HOOVER — Ed Orgeron is challenging his defense.
LSU is coming off an impressive 10-win season, which included a PlayStation Fiesta Bowl victory over UCF, all of which has built up a considerable amount of buzz for the Tigers. LSU is being discussed as a contender for the College Football Playoff, and dethroning Alabama as the kings of the Southeastern Conference.
For the third-year LSU head coach though, for the Tigers to live up to those high expectations it starts with doing a far better job with the team’s defense.
“First of all, we gave up 167 yards rushing the game,” Orgeron said. “That’s not championship football. That’s not LSU football. So we have to stop the run. There’s no question we need to get better in tackling, gap fits, schemes, tackles force loss, whatever it may take to stop the run.”
For Orgeron, it is just not about stopping the run but also pressuring the quarterback.
“We need to put pressure on the quarterback with a four-man rush,” Orgeron said. “It was not good last year. They had to do a lot of different things that really shouldn’t have to do at LSU. We should be able to rush four guys and then one-on-ones.”
Orgeron added, “Those are all things we need to improve. You need to go back to tackling. You need to go back to turnovers. You need to go back to discipline, and that’s what it’s going to take to get great defense.”
To help LSU’s defense reach that level of greatness Orgeron is taking a more hands on approach — in particular with the defensive line.
“First of all, I’m going to be a lot more loud on the defensive line as coach than I’ve ever been,” Orgeron said. “That’s something I know we can do well. We’ll go back and attack defensive line. We are going to be more of a four-man defensive line, starting defensive back, call some tackles in the back field, getting a better quarterback rush.
“We’ll enable these guys — we are going to make some slight adjustments on how we play with the guys, but it will be more of a freestyle attack, getting back field making plays,” Orgeron added. “I think you’ll see that with those guys.”
One of those guys is defensive tackle Tyler Shelvin — a former star at Northside High and Notre Dame of Crowley.
Shelvin was redshirted his first season due to getting his grades up and his weight down. After seeing some playing time last season, Orgeron expects Shelvin to make even more of an impact this season.
“Tyler is down to a slim 340 now,” Orgeron said. “He came to us at 380 pounds. Tyler’s worked hard this summer. He’s worked hard on his eligibility and worked hard on the football field. Tommy Moffitt gave some good reviews.
“Last year, with Apu Ika in, Tyler and Apu had been competing for the starting position,” Orgeron added. “I think that helped Tyler. He had to compete a little bit more. I think you see both of them play. Tyler may be a start. Apu may be a starter. We’ll decide after camp, but you guys are going to see him play a lot. He played a lot better towards the end of the year last year when he learned how to play with his weight down.”