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Who’s the biggest name to announce he’s coming back to LSU football this season?
That, of course, would be head coach Les Miles, whose job was in jeopardy before he found a way to keep it with some late-season wins.
But next to him, Kendell Beckwith has to be the winner.
A likely second-round draft pick if he had left school, the senior middle linebacker opted to return to Baton Rouge for one more year instead, huge news for a group that was on its way to being rail-thin and the least experienced group on the team.
Add in the fact that new defensive coordinator Dave Aranda has LSU moving from a 4-3 base to a 3-4 base, and there’s a lot of learning to be done by the Tigers’ linebackers.
At least they’ll have Beckwith’s experience to lean on.
2015 Rotation
Starters (Returning players in bold): OLB Deion Jones (100 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, 2nd-round draft pick, Atlanta Falcons); MLB Kendell Beckwith (84 tackles, 10 TFL), OLB Lamar Louis (30 tackles, undrafted free agent, Arizona Cardinals); Reserves: Duke Riley (24 tackles) and Donnie Alexander (12 tackles)
Projected 2016 Rotation
Starters: ILB Kendell Beckwith (Sr.); ILB Duke Riley (Sr.); OLB Corey Thompson (Sr., moved from safety) or Tashawn Bower (Sr.), OLB Arden Key (So.). Reserves: ILB Donnie Alexander (Jr.), ILB Devin White (Fr.), ILB Devin Voorhies (Jr.), OLB Michael Divinity (Fr.), OLB Rahssan Thornton (Fr.).
Five issues to watch
- How thin are they?: Of the returning linebackers, only Beckwith, Riley and Alexander were recruited to LSU to play linebacker. White and Divinity are true freshmen who enrolled in the spring semester and practiced with the Tigers in spring drills, and Thornton will have his first practice in August. Thompson and Voorhies were recruited as safeties and moved to linebacker in the spring, and Key and Bower were defensive ends last year.
- What’s the “Buck?”: Key’s position is sort of a defensive end/linebacker hybrid, so one might argue that he’s not really learning a new position at all. Don’t be surprised if Bower moves from the other outside linebacker spot to the Buck, where his natural defensive end skills might prove more useful.
- Riley the key piece?: LSU knows what to expect from Beckwith, and though Key is learning a new position, his success as an up-and-coming speed rusher (he had 41 tackles and 5 sacks as a true freshman last year) should translate to his new position while Thompson, who has eight career starts at safety, has plenty of on-field experience at the other newly created OLB position. The key player might be Riley, the special teams ace of recent years who is finally getting his opportunity to start as a senior. Does he have what it takes to excel as an every-down, SEC starter?
- Youth is served: Don’t be surprised if the true freshmen, especially the impressive White, get an immediate shot at playing time. A lack of depth means LSU won’t be slow to play them (does Les Miles ever do that with young talent?), and the new scheme means the youngsters won’t be as far behind the veterans in the learning curve. In terms of learning the new defense, Thornton will only be one spring practice behind the seniors.
- More youth needed: As young as the Tigers are at the position, LSU has three projected senior starters in Beckwith, Riley and Thompson. That means LSU has to hit the recruiting trail hard to replenish the position. The top priority, obviously, would be the nation’s top-rated linebacker prospect (and top player in some circles). Outside linebacker Dylan Moses is a former LSU commit who spent the first three years of his prep career on LSU’s campus at University Lab High School, but he’s since transferred to IMG Academy in Florida. Landing Moses and in-state four-star prospects Bruce Jordan-Swilling and Christopher Allen could give LSU the depth it needs going forward.
