LSU boasted one of the best offenses in school history and arguably the best in the entire nation in 2023.
Jayden Daniels won the Heisman Trophy, Malik Nabers finished as the nation’s second-leading receiver and a finalist for the Biletnikof Award, and Brian Thomas Jr. led the nation in receiving touchdowns.
Despite those pieces, the Tigers finished with three losses and failed to repeat as SEC West champions. The defense was a major reason for that, and the Tigers have retooled nearly the entire staff on that side of the ball, which is now led by new defensive coordinator Blake Baker from Missouri.
Josh Pate, host of Late Kick, praised those offseason moves.
“I don’t know that they have the personnel defensively to make it look any better but I think it will look better. I think LSU just made some really sizable defensive moves. Kevin Peoples, even with Bo Davis coming in, even with Blake Baker coming in as the DC, I thought Peoples might be the best pound for pound defensive coach they brought in,” Pate said, per 247Sports.
“All those guys are big time upgrades over what they’ve had. When I say they made moves, that doesn’t mean everybody looks at each other and says ‘alright we’re all on board?’ Everybody has butting of heads in their athletic department. Teams that lose have it, teams that win have it. As long as everyone has the same end goal in mind, disagreement is not the worst thing in the world.”
Pate said that he still questions whether the defense will have the talent in 2024 to compete for an SEC or national championship, but he also said he’s interested to see what the team does in the spring portal window, where it’s likely to add more players with a number of position groups still looking thin.
“They have the sixth best odds to win the college football playoffs this year and…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/josh-pate-optimistic-lsu-offseason-193751358.html
Author : LSU Tigers Wire
Publish date : 2024-02-03 19:37:51
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