How big/little of a drop-off will LSU have in the secondary this season?

Last year we had lost Sheppard, Nevis, Pep, PP7, Josh Jasper, Ridley, Toliver, Richard Murphy, Barksdale, Jai Eugene and had Josh D. sit out the year. Yea, we saw the dropoff last year also.........didn't we win 13 games? I think we will be just fine. Look for LSU to bring in a few LB'er, WR's and maybe an OL or more to help in the two deep. This could be RSF or TF. LSU under Les has done a great job of mixing in these guys early, look for more of the same. When you look at the backups on the DL, Edwards, Rasco, Freak and Ego, these guys can start for over 90% of the college teams in the nation. We had 3 RB's with over 500 yds last year, 4 that scored 7 Td's or more. Blue avg. right at 7 yd/carry. You add Hill to this mix, I see lots of teams in the 4th. having heavy legs. Remember last year Les took his foot off the gas late in many games.

 

John Chavis, makes it happen, and the LSU defense will be as stout, if not more, than last season. We are going to get to the QB more this season for sure.

 

Does anyone else think that TM is not all that effective in man-on-man pass coverage because of his size even though he is a beast in the nickle?

 

I think TM7 makes his name by the way he plays with little to no abandon. Is he the cover guy that Patrick Peterson, or Mo Claiborne was? No I don't believe. But he is a playmaker to say the least. His intensity in the run game, and ability to rush the passer off the corners gives the defense and Chavis another weapon.

 

Mathieu's strength is his ability to wreak havoc from any given spot on the field. When he's forced into man-to-man situations, he has shown signs of not being very good at covering, and he's been burned for it on several occasions.

That being said, he's too good of a player to not have on the field.

 

What is the word on Jenkins leaving?

 

Not really, you are just being selective.


TM7 has made plays in all phases of his game...

 

He clearly cannot cover in MAN-TO-MAN coverage. He HAS Gotten himself burned several times. Didn't say anything about any other part of his game.

Go back and watch the footage.

 

If we only put TM7 on the outside, putting him on an island responsible for locking down the other teams #1 or #2 WR, he wouldn't be an All-American CB

he's not elite in man-to-man coverage as a lock down corner on the outside like Claiborne

last year we had Claiborne to lock down one side, and Brooks/Simon to lock down the other. we lost two of those guys, which is why it is important one of the new young guys step up to man that position, allowing TM7 to do what he does best: roam around at nickelback, making plays, blitzing, run support, forcing fumbles, etc

look at Deion Sanders, he's a Hall of Fame lockdown corner, but that doesn't means he's great at all aspects of defense (tackling, run support, blitzing, forcing fumbles, etc). likewise, just because TM7 is an All-American CB doesn't mean he's great as a lockdown corner

if you watch the BSCCG, you'll see how Bama schemed to get TM7 isolated in man-to-man, where he struggled, and expect more teams to do that against us this season

TM7 and his teammates know this, and he's working on it...

“It wasn’t only Tyrann in that last game (vs Bama). It was everybody, the team as a whole,” said LSU safety Eric Reid. “We know there were a bunch of plays that we could have made that would have helped the team. I know it hurts Tyrann that a couple of passes got caught on him, but that game wasn’t on him. It was on all of us. He’s extremely motivated to get his technique down, and I can’t wait to see what he does this year.”

A lot of Tyrann’s struggles last season came in man-to-man coverages. Despite him being naturally instinctive and gifted with speed and aggression, his lack of size hurt him. But if there’s anything negative about his game, he’s going to fix it. And that’s what exactly he’s been doing this off-season:

“You’re not going to be able to be all over the field every game with the scheme some offenses run,” Mathieu said. “But you’ve still got to make plays at your position, and that’s my focus. If I’m at cornerback, I want to lock my man down. If I’m at nickel, I just want to roam the field and make some plays.

“I want to be great, and where I play, that means being a lock-down cornerback. And with me being 5-9, it gives me even more fire to go out there and prove a lot of people wrong.”

finally, it is not going to be easy for TM7 to have the sensational season he had last year, and to expect him to do so is unreasonable, IMO. I've seen plenty of sportswriters writing stuff like:

"he (TM7) is likely to be the victim of his own remarkable success. The expectations are high for 2012, but it might be really hard to duplicate the magic of 2011...A dropoff of sorts is to be expected"

the good news about that, is that if TM7 defies the odds (yet again), and duplicates the sensational season he had last year, he will win the Heisman in a landslide