LSU's base quarter defense paying dividends
BATON ROUGE, La. — Southeastern was determined to avoid a shutout in Tiger Stadium. The visiting Lions came knocking time and time again and looked to play the role of spoiler in the waning moments — even if it was for solely pride purposes.
On a third-and-goal from the LSU 3 with about four minutes remaining, JaCoby Stevens snatched a loose and returned it 64 yards, leading to a fourth LSU touchdown to send the fans with lifted spirits.
Stevens, a former 5-star safety, got the start for the Tigers on Saturday. It was not clear, but he was the fifth defensive back in LSU’s new base defense, which features two cornerbacks, two safeties and a nickel. Defensive coordinator Dave Aranda has opened the game in the five-man secondary in consecutive weeks, which led to five sacks, two recovered fumbles, one interception and zero points in the No. 11 Tigers’ 31-0 defeat of Southeastern.
“It’s definitely something we worked on for the season,” said junior cornerback Kristian Fulton, making his first career start in Tiger Stadium at left cornerback. “We’re so deep back there. We want to keep everybody fresh, everybody on the field. It’s part of the game plan.”
“It (our confidence) is growing every week,” he added. “Nobody’s spot is safe. We compete against each other every day in practice because we know we have a lot of good players on the back end (of our defense). We have safeties playing on the line, which shows how deep we are and how good everybody is.”
That rotation includes Fulton, who splits series at cornerback with freshman Kelvin Joseph opposite of Greedy Williams. At safety, Aranda mixes and matches starters Grant Delpit and John Battle. Delpit has seen most of his action at nickel or close to the line of scrimmage and has been used a blitzer in each of the first two contests.
Stanford grad transfer Terrence Alexander works as hybrid quarter, nickel and safety, and rotates with Kary Vincent Jr. and the aforementioned Stevens in the same role.
“We got a lot of base nickel (plays). We urn a lot of different things and are put in position to cover guys. Whatever Coach Aranda has got planned for us, we’re rocking and rolling,” said Williams, who notched his first interception of the season on Saturday.
“The more defensive backs on the field means the coverage is going to be very tight. That gives the defensive linemen time to go sack the quarterback.”
After recording three sacks in the opener against Miami on Sunday, the LSU defense recorded five against the Lions. Four came by defensive linemen and the fifth was by Delpit, playing as the fifth defensive back, which led to a three-and-out in the second quarter.
LSU’s forced three three-and-outs, but more significant, limited Southeastern to 4-of-19 on third-downs (21 percent). The zero on the scoreboard resonated with that secondary group and all of its contributors.
“We want to be the No. 1 defense in the country, and things like that — having a shutout — they count,” Fulton said.
“It’s very important,” added Williams. “Before the game, we wanted to come in and shut them down and get these new guys in and see what they could do.”
One of those newcomers is Stevens.
Making his first start, the No. 2-ranked safety in the country back in 2017 was expected to be an immediate contributor in the LSU secondary. A year later, he is.
A fast learner and standout in practice, Stevens was the recipient of hugs and helmet slaps after this 64-yard runback. Quietly, he preserved the shutout and did so as the team’s starting quarter.
“It’s definitely big,” Fulton said. “We really needed that. With them being on the 3-yard-line, it’s something we practice all week — when they get the ball on our side of the field. I’m not surprised he made the play. He just did job.”
“Coach Aranda puts us in the best positions he can,” outside linebacker Andre Anthony explained. “In this personnel, we run this and we run that, and that’s why guys make plays. He puts us the right positions to make the right plays at the right time.”