The 82-year-old Pete Jenkins would be the first to admit he might not have a ton of energy, but he has a lot of wisdom. It can’t hurt to have the legendary defensive line coach working with an LSU defense that needs help.
LSU hired Jenkins as an analyst on Sunday and defensive tackle Mekhi Wingo said on Tuesday night that’s he’s already dishing out his knowledge.
“Definitely just got to clean up our eyes and focusing on getting off the ball and crowding the ball more and really being disruptive in the backfield and making it easier for the linebackers that’s the emphasis this week and that’s what we plan on doing in this game,” said Wingo.
Coach Brian Kelly reached out to Jenkins on Monday after watching his defense allow a school record 706 yards in Saturday’s wild 55-49 loss to Ole Miss.
Going into the game, the Tigers were expected to exploit a struggling Rebels offensive line. Instead, Ole Miss kept knocking LSU’s defensive line back. Ole Miss ran 88 plays and the Bayou Bengals only had six tackles for a loss.
LSU can’t feel sorry for itself, because they are heading on the road again this Saturday to face an undefeated Missouri team that’s playing with confidence.
Mizzou is getting excellent play from its quarterback Brady Cook. The junior from St. Louis is completing 74% of his passes for 1,488 yards, 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions. In fact, he holds the SEC record for most passes without an interception, 326.
“Definitely want to get out there and affect him early, they do a lot of quick passes, he likes to get the ball out early, we can’t let him stand back there and get to his first read, because he’s very lethal and his receivers are very good receivers,” said Wingo.
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Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden is having a big season with 43 catches for 644 yards and five touchdowns. He leads the league in receiving yards.
Burden is only the third consensus five-star prospect to sign with Missouri. And the former Illinois High School Player of the Year is one of the top offensive players in the SEC. He’s shown the ability to break tackles, which is not good for a defense that’s struggling to tackle.
But Wingo says the LSU Tigers plan to make a statement in the Show Me State.
“This is definitely going to be a statement game for us, we really want to win after coming off a loss like that, just really putting our identity on film and show who we really are,” said Wingo.