Since 2014, LSU has had ten defensive line coaches, and they are looking for another one after Bo Davis decided to jump to the NFL and join the new coaching staff for the New Orleans Saints.
In head coach Brian Kelly’s first season in 2022, Jamar Cain was the D-line coach, but he left to join Sean Payton in Denver.
In 2023, Jimmy Lindsey had a medical emergency at the start of preseason practice, so John Jancek stepped in, and Pete Jenkins came out of retirement.
Kelly wanted stability with his defensive line coach, which is why LSU opened its wallet and convinced Davis to leave Texas and return to his alma mater.
Davis is considered one of the top defensive line coaches in all of football and he was set to make 1.35 million dollars next season.
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I’m sure when Davis becomes available to the media, he’ll explain his decision to leave LSU. It’s doubtful he’s getting a huge salary increase, but he no longer has to worry about NIL or the transfer portal.
The former all-SEC nose guard at LSU has produced 17 all-conference selections and seven all-Americans in 12 seasons as a defensive line coach in college football.
He inherited a tough situation in 2024 at LSU. The Tigers’ most experienced defensive tackle, Jacobian Guillory, went down early with a season ending injury.
That forced Gia Paez and Parish Shand to shift from edge rusher to the interior and Davis also worked with true freshmen Ahmad Breaux and Dominick McKinley.
Davis was expected to be a mainstay on LSU’s coaching staff and recruit some of the best defensive tackles in the transfer portal and out of high school. And develop those players. But Kelly is once again searching for that person.
Thankfully, Kevin Peoples is already on the staff at LSU. He’s the edge rushers coach and will reportedly coach the entire D-line during spring football, which gets underway on March 8th.
Peoples helped make Bradyn Swinson into an All-SEC performer and senior Sai’vion Jones also had a nice season for the Tigers in 2024.
Peoples has been a defensive line coach previously, at Indiana and Tulane. He had success at both stops. The Hoosiers led the Big Ten in sacks in 2020 and with the Green Wave, he coached Patrick Johnson, who was a three-time all-conference performer.
Its possible Peoples will remain the defensive line coach for 2025, and Kelly will hire a special teams coordinator, since they have no one listed for that job on their official roster.