11/21/2023 football Edit

Why the retention of Mekhi Wingo is so important for LSU

Luke Hubbard • Death Valley Insider

Analyst

I know there's still one week of the regular season and a bowl game left, but news of players returning to school and declaring for the draft has already begun.

We've seen guys like Jaxon Dart and Quinn Ewers announce that they're staying in college for their senior season, so it's becoming time for Brian Kelly and LSU to give their pitch to some of their draft-eligible players.

One of those players is Mekhi Wingo. After a great start to the season, Wingo was given the Army game off to get healthy for the Alabama game. Unfortunately, during that time, Wingo and the training staff decided it was best if he got a procedure done which knocked him out for the remainder of the regular season.

As a junior, Wingo is eligible for the NFL Draft this April. He's one of the premier defensive tackles in college football and he likely could find himself drafted pretty early in the draft. It's hard to get a player like that to return to school, but in the era of NIL, we've seen more and more players return for their senior year.

Brian Kelly said he and the staff are going to give Wingo a lot of data and make their pitch for him to return, but it's ultimately up to him and his family as to what he does.

"We're going to recruit Mekhi, he's got to make a decision relative to whether he thinks coming back for another year is in his best interest. We're obviously going to give him a lot of data in terms of what we think is in his best interest and we'll let him and his family process through that."

— Brian Kelly

We know the defense as a whole has been weak for LSU this year, but the defensive line has arguably been the most disappointing unit. With Maason Smith and Jordan Jefferson holding down the middle of the defensive line, you'd expect a lot of production, but that just hasn't been there so far this season.

Brian Kelly has said he wants to build his team around the freshman they recruit, but the transfer portal can be used to add veterans to positions of need. They feel good about the guys they have on the edge, but they could use the transfer portal to add some big bodies on the interior of the defensive line.

"Interior help is where we're looking to help our football team. We think that we're in a pretty good position on the edge of our defense. We need to get bigger, so defensive tackle will be the area you see us move aggressively."

— Brian Kelly

There will be a lot of big names in the transfer portal by the end of the season, so keep an eye out for any defensive tackles who jump into the portal. If the Tigers can bring Mekhi Wingo back, they will already have that starting defensive tackle role filled, so they can work on finding some rotational pieces instead of a bonafide starter.

Next year is a big year for the LSU defense. They've had one of the worst defenses in school history in 2023, so Matt House (or whoever is DC by then) needs to prove his worth. Retaining Mekhi Wingo would be huge for this defense, and while one player can't drastically change the unit's production, it gives the Tigers a star player and a leader to build around next season.