By Hunt Palmer
LSU built a deep, veteran 2025 defensive line. It’s just about gone.
That made the defensive front a significant priority in the transfer portal. A great high school haul is a positive, but it can’t be leaned on in year one. Malik Blocton was the third defensive lineman to sign with LSU, the second on the interior. More help came later on the edge.
Miami is proving this season that stellar defensive line play can drive a championship caliber team. LSU’s defensive front was good last year, but it was not dominant. The Tigers finished seventh in the league in rushing defense and 11th in tackles for loss.
Blake Baker wants his unit to be more disruptive than that.
WHAT WE KNOW
Malik Blocton was a dominant high school player. He made 118 tackles as a senior on the defensive line. He also played basketball. At 6-foot-3 and 291 lbs., he’s got good size and really good athleticism.
Blocton played sparingly as a true freshman at Auburn in 2024. He made four tackles for loss and notched a sack and a half. On3 called him a mid-season Freshman All-American.
.@MalikBlocton blows up the backfield 😤 pic.twitter.com/cmh115EuYV
— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) November 24, 2024
He blossomed into a starter in 2025 and made 18 tackles with 4.5 tackles for loss. On the positive side, Pro Football Focus credited Blocton with 10 quarterback hurries from the defensive interior. On the negative, he was dinged for 10 missed tackles on a season where he only made 18.
That shows great burst and quickness to create the opportunity. It shows inconsistency in finishing plays.
THE FIT
Jacobian Guillory and Bernard Gooden exhausted their eligibility. Ahmad Breaux and Walter Mathis decided to explore transfer options. Both landed in the SEC. That leaves Dominick McKinley, Shone Washington and some young options at defensive tackle.
Blocton is a proven commodity in the SEC, and Stephiylan Green proved his worth in the ACC. Those two and McKinley are your three starting options.
Washington adds some depth, and Brandon Brown, Richard Anderson and Lamar Brown will have to grow up quickly.
New defensive line coach Sterling Lucas did a great job at South Carolina in recruiting and developing elite players. He needs to get more out of this group than they have produced in their time in college.
HUNT’S PROJECTION
Blocton has some really elite traits. He needs to be more consistent with them. I think he’s absolutely a third down option on the defensive interior, and he may log as many snaps as any interior defensive lineman on the team.
It’s a matter of how McKinley and Green develop as well.
I think Blocton will lead the group in tackles for loss. He’s just got that quickness that he displayed as a high school basketball player that I think will allow him to make some big plays. I still don’t see a star among the veterans. That development would be a surprise. But look for Blocton to fill Gooden’s 2024 role on LSU’s defensive front.
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