By Hunt Palmer
LSU’s defense will be short-handed Saturday evening when South Alabama comes to town.
Veteran stalwarts Harold Perkins and Jacobian Guillory are lost for the season, and Zy alexander continues to work through concussion protocol after leaving last week’s game. Head coach Brian Kelly called him questionable for the contest.
Those absences bring a youth movement to the field.
Freshman Ahmad Breaux started the UCLA game at defensive tackle and has impressed the LSU coaching staff with his early efforts. He’ll team up with senior Gio Paez as the defensive tackle tandem. They’ll be spelled by Shone Washington, Jalen Lee and true freshman Dominick McKinley.
LSU defensive tackle depth was maligned entering the season, and the question only grew louder when Guillory went down. Breaux says he and his teammates aren’t concerned with the perception.
“I heard the outside noise for a week or so, and then I shut it off,” he said. “I gotta be the best I can be, and then none of that comes to light. People are gonna say negative things, but you have to remain positive and do what you can do. I just have a different want to than anybody else. I believe I can do whatever, no matter if I’m a freshman.”
In the secondary. Junior Jardin Gilbert figures to start the game at safety. True freshman DeShawn Spears, sophomore Jordan Allen and redshirt freshman Kylin Jackson will factor in.
“We’re not putting (the safeties) on an island as much as what we want is really good leverage on the football, sure tackling, and great communication,” Kelly said. “If I could break it down to just those three things, then we’ll begin to add to the menu….then we’ll put you on the slot a little bit more. Then we’ll bring you down and blitz you a little bit more off the edge. But we need those three things.”
Like at tackle with Breaux, the freshman Spears has seen his role ramp up. He feels he and the Tiger defense are making strides.
“We’re too close. We’re so close to being a great defense,” Spears said. “(Defensive coordinator Blake) Baker says it all the time. We’re so close to being that gritty defense.”
Saturday’s game is the last before Ole Miss comes to Baton Rouge, and the Rebels rank a top the country in points per game and passing offense. South Alabama offers one more opportunity for growth before then.
The linebacker group has not dealt with the same personnel shuffle as defensive tackle and the secondary. That changes with Perkins’s absence.
Kelly expects West Weeks to return from injury to join his brother Whit Week as well as senior Greg Penn. Those three will play in the base defense. And a true freshman may have to step in.
“We made some slight changes,” Kelly said. “We activated (true freshman) Xavier Atkins in the second group, but we’ve got West Weeks back, so we feel really good about the linebacker position. If we needed to play three linebackers, we certainly could do that. If we play two with a Nickel, we could do that. I thought we had a good week of practice. Our guys will play well.”
At cornerback, Alexander is questionable. With the open date upcoming, rest is likely for the senior cornerback. Sophomore Ashton Stamps will man one corner. Transfer JK Johnson and true freshman PJ Woodland should play opposite Stamps. Senior Sage Ryan is capable at either safety or sliding down to cornerback as he did in the season opener that Alexander missed.
LSU and South Alabama will kick off at 6:45 on SEC Network.
