WILL 2025 BE A SPECIAL LSU BLAKE BAKER DEFENSE / THE FIRST TOP 10 LSU UNIT OF THE KELLY ERA?

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By LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN

@LonnPhillips

On the cusp of his second season as LSU's defensive coordinator, Blake Baker's young defense appeared faster, stronger, deeper, and more aggressive to the ball throughout Spring camp, quicker reaction times, displaying anticipation, creating turnovers, supplying pressure into the backfield, and most important of all, Baker's 2025 defense moves well together as a unit during their best moments, many of which arrived during the back half of Spring practices.

Regardless of promise or how things look now post-Spring here in mid May, it's hard to tell the exact level of defense LSU will put on the field this fall, or just how good they can be with their arsenal of solid to potentially elite transfer newcomers (Mansoor Delane, Jack Pyburn, Pat Payton, Tamarcus Cooley, Jimari Butler, Sydir Mitchell, Bernard Gooden, and AJ Haulcy), but one thing is assured....LSU's 2025 defense, at least on paper, is an upgrade from the past three seasons.

Truly, LSU is replete with high quality defenders for 2025, from Whit Weeks leading the SEC in solo stops last fall & looking to be a Butkus frontrunner, Harold Perkins' explosive possibilities at the star position, thoroughbred pass rushing acumen via Patrick Payton (16 career sacks), Gabe Reliford, Jack Pyburn, and Jimari Butler (7.5 career sacks), sophomore linebacker Davhon Keys building upon a thunderous debut year, Ashton Stamps hoping to follow up his SEC-leading 14 PBUs by locking down a starting corner spot, 2nd year DTs Dominick McKinley and Ahmad Breaux playing far more than expected last fall (and performing well for the most part), freshman phenom cornerback DJ Pickett already announcing himself as a savage during his first spring, Corey Raymond's secondary finally set up for a solid (maybe even fantastic) campaign due to transfers AJ Haulcy, Mansoor Delane, and Tamarcus Cooley joining the team.....everywhere one looks, there is an abundance of future prospective Sunday players...

Of course, the overall formations, intensity levels & primary personnel within Baker's defense will change accordingly, once free range defensive powerhouse Harold Perkins and soon-to-be All-American linebacker Whit Weeks return to full health from serious injuries this June.

Elsewhere, a longtime Tiger veteran is now finding his way back at a key position:

Returning following a torn achilles in September, starting DT Jacobian Guillory was also back to full training over the past few weeks of Spring camp, recovering way ahead of schedule.

Guillory's return, as well as the rise of Sydir Mitchell, sophomore tandem McKinley and Breaux, plus new 3 tech signing Bernard Gooden, greatly help Kyle Williams' defensive tackle unit, one of the Tigers' most troubled spots over the past 5 years.....with the front interior utterly helpless when attempting to stuff opposition ground attacks:

In all 8 SEC defeats of the Brian Kelly era, LSU's defenses allowed a total of 2,066 rushing yards, giving up 200+ yards on the ground 7x (over 300 twice) for an average of 258 yards per loss......however, for the first time since 2022 when LSU welcomed the rise of All-American DT Mekhi Wingo, the Tigers are finally leveling up along the defensive line.

All of these developments and on-schedule recoveries are great signs for LSU's continued improvement, but what makes it all the more exciting???

The arrival of two difference makers via the spring portal, directly addressing areas of concern (packing on D-line depth through the signing of aforementioned penetrative DT Bernard Gooden, then, solidifying their secondary with ball hawking safety AJ Haulcy).

Now that LSU's safety room is in a position of elevation, sporting potentially elite upgrades in Cooley and Haulcy, as well as retaining younger (but experienced to a lesser degree) safeties Javien Toviano or Dashawn Spears, and possessing further depth via Joel Rogers' fine Spring camp form & injury-absent 2024 starter Jardin Gilbert, Jake Olsen & Lance Guidry's unit is beginning to harness the raw elements missing for so long at the backend for LSU:

This room now can deploy the right mix of youth and veterans, "no prisoners taken" aggression, ball hawking turnover creation, brutal / exacting tackling discipline, and quite possibly....star power....they just have to prove it on the SEC gridiron this fall.

In Cooley and Haulcy, Blake Baker may have found his two starting safeties, the former NC State and Houston stars standing as top 3 transfer portal attractions over the past 6 months, most projecting their abilities to translate nicely at the SEC level.

The pair's presence will surely improve LSU's secondary, however, our duo of ultra-talented transfers may also be the two anchors that allow Harold Perkins and Whit Weeks complete domination up front. Not to mention, three of LSU's four incoming 2025 transfer DBs, Haulcy, Delane, and Cooley, combined for 12 interceptions last season between the trio....double the amount produced by LSU's entire 2024 defense....

With two trusted safeties at the back, Cooley and Haulcy appear to be the two necessary puzzle pieces Blake Baker needed to run his brand of aggressive, chaos-creating defensive oblivion:

Led by the front seven and star man Perkins, lockdown corners (Mansoor Delane appearing to be a powerhouse) and reliable safeties would pave the way for Perk, Weeks, Davhon Keys, as well as Kevin Peoples' cavalcade of pass rushers to showcase their nasty speed & backfield playmaking abilities at their apex levels.

With renewed depth, competition for places fueling their overall performance, and legitimate dogs now settling in for Blake Baker's 2025 LSU defense, is this the year the Tigers finally regain their traditionally top 25 overall defensive ranking?

After 5 years of mostly pitiful, historically poor defensive play, is this the time where recent weaknesses at D-line, safety and corner return to their imperial, violently imposing, star-making heights???

Suffering years of agony watching LSU's defenses from 2020-2024, fans have a right to be a little cautious, but also intrigued by this swaggering crew replete with "philistines of vicious & mean" like Weeks & Pyburn among others, maybe even allowing themselves to become slightly excited about what's ahead this fall:

Because LSU addressed so many glaring roster problems by signing massive upgrades, added smart coaching hires in Lance Guidry and Kyle Williams, retained 2024's experienced youth, and grabbed elite prospects out of the portal as cornerstones Harold Perkins and Whit Weeks look set for strong campaigns, this may just be the season Brian Kelly figures out his defensive quandary of the past and ushers in a new era of defensive dominion for the purple and gold.

Still, there is still so much to be decided, a lot to be ironed out, position battles to be settled, and the overall shape of the unit will most likely take until the last practices of Fall Camp to accurately assess.

But if last year's extremely inexperienced, injury-ravaged, bone thin defensive unit were able to place 61st in total defense nationally by the end of a 4 loss campaign, then there is no reason why Baker's second season at LSU can't be another campaign of rising progress...

This fall, in a quarterback-weak SEC, a defense ranking anywhere in the top 50 could help this potential juggernaut offense finish games in dominant fashion...making opponents chase a scoreline, which would further play into the strengths of the Tigers' speedy, quite possibly elite front seven.....if all the pieces fall together.

By LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN

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