In a new role, Patrick Queen's catch-22 is answered

On his first snap of the season, Dave Aranda sent Patrick Queen blitzing.

With a head of steam behind him, the sophomore linebacker raced untouched into Miami’s backfield … and right past quarterback Malik Rosier.

Close, but not there yet.

In many ways, that’s been a theme of Queen’s sophomore season at LSU. He’s been close -- to starting at middle linebacker, carving out a bigger role in the defensive rotation and finally grasping the entire playbook. As the 2018 campaign nears a close, Queen has started twice -- at two different positions -- and is beginning to state his case to be Devin White’s successor next fall.

The LSU coaches requested that Queen learn the middle linebacker position besides White in an effort to get him on the field sooner. He initially waffled. For a player who was just beginning to wrap his mind about playing defense on a full-time basis, another position change came across as ambitious. He never gave the staff a solid answer.

Queen battled frustration for most of the early part of the schedule. He struggled to grasp the scheme, and when he spelled White, he made uncharacteristic mistakes. He went back-and-forth trying to familiarize himself with the responsibilities of being a Rover and quarterbacking the defense, but had lapses when he could get onto the field. A vicious cycle continued until he eventually replaced White in the starting lineup in the aftermath of a controversial targeting penalty at the tail end of the Mississippi State contest.

Queen shined in the first two quarters of action against Alabama, drawing his first collegiate start against the top-ranked team in the country. White spelled him at the start of the second half and Queen never saw the field on defense in the ensuing game at Arkansas.

That frustration set in again -- until Aranda nudged Queen to shift outside help curate a pass rush late in the season. This time, he didn’t hesitate to accept. He started against Rice and continues to learn the ins and outs of a second position, a stepping stone to ultimately prepare him to succeed White inside next year.

“Patrick didn’t play defense in high school; he was basically a running back. He didn’t play too much defense, so he struggled a bit learning the system,” his father, Dwayne Queen, told TigerDetails.

“Learning the schemes that Aranda runs. It’s a lot of different packages. Patrick is quiet, he doesn’t like to talk, and playing the ROVER position, he has to call the plays, set everyone in position. He just wasn’t comfortable doing that, but once he got to know everybody, got comfortable with everybody, he started making plays. That showed in the spring because he improved 110-percent from his freshman year. You could see the change. He was making the plays because he finally learned the defense.

“This year, playing behind Devin, it’s hard to take Devin off the field. It’s hard to blame them. They didn’t want to play Devin off the field, so they came to play to play outside linebacker. They wanted to get him on the field, get him some exposure and some experience for when after Devin leaves. He was thrilled. It’s the opportunity he’s been looking for to finally get on the field.”

White was the immovable object when it came to LSU’s defense. The leader of the pack and now a Butkus Award finalist, the honor bestowed on the best linebacker in college football.

Queen was his understudy, so much so that when White was suspended for the first half against Alabama, he mentioned mentoring the sophomore in the film room as his biggest responsibility for the two weeks between games.

Queen as a ROVER wasn’t always the plan.

In the spring, Queen had caught Aranda’s attention in spot duty behind White. The third-year defensive coordinator floated the idea of moving him to the MACK linebacker role, but Queen never gave him a definitive answer.

That opened the door for fellow sophomore Jacob Phillips to take control of the competition and eventually earn a starting job.

“He was pretty much happy, playing behind Devin. I told him he wasn’t going to get on the field much playing behind an All-American,” Queen said. “He had an opportunity after the spring, after a good showing at middle linebacker to move other to the other linebacker position, but he wanted to play ROVER. He didn’t give an answer right away, and then Jacob ended up having a great spring and they kept him there.”

That left the understudy to try to fortify a role in the linebacker rotation.

Most of Queen’s experience playing linebacker came in camp settings leading into his senior year at Livonia High School. Queen played defense sparingly during the season because he was needed on offense. He led the team in rushing his junior and senior campaigns and was one of Louisiana’s top running backs despite battling a broken ankle his final year at Livonia.

When he arrived at LSU in June 2017, Queen needed time adjusting to the other side of the ball. He didn’t see the field much as a freshman, but flashed glimpses of progress in the spring and again during fall camp.

Physically, he was excelling, his father noticed, but there were too many mistakes that hamstrung his ability to effectively establish any sort of continuity on defense week to week.

“The first game of the season playing Miami, he played pretty good. Once, he blitzed and ran past the quarterback,” Queen recalled. “I told him his time was going to come, but he was excited, his adrenaline pumping, and he overran the play. Coming out of that game, he thought he was going to get more playing time and he didn’t, so he was frustrated. Aranda would tell him that Devin will go in for the first three series, then you get in. Four series went by, then five series went by, and he wasn’t in. He started to get frustrated and he wondered why you would keep Devin and Jacob on the field the whole game like that. He felt he had proved himself and he thought he deserved to play.

“He felt like he needed to get on the field, to get playing time to get better. He didn’t have the linebacker experience because he didn’t play defense much in high school. His mentality was: I need to get better, but the only way to get better was to actually get on the field during a game and play. If he lined up wrong or was in the wrong gap, then Aranda would pull him and sit him down and tell him that’s why he couldn’t get him on the field.”

It was quite the catch 22 -- a young prospect developing, craving experience, but mental gaffes prevented him from staying on the field.

Then, in the aftermath of LSU’s 19-3 triumph past Mississippi State, a controversial targeting penalty thrust Queen into a starting role. Ready or not, his time had arrived.

While coach Ed Orgeron never revealed his cards about who would replace White in the lineup against Alabama, Queen and his family were informed of the plans two weeks in advance. For the first time since joining the team, Queen devoted more time in the film room and became overwhelmed with questions for his coaches and teammates. He’d ask about specific plays, situations, and even advice. He shadowed Aranda. He reached out to other assistant coaches, GAs. and drained White for as much information as he could attain in that two-week span.

Queen piled up nine tackles in two quarters of action, including two stops for loss and a hit on Heisman Trophy favorite Tua Tagovailoa before White entered the game in the second half. All of the time put in behind the scenes paid off with a boxscore-filling performance -- only for Queen not to see the field on defense the following week against the Razorbacks.

Yet again, Queen was absent from LSU’s linebacker rotation, and just a week removed from his first career start. He was puzzled, again, and even more disheartened after seemingly proving himself on the field the Saturday prior.

Aranda approached Queen that Monday before practice and encouraged him to take snaps with the outside linebackers. LSU didn’t need a stud backup ROVER; it needed a pass rush.

Queen’s father remembers the frustration, and then the confidence being restored when offered a new role.

“After the Alabama game, he didn’t play any defense versus Arkansas,” he said. “He was really frustrated again. We sat down and talked, and I told him, ‘I know you’re frustrated, but your time will come next year, so keep going to practice and do what you’re supposed to do.’ After his performance against Alabama, I thought, ‘I’m quite sure they’ll find a way to get you on the field.’”

Queen made his second start of the season against Rice, helping to spark the team’s pass rush in a 42-10 runaway win. He has continued to work outside ahead of LSU’s regular-season finale at Kyle Field this Saturday night in what can be conceived as the team’s most important game of the season.

Since K’Lavon Chaisson suffered a season-ending ACL tear the season opener, generating a consistent pass rush has not come easy. Queen was universally a player that the staff nominated to help in that department.

A 10-win campaign is hanging in the balance when LSU travels to Kyle Field on Saturday evening. As does a bid to play again on New Year’s Day. There’s also a convincing case to be made about this game to defy preseason expectations and reach a benchmark set by the players in August, and Queen is a critical component in the game plan.

“Here's the conversation: how to get a rush and who is the best guys out there to give us a rush,” Orgeron said. “His (Queen’s) instincts and being able to react in space, being able to know when to play the quarterback, when to play the pitch, these guys run the speed option, I think that is going to do him well. He's a lot quicker and he needs to use his hands better, but once he gets that done he's going to be a good outside linebacker for us.”

“He provided some rush, he did some good things, he made some mistakes,” he added, “but I think that you're going to see him there.”

On Saturday, it’ll be at outside linebacker. The bowl game could lend itself to another role -- inside, outside or elsewhere on this defense.

All in all, it’s a part of the path to eventually follow in White’s shoes at the heart of the LSU defense, a path Queen is already familiar with. At Livonia, he was a special teams contributor as a freshman and sophomore. Then, he was a blocker, used sparingly to surprise opponents. It eventually paved the way for a 1,900-yard season as a junior and 1,700 all-purpose yards as a senior.

He’s used to it, his father jokes. And while the expanded role late in the season is promising, Queen is still not close to finally knocking on his ceiling.

“Once he gets on the field and starts making plays on a consistent basis,” Queen began. “Trust me, in high school, it was the same thing ... He was frustrated then, but his junior year was a breakout year as the main ball-carrier and you saw the outstanding year he had. I told him his freshman and sophomore years (at LSU) are going to be the same as those high school years. His breakout year will be his junior year in college. You’ll see a slight improvement every year he’s been at LSU, and with him getting playing time as a sophomore, you’ll see a big difference next year.”

“A big difference,” he promised.