According to the SEC Blog on ESPN, four of defensive starters are possibly going to pass on the rest of their collegiate eligibility and putting their names in the NFL draft. The names were Reid, Minter, Montgomery, and Mingo.

If they do leave, who are the players behind them to become the starters next year? What are their success stories that led them to be an LSU Tiger?

Not sure which of the players are seniors this year, but it seems if these four juniors leave and the learning process with the secondary this year, the Tigers would not be rearming for a MNC run in 2013-2014.

No idea but LSU loses juniors to the NFL every year and they just reload. LSU will be top 5 preseason in 2013.

They still have Mettenberger so we will have that going for us next year.

Rasco is a lock to start as a DE. The other side is a big question mark. Probably out of Jordan Allen or Danielle Hunter who played as a true freshman this season. The MLB is a complete toss-up. 4 true freshmen played LB and my guess would be Ronnie Feist because he is the biggest of those 4. Melvin Jones could come in and challenge for that position. FS will probably be out of Micah Eugene or Ronald Martin. I think Corey Thompson will be at SS behind Craig Loston. Once again, freshmen will be counted on heavily because of NFL attrition.

Gracias for the response.

Rasco is WDE, yes?

I believe Rasco will play RE.

[This message has been edited by JapanLSUfan (edited 1/2/2013 7:58p).]

Minter has declared for the draft.

I always joke around and say LSU just recruits defensive lineman that have to fit in certain jerseys. They all look the same size and the same speed every year no matter who it is. And they use a lot of the same numbers

Add Eric Reid (S) and Tharold Simon (CB) to the list of official underclassmen leaving LSU early.

I know this is slightly off-topic, but doesn't it seem like LSU defensive line players have underwhelmed in the NFL?

Glenn Dorsey
Tyson Jackson
Michael Brockers
Drake Nevis
Al Woods
Marcus Spears
Ricky Jean
Kyle Williams


Their DBs have done fairly well:
Claiborne
Patrick Peterson
LaRon Landry

Tyson Jackson has never been a stat guy at LSU and it was a huge surprise to LSU fans that he got drafted third overall. Glenn Dorsey was drafted by the previous HC who ran a 4-3. He is out of place as a DE on a 3-4. He needs to find a 4-3 team during free agency. Brockers is one of the more promising rookie DT's. He missed a few games due to injury and finished the year with 4 sacks playing NT for the Rams. Kyle Williams was a recent all-pro DT and signed a 6yr/$39mil contract last year. He was a 5th round draft pick.

Japan - thanks. I forgot Williams made all-pro.

Still, it seems that there's a trend for LSU DLine players to get overvalued in college, whereas their DBs do well at the next level. I wonder if that's a product of the defensive scheme that LSU runs.

The list of DL you named spanned 3 sets of defensive coordinators from Will Muschamp to Bo Pelini to John Chavis. I'm not going to include the one year Mal-veto debacle after Pelini took the Nebraska job. All three DC's ran their defenses differently. Muschamp ran a Saban-style 3-4 defense and produced guys such as Marcus Spears and Marquise Hill. Kyle Williams, Glenn Dorsey, and Tyson Jackson came from Bo Pelini's 4-3 defense. Drake Nevis was a crossover between Pelini and Chavis. Chavis developed Brockers and now Montgomery and Mingo. So far Brockers has been doing quite well in the NFL. We will see how M&M do soon enough. If you want some examples of Chavis linemen throughout the years, I'll point you to guys such as Leonard Little, John Henderson, Albert Haynesworth, Turk McBride, and Dan Williams. Chavis' favorite position to coach is linebacker.

Thanks for answering questions Japan.

Out of curiosity it's starting to look like you guys are going to lose 7 of your defensive starters to the draft.

Is there enough in the pipeline to overcome that?

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Thanks for answering questions Japan.

Out of curiosity it's starting to look like you guys are going to lose 7 of your defensive starters to the draft.


Is there enough in the pipeline to overcome that?

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Yes. We might even be better on defense next year. With Mo Claiborne's cousin coming in we will be young but loaded with talent at CB. Ronald Martin and Loston/Corey Thompson will be the safeties, another position where we will not lose a beat. DL will be stacked as usaul. The only position I see us struggling at is Linebacker.

[This message has been edited by lsuforever33 (edited 1/6/2013 10:27p).]

[This message has been edited by lsuforever33 (edited 1/6/2013 10:28p).]

Double Post

[This message has been edited by lsuforever33 (edited 1/6/2013 10:26p).]

lsuforever- would you be so kind to list those players on the DL (both DE and DT), as well as some info about them? How much experience do they have? What were their skins the wall?

Whatever happened to Jarret Fobbs?

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lsuforever- would you be so kind to list those players on the DL (both DE and DT), as well as some info about them? How much experience do they have? What were their skins the wall?

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DT- Ego Ferguson-JR
Ego is very raw. He has all the tools in the shed. He is naturally flexible and can run and he CAN be explosive off the ball b/c of his athleticism and power but he tends to play high which limits his explosiveness. He is extremely strong at the point of attack and gets rid of defenders once he finds the ball.

DT- Anthony Johnson-JR
Nicknamed ‘’The Freak’’, Johnson shows great quickness off the ball and gets into the backfield with ease. He rarely misses tackles and shreds blocks like no problem.

DE- Danielle Hunter-SOPH
Hunter is the next Mingo for LSU. Undersized for the DE position but uses his speed to run circles around offensive linemen.

DE- Jermauria Rasco-JR

Rasco has shown unlimited potential in the limited play time he has gotten. Has an explosive first step that is comparable to Jadeveon Clowney of South Carolina.

I will do others when I have more time

[This message has been edited by lsuforever33 (edited 1/7/2013 1:13a).]

[This message has been edited by lsuforever33 (edited 1/7/2013 1:14a).]

I don't feel as confident about the defense as lsuforever33. The entire starting defensive line will be gone. The most experienced guy in the secondary will be Craig Loston while the rest are all sophomores. There will be hardly any starting experience to start off next season. There will be a total of maybe 4 returning starters on defense. There will be plenty of talented guys on defense but the lack of experience is a huge concern. Freshmen will be relied on heavily.

lsuforever or Japan - can you please do the following for each position:
Last year's starter, followed by a sign indicating if the expected change in performance, followed by the new starter.

For example:

DaMontre Moore > > > Tyrone Taylor
Taylor Bertolet << Davis Plowman
Kenric McNeal = Malcome Kennedy


[This message has been edited by UMichAg (edited 1/7/2013 8:28a).]

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I don't feel as confident about the defense as lsuforever33. The entire starting defensive line will be gone. The most experienced guy in the secondary will be Craig Loston while the rest are all sophomores. There will be hardly any starting experience to start off next season. There will be a total of maybe 4 returning starters on defense. There will be plenty of talented guys on defense but the lack of experience is a huge concern. Freshmen will be relied on heavily.

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I feel like we will drop a game early in the season because of this. Possibly Georgia because that would be the first time where our young secondary will be tested.

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I don't feel as confident about the defense as lsuforever33. The entire starting defensive line will be gone. The most experienced guy in the secondary will be Craig Loston while the rest are all sophomores. There will be hardly any starting experience to start off next season. There will be a total of maybe 4 returning starters on defense. There will be plenty of talented guys on defense but the lack of experience is a huge concern. Freshmen will be relied on heavily.

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I feel like we will drop a game early in the season because of this. Possibly Georgia because that would be the first time where our young secondary will be tested.

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I wish we could flip flop the LSU/Bammer games.

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lsuforever or Japan - can you please do the following for each position:
Last year's starter, followed by a sign indicating if the expected change in performance, followed by the new starter.

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My best guess:

DE:
Mingo > Jemauria Rasco
Montgomery > > Danielle Hunter/Jordan Allen/Justin Maclin/??

DT:
Logan = Freak Johnson
Downs = Ego Ferguson

MLB:
Minter > > Lamin Barrow

FS:
Reid > Ronald Martin

CB:
Simon > Jalen Collins


This comparison is based on a small sample of playing time from about half of the replacements especially at d-line. I expect most of them to improve a lot over the course of the summer as they are battling hard to get that starting role.

Japan,

I appreciate the information and the fact that you do so in such a repectful manner.

Next year should be interesting.

We will be asking more from our offense next year while the guys on defense are learning under fire. God help us.

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Freak Johnson
Ego Ferguson

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Awesome

We are LSU's 11th game of the season, so by that point they will have plenty of game experience to go with their talent. Plus, the week before they have a bye while we play New Mexico. NM is really bad, but we still have to play them.

Going to take a strong game to beat LSU, especially if Mett plays like he did the last 4 games of the regular season.