http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2012/08/lsu_taking_long_look_at_speedy.html#incart_river_default

Kevin Minter, the leader of the LB corps:

--"We have to step it up as a linebacker corps. Technique-wise, the relentlessness like Tyrann and them have, that's what a linebacker is, aggressive but still smart. We've lacked that, but this year I feel we can turn some heads."

--"We didn't play as good as we should have (last season)," Minter said. "I'll take responsibility for that. We're going to do a lot better this year. We were lacking all around in technique. We're going to be way better."

--"Tahj and Lamin really got into the playbook this year, all type of film studies. We've gotten into each other's heads. We know what each other is going to do. I'm jelling with these guys. We came up together in the same recruiting class (the three were the only three LBs in the 2009 class). We're all close friends. I feel we'll be way better."

--"I expect a lot of myself. This is my fourth year here, and I have to show improvement, be the leader Chief (defensive coordinator John Chavis) and everybody wants me to be and needs me to be."


Les Miles on Tahj Jones: "He is a guy that takes coaching extremely well," Miles said. "He improves when he gets coached and shows it on the football field. Tahj is one of those guys that you'd like to have a team full of them because they just continue to improve. He's light, but he plays heavy and plays fast."

Lamin Barrow on the younger LBs: ""I used to pride myself on my speed, but with the speed of these young guys, it makes me take a second look at myself," Barrow said. "People think that just because I've been there, and Tahj and Kevin, that we automatically move up to start," Barrow said. "It's not that way. It's my spot to lose. Those young guys are pushing hard. Competition is really high."

Kevin Minter -- 6-2, 245 (was 231 as a recruit)
Lamin Barrow -- 6-2, 232 (was 209 as a recruit)
Tahj Jones -- 6-2, 205 (was also 205 as a recruit)

For the first time in a while, I'm getting real excited about the linebackers.

Minter is being kind. The reason the LBers should play much better this season is the talent/speed is there with experience now from those younger players. The NFL combine showed why LSU's LBers were so bad. Francois and Hatcher's 40 times were in the range of 4.93 to 5.05 I think...horrible!! Baker's was 4.88 seconds....bad yet again! Technique was not the problem...lack of talent was. Minter IMO was the best LBer even last season and with a good group around him, I expect much better LBer play. LBers couldn't cover TEs, backs, etc because they were flat out too slow...it is that simple!

tweet by Glenn Guilbeau today:

DEF. COORD. John Chavis compared his freshmen LBs to his freshmen DBs of 2010 - Tyrann Mathieu, Eric Reid and Tharold Simon. Strong company.

Yeah, we can't blame John Chavis (DC/LBer coach) for Baker, Hatcher, Francois, etc. Those were "Peveto boys"...so glad that loser is long gone. I though Mallory was a good DB coach but Peveto sucked as LBer coach. You can clearly tell the quality difference in LBer recruits now and the recruits know who put all those LBers in the NFL from Tennessee...John Chavis.

I was really high on Tahj Jones last year and thought he should have played more, very interested in seeing how he is going to look on defense this year. Chavis I think finally has a stacked crew of linebackers with some experience, that are only going to get better.

To be fair, neither Hatcher or Francois were recruited to LSU as LB's. Both were DB's in high school and for most of their careers at LSU. In fact, I believe Francois was a 5 star DB recruit out of high school and Hatcher may have been a 4 star. Fact is, both were highly recruited DB's out of high school and remember a lot of LSU folks being pretty happy when both of them signed up to be Tigers. Neither one became a LB until late in their college career's and were moved there by Chavis. The fact that neither one turned many heads at LB is not really that surprising. Harry Coleman really excelled in that role and was successful in the DB to LB move. He set the bar pretty high in that respect and in that role. While neither Hatcher or Francois were as successful as Coleman as LB's, they still answered the call to fill a position of need for their team and did the best they could. Both deserve some credit for the fact that they did what their team & coaches asked them to do.

Baker on the other hand was an LB from the get go. Believe he may have been a 4 star recruit out of high school and was pretty highly recruited. And while he may or may not have a career in the NFL, he certainly played his heart out at LSU and did very well his junior & senior years. He benefited from being "coached up" by Chavis at LSU just like Kelvin Sheppard did. While Baker wasn't an All-American or All-SEC, I don't think you can really say he was not a successful college LB. And while the current crop of young LB's certainly looks promising, let's see what they do in two or three years. The jury is definitely still out on them. Who knows how they'll pan out? Having said that, I'm certainly looking forward to seeing this young crop develop. I definitely think that Kwon Alexander, Lamar Louis, Debo Jones, Trey Grainier and Lorenzo Phillips will all be exciting to watch over the next few years.

I will totally agree with you on Peveto though. And while Mallory may have been a decent position coach, we all know what happened with the "Maleveto" disaster. One year of that was one too many and I'm definitely glad they "moved on" to other things. Thank God Kiffin fired the Chief at Tennessee!

Good memory, sir. Rivals had Francois and Baker high 4* (6.0) with Hatcher a low 4* (5.8). Your point is accurate about where they played in HS. My own opinions of their careers at LSU and have said so a while ago....Baker was "OK"....Francois and Hatcher were downright liabilities. Seriously, does anyone ever remember Hatcher taking the correct angle on a play? As far as their movement from the secondary, that gave them their only chance to play. 5.0 is very slow for a LBer....5.0 40 is broken leg speed for a DB. This is why I take ratings with a grain of salt. All 3 IMO were grossly overrated out of HS. Baker looked like a high 3* while Hatcher and Francois played like 2*, simply not SEC caliber, and most I've talked to are glad they are gone. Doesn't mean they aren't good people, simply not adequate football players.

I completely agree on wait and see approach to the new crop of LBers but 2 things we have going for us: 1) Chavis signed off of them instead of Peveto and 2) I have seen some of these guys play on video clips...I can promise you they don't run 5.0 40's in their shorts. Agree with you on Mallory as co-DC but you will notice I didn't praise him for that...only as a secondary coach. I praise Peveto for nothing... simply not a very good coach. Miles made the worst decision of his tenure so far at LSU with the Peveto/Mallory DC deal. Most people say co-DCs don't work. I don't agree with that at all, BUT if you put 2 unqualified people as co-DC, of course it doesn't work. Having either as sole DC wouldnt' have worked either. To Miles credit, he pulled the trigger early and essentially admitted his mistake. Those DCs were gone after 1 year.

How long was Peveto the LB coach? We had some pretty good units dating back several years pre-2010. The NC 2007 crew was a good one with Highsmith and Riley. Was Peveto really that bad or did he just get really bad when he tried to be a DC and LB coach?

We certainly didn't recruit the position well post 2007 though. Part of Harry Coleman's move wasn't just Chief's scheme in general but the lack of players to fit his scheme. We actually had Bama-style linebackers...big and strong, but not quite as quick of foot. Notice this year that through recruiting, no DB's made the annual move to LB. No need to. Chief has his style of players at LB and I expect the next couple of years will be pretty special for that unit. Consider the fact that Feist, Louis, and Debo Jones are the 2nd unit right now (I fully suspect one or two of them will supplant one or both of the outside guys) and the guys that were more highly touted than them in Granier, Philips, and Alexander are probably red-shirting. We're in good shape at LB.

Partial answers: Peveto LBer coach 2005-2008. Can't remember the timing of arrival particularly but here are LBer classes as defined by Rivals: 2005 - Beckwith 2006- Clemons, Cutrera, Odom, Riley, Shepard (good ones and also guys who never played) 2007 - None 2008 - Baker, Prater 2009 - Jones, Minter, Mingo, Barrow 2007 had a couple of good ones but I don't think it is coincidence that 2009 signing class was after he left and the best of the bunch IMO.

You made a superb point about some players' move to LBer. Yes, John Chavis has always had at least one smallish LBer at Tennessee because he loves the "hybrid LBer" guy. However, I believe your point is spot on. The reason that Francois, Hatcher, Coleman, etc were moved in mass was that Peveto didn't recruit consistently well at LBer....2007 - 0 signees 2008 - Baker an OK one and Prater who I have barely heard of. 2 LBers in 2 years, and only 1 remotely close to 1-A caliber, not enough. BTW, these positions as stated are by Rivals listings.