By Hunt Palmer
At one point during fall camp last year LSU had eight scholarship running back options. So, who scored the final Tiger rushing touchdown last season? Harold Perkins, of course! Something tells me that play call had more to do with keeping No. 4 out of the transfer portal than beating Wisconsin in the Reliaquest Bowl. Just a hunch. Perkins returns for his third and likely final season at LSU this fall. Most would suggest his 2023 campaign was slightly underwhelming as an encore to an explosion of production as a freshman. That assertion might be fair. In more snaps played, Perkins only upped his tackle count by three, and his sack total fell from 7.5 to 5.5. Florida State was able to scheme him completely out of the game, and all season his impact was seldom felt to the degree it was his freshman year against Ole Miss, Arkansas and Alabama. Perkins still had a solid year by SEC linebacker standards. He was just expected to be more than “solid”. Enter new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Blake Baker who has plenty of talent at his disposal. Perkins headlines the show, but the supporting cast has the ability to be a strength of the Tiger defense.
WHO’S GONE: Omar Speights (Graduation), Christian Brathwaite (Transfer)
WHO’S BACK: Greg Penn III, Harold Perkins Jr, West Weeks, Whit Weeks
WHO’S NEW: Xavier Atkins, Davhon Keys, Tylen Singleton
Greg Penn is as respected a player as any in the LSU locker room. He won the Reliaquest Bowl “Make It Happen” Award for his on and off field leadership. Over his three years in Tiger Town, he’s played in 37 games and started 27 of those. He’s got ideal physical size at 6-foot-2 and 235 lbs. All of that said, he hasn’t been a star at LSU. The sincere hope in Baton Rouge is that Blake Baker can unlock the final piece for Penn. There have been flashes. Penn rolled up double digit tackle numbers against Arkansas, Alabama and Ole Miss last year. He had a pair of interceptions. He collected four sacks. If Baker can have the impact on Penn that he had on Damone Clark three years ago, LSU will be in business.
Whit Weeks burst on the scene last year against Mississippi State making his first start as a Tiger. He led the team in tackles in Starkville. But the freshman only started two more games the rest of the way, ceding much of his playing time to veteran Omar Speights. Weeks has elite level speed for the position and a reckless abandon. He’ll need to be more sound fundamentally to stay on the field this year. During fall camp he has spent most of his time with the second unit, occasionally getting reps with the starters.
Whit’s older brother, West, has been mainly a special teamer for the Tigers in his two years, and that will likely remain the same although Baker did have very positive things to say about the elder Weeks in a radio interview in July. West provides veteran depth behind the top three guys which is certainly valuable for Baker’s unit. In Saturday’s practice West made a huge red zone stop.
With Penn, Perkins and Whit Weeks the likely first three men in the mix, LSU has the makings of a very solid linebacking corps. That group is old, physical, and in the cases of Perkins and Weeks, exceptionally fast. There is no real reason for poor performance from this group. That said, it wasn’t great last year.
Perkins’s usage will be put under the largest of magnifying glasses. After the Florida State game last year, the coverage snap statistic was flying around south Louisiana like beads in Endymion. While there is no excuse for having Perkins in coverage that often, he does need to use that part of his game. Pro Football Focus gave him a very, very strong 81 grade, among the best linebackers in the country. But he needs to be rushing more, too. Baker will be tasked with that, and he understands the assignment. I might suggest that Perkins would be more effective as a pass rusher if LSU could create some obvious passing situations on third downs. Last year offenses seemed to constantly get in front of the chains on early downs. Only 16 of the 133 teams in the FBS had a worse stop rate on third downs than LSU. That doesn’t happen when you are consistently creating 3rd and 9.
The other levels of LSU’s defense can be questioned from a talent perspective. I don’t feel that way about the middle. This group is good enough to be a force.
