First year defensive coordinator Blake Baker was hired away from Missouri to turn around a defense that was one of the worst, if not the worst in LSU history in 2023.
As the Tigers enter the third week of fall camp, Baker has seen signs of improvement but there’s still a ways to go.
“Right now, if I’m going to be honest, we are inconsistent, If we do our job, I think we have a chance to be pretty good, I really do, I think we have all of the pieces in place to have a good defense, what I want to see is a little more player led accountability and guys just doing their job on a consistent basis, if we do that, I think we can have a pretty good year,” Baker said.
Sophomore cornerback Ashton Stamps might be the perfect player illustration of what Baker is seeking. Stamps has been getting reps with the first team, along with Sage Ryan as the other boundary corner. Stamps has made his fair share of plays during preseason camp, but Baker is looking for more.
“He’s still a young player,” Baker said. “I challenge him every day, I’m looking for more consistency out of Ashton, he has stepped his game up but he’s not where we need him to be overall and that’s not a knock, but we got two more weeks to get him to be what he is capable of being.”
One of the big storylines heading into preseason camp was the decision to move Harold Perkins back to inside linebacker. Baker has been impressed with what they are seeing from Perkins.
“Harold Perkins right now is playing on fire,” Baker said. “Again, he has a lot on his plate mentally, we have packages we are moving him all around, so he’s not just playing on the inside. He’s fitting the run as well as anybody that we have at linebacker right now. Just really pleased with his development.”
The good news for LSU is that there’s still time to get better. It helps they are going up against one of the best offensive lines in the country in practice and they have a group of players who seem determined to get the Tigers defense back to being respectable.
But I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a defense that makes a few more plays than last year, but still has moments of allowing opposing offenses to have their way at times.
