For the Oregon fans, if you want read along, but for my Tiger Fans, here is Chavis take on Speed on his defense...... “This is my third year and I think we’ve made progress in playing our scheme,” said Chavis at his press conference during LSU’s Football Media Day on Tuesday afternoon. “We are getting the people needed to play our scheme.” Chavis has to find replacements for four starters from last year’s defense - tackles Pep Levingston and Drake Nevis, linebacker Kelvin Sheppard and cornerback Patrick Peterson. Chavis has a pretty good idea about who the new starters will be. Michael Brockers and Josh Downs are projected to be the starting tackles. Kevin Minter or Karnell Hatcher will take over for Sheppard depending upon the defensive package. Tharold Simon will assume Peterson’s cornerback position. “This is the opportunity for other guys to make their marks,” Chavis said. “Now is the time for other guys to step forward. Tradition never graduates.” Chavis admitted that his scheme is based around one quality - speed. For a player to hit the field for Chavis, he must be able to run. “I’ll never sacrifice speed for size,” Chavis said. “I’ll always put as much speed as I can on the field. You need speed to defend all of the spread offenses. You must have speed on the field and you must be a great tackling team. That’s how you eliminate big plays.” For the second time in three years, Chavis has moved a former safety to linebacker. Two years ago, the move was made by Harry Coleman. Hatcher is making the switch for this season. Chavis likes to have varying skills. Remember what Tyrann Mathieu did as a nickel back last campaign. “It’s really big to have guys with versatility,” Chavis “A lot of the same techniques we ask our safeties to do, our linebackers do as well. Karnell has taken on linebacker quite well. It’s natural for him. He played some linebacker in high school. “In our scheme, the safety has assignments where they have to be in the box. So, Karnell will be on ground he’s been on before.” Even though Peterson is now playing for the Arizona Cardinals, Chavis acknowledged that there will be no drop off in the secondary’s performance. In fact, he gave quite a compliment to this group. “This is probably the most talented secondary I’ve been around,” Chavis said. “They all have speed. We have guys who can play press coverage. We have more depth than any secondary I’ve had.” LSU is projected to be one of the top five teams in the country. Moreover, the defense is expected to be more effective than it was a year ago. Those facts don’t bother Chavis. “We have high expectations,” Chavis said. “But, nobody is going to put any more pressure on me than I put on myself. We are getting LSU ready to play a long, demanding schedule. We can’t make mistakes.” Chavis’ defense will certainly be under the gun in the season-opener against the up-tempo Oregon Ducks. He will have his defenders ready for the challenge. “We’re starting with a big one,” Chavis said. It’s like NASCAR which starts off with its biggest race of the year at Daytona. Of course, we’ll still have some big SEC games.” Speed means everything - College Football - Rivals.com
