LSU got here because the defensive line coaching position has been a volatile spot for the Tigers. Just when LSU thought it had stability with [autotag]Jamar Cain[/autotag], he took an NFL job with the Broncos. It’s hard to find consistency and build relationships in recruiting when there’s a new face coaching the room every year.

LSU paid a heavy price for Davis, a former LSU defensive lineman in his own right. They’re hoping this is more than just a one-year thing. Davis has coached at LSU before, he was a part of national titles at Alabama and helped lead Texas to the playoff in 2023. The goal is for Davis to stick around and build something.

We’ve seen the job [autotag]Brad Davis[/autotag] has done with the offensive line. He took a mediocre unit and built it into one of the best offensive lines in the country. If Bo Davis can have a similar impact on the defensive line, LSU will be competing for SEC titles year after year.

The skill positions will never be much of a question. Louisiana has a way of producing elite receivers and running backs. Quarterback isn’t an issue that plagues the program anymore either.

Defensive tackle is, by far, LSU’s biggest question mark entering the year. It’s the one thing holding LSU back. With additions like Brown and Williams, that’s on its way to being fixed.

There’s a strong defensive tackle group within the state in 2026. That gives Davis and company the chance to keep up the momentum.

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LSU reportedly picking up steam for pair of blue-chip defensive lineman committing next week

Both Zion Williams and Damien Shanklin are set to make decisions during the first week of July.

LSU is off to a strong start in the 2025 recruiting cycle, but it’s looking to add to its defensive line haul. After next week, it could be a lot happier with that group.

Two players the Tigers are in the mix for are set to make their decisions: four-star defensive lineman [autotag]Zion Williams[/autotag] and four-star EDGE [autotag]Damien Shanklin[/autotag]. Williams, who comes from Lufkin, Texas, commits on Thursday, while Shanklin, an Indianapolis prospect, commits the following day after originally planning to commit in late August.

LSU has recently found itself trending for both. It picked up two crystal ball projections for Williams, the No. 284 player in the cycle, in the last week. Shanklin, who On3 ranks inside the top 100, also holds a crystal ball prediction for the Tigers.

On3’s recruiting prediction machine also gives LSU a sizable lead for both.

The Tigers had both on campus for official visits in the last month, and it seems defensive line coach [autotag]Bo Davis[/autotag] used that time with the prospects productively.

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On3 logs prediction for LSU to land 3-star defensive tackle

LSU is picking up steam with one of its defensive tackle targets.

Rebuilding the defensive tackle room is a top priority for LSU head coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] and defensive line coach [autotag]Bo Davis[/autotag].

Kelly has stressed the Tigers’ need at interior defensive line on multiple occasions. LSU signed a good high school class and brought in a couple of transfers, but [autotag]Jacobian Guillory[/autotag] is the lone returner with significant experience.

As LSU looks to add more talent to the room in its 2025 class, On3’s Chad Simmons logged a prediction for LSU to land three-star defensive tackle [autotag]Xavier Ukponu[/autotag]. Simmons is the second On3 analyst to predict LSU as the winner after Billy Embody logged an LSU pick last month.

Along with LSU, Ukponu’s shown interest in Arkansas, Texas and Florida throughout his recruitment, but the Tigers appear to be in a good spot.

Ukponu is 6-foot-2, 390 pounds and has three stars from all major recruiting services. Rivals is the highest on Ukponu’s talent, ranking him as the 33rd-best defensive tackle in the class.

LSU’s 2025 class ranks second in the country, according to On3. The Tigers have 11 commits, including [autotag]Bryce Underwood[/autotag], the top-ranked recruit in the country. The class has some offensive firepower, but the staff is hoping to make a few key additions on defense.

Continuing the in-flux of talent into the defensive tackle room is critical for LSU to get back to the standard it once had on the defensive side of the ball.

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