Three players to watch on the LSU defense this spring

By Hunt Palmer

December is nine months away, but the 2025 LSU football team will practice for the first time Saturday, and eyes will be on a playoff run.

Head coach Brian Kelly is welcoming 13 early enrollees from the high school signing class and 16 transfers from the No. 1 ranked portal class to campus this semester.

Both coordinators return from 2024, so continuity should allow for efficient work in spring ball. As always, spring is more important for young players ascending the depth chart. It’s also a time for injured players to heal and/or return to some football activity at a pace that isn’t rushed.

We’ll start with Blake Baker’s defense today and look at three players who have the most important springs ahead of them in 2025.

DJ Pickett, Freshman, Cornerback

Pickett is the crown jewel of this LSU signing class. He was a consensus five-star prospect who was ranked as the No. 10 player in America by On3. He’s a rare 6-foot-4 corner with elite speed and excellent instincts.

He’s got weight to gain which will certainly be a focus in the spring and summer months. He enrolled at about 180 lbs. and needs to number to be upwards of 190 when LSU plays Clemson.

Make no mistake, Pickett will be out there when LSU plays Clemson.

The Tigers have struggled again the pass for two seasons. In 2023, only Vanderbilt allowed more passing yards per game than LSU among SEC teams. Last year, the Tigers ranked No. 12 in yards per attempt and completion percentage allowed.

To compete for championships, that part of the game must improve.

Yes, Mansoor Delane, JaKeem Jackson and Ashton Stamps figure heavily into the mix, but Pickett is the most gifted player in the secondary. Expect him to get a ton of reps in the spring, and hopefully he emerges ready to take on SEC wide receivers

Dominick McKinley, Sophomore, Defensive Tackle

McKinley is another former five-star. He’s got 10 college games under his belt, though. The big Acadiana product missed the end of fall camp and the first three weeks of the season with an injury but came on throughout the year. He notched a pair of sacks against Oklahoma in the regular season finale.

At 6-foot-6 and 315 lbs., he’s got the frame and size to be an elite player. It’s about reps and technique. Unfortunately for McKinley, he does not currently have a position coach. Bo Davis is off to the Saints, and Kelly is on the hunt for a new defensive tackles coach. That hire will be vital to McKinley’s development.

Having Jacobian Guillory as a resource helps. Tank has been around for six years. McKinley and Ahmad Breaux are close. They’ll push each other.

LSU has to shore up a rushing defense that gave up the most touchdowns and 40-plus yard runs in the SEC last season. McKinley’s progress will mean a lot in that regard.

Patrick Payton, Senior, EDGE

Fifth-year seniors don’t generally need a bunch of spring ball reps. I would argue against that logic for Payton. Even though Payton brings 31.5 career tackles for loss and 16 career sacks over from Florida State, he’s got three weeks to work with Kevin Peoples in the spring.

If Peoples can do for Payton what he did for Bradyn Swinson, look out.

Swinson went from five sacks in four years to 8.5 in one under Peoples’s tutelage. Payton should be itching to put the pads on to find some of that secret sauce.

Payton has a little more length than Swinson and could be a real key to LSU rediscovering dominant defense if he can become the guy who notched seven sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss two years ago. That production dipped last year without Jared Verse and Braden Fiske on the same line.

Payton is adapting to a new scheme, but the pass rush work will be the most important element to his spring.