LSU Athletics
By Chris Marler
LSU: How much does the defense improve in year two under Blake Baker, and is it enough to compete for a championship?
Since Dave Aranda left for the Baylor job in 2020, LSU has cycled through four defensive coordinators, with only one, Matt House, returning for a second season. The only thing more frustrating than the coaching instability has been the defense’s inconsistency, especially from a secondary once known as DBU.
After how abysmal the 2023 season was defensively, hiring Blake Baker had to feel like a huge win and sigh of relief for fans, as well as Brian Kelly. And, while the defense showed immediate improvement in nearly every defensive statistic you can find, there was still a feeling that it could have been better. Part of it is because of the high expectations, and part of it is because of things like injuries that sidelined some of the best players on the unit.
Now it’s year two of the Blake Baker era, and not only does he get two starters that missed 2023 back, he also is still unpacking all the presents he got from a shopping spree of blue chip immediate impact players in the transfer portal.
LSU brought in 18 players from the portal and half were Top 100 players. That also includes seven defensive players ranked in the Top 125. Oh, and if that’s not impressive enough, five of those players were ranked in the top four of their respective position rankings including the No. 2 EDGE, No. 4 DL, No. 4 CB and the No. 2 and 3 safeties in the portal cycle.
Most SEC coaches spent this offseason and Spring telling white lies about their portal hauls not being quantity over quality, despite signing 25 to 30 or more players. But not LSU. Of the teams that finished in the top ten of transfer portal class rankings, LSU had the second fewest players lost, the second fewest gained, and still ended up with the No. 2 overall class in the country.
It’s an embarrassment of riches. And those are just the guys joining the defense this offseason. That doesn’t include returners like All-SEC linebackers Harold Perkins and Whit Weeks, not to mention five star freshman cornerback DJ Pickett.
All it takes is a look at Blake Baker’s track record of improvement from year one to year two, especially in comparison to the DCs he’s replaced, to see why Brian Kelly hinted at this being a championship caliber team in 2025.
The year before Baker was hired at Missouri, their defense ranked 106th or worse in points allowed, yards allowed, rush yards allowed, yards per play allowed, 3rd down conversions and Red Zone defense. By year two as the DC, the Tigers ranked in the Top 40 nationally in nearly every single category. They were giving up nearly two touchdowns less per game in scoring defense (33.8 to 20.8), and they allowed nearly 100 yards less per game in total and rushing defense.
Missouri’s defense was in far worse shape when Blake Baker took over there than the unit he’s inheriting at LSU. And, even when you look at LSU’s biggest defensive concerns, there was still marked improvement in their national rankings defensively in his first year. They jumped 93 spots in Red Zone defense rankings, 47 spots in ypg allowed, 32 spots in explosive plays of 20+ yards allowed and the secondary finished with the 7th fewest touchdowns allowed in FBS after cutting their total in half from 23 to 11.
They had the second most sacks in a season since 2020 with 34, and increased their pass rush pressure production by almost 50 percent generating 249 pressures last season. That was 85 more than the 164 they finished with in 2023.
History tends to repeat itself, and that will more than likely be the case with the 2025 LSU defense. The question is which history?
Will it be Baker’s track record of drastic improvement by year two like at Mizzou? Or will we watch a rerun of 2023’s nightmare. That was a season where LSU wasted a Heisman trophy winning QB and one of the best offenses in college football because their defense was a bigger liability than whatever’s on the Epstein list and cost them three games en route to the Reliaquest Bowl instead of the CFP.
It almost certainly will be the former and not the latter.
Sure, it’s still July and we won’t have an answer to this question for at least another month when the season actually begins. But, objectively speaking it feels like this unit not making a significant leap in production and statistical rankings would be one of the biggest upsets of the season.
Barring any unlucky injuries or a record number of blue chips turning into busts, it feels like regression or staying stagnant are not just unlikely, but nearly impossible.
And, here’s the best news of all for Baker, Kelly and LSU fans: they don’t have to be elite.
They really don’t even have to be that good.
They just have to make sure that 12-16 teams don’t outscore an LSU offense that should be an absolute juggernaut . And judging by the roster talent, returning production and experience they have on that side of the ball, it doesn’t feel like many, if any, teams will.
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