How LSU's defense comes together in year two under Matt House

LSU’s defense was exceptional in the first year under defensive coordinator Matt House. It wasn’t perfect, but even as the offense went through major lulls in the games against Florida State, Auburn, and Arkansas, the defense found ways to keep the Tigers in the game until the end.

House is an SEC veteran, spending three years at Kentucky, leading some of the best defenses in program history, before spending time as the Kansas City Chiefs linebackers coach. Eventually, House wanted to make his return to the SEC and it was a perfect pairing with newly named head coach Brian Kelly.

In year one, House’s defense allowed four opponents to score over 31 points, while shutting down inferior opponents with excellent execution and timely tactical adjustments.

“He’s easy to communicate with,” Kelly said of House. “In any kind of coaching situation that I’ve had, I wanted someone that I’m familiar with from his demeanor, his personality, and the system of defense I was familiar with. We had all that going in, and then he’s just been really easy to have dialogue with in intense situations. He’s the same all the time and that makes it easy for me as the head coach to have those kind of conversations and it makes it effective for us to where if we need to make adjustments or changes at the half, we can get to the point, make those changes, then he can communicate those to his players.”

House’s defenses were consistently better in the second halves due to the communication and clarity House presented himself with. The Tigers allowed just 51 points in the third quarter all season and fueled wins over Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and others.

Moving into spring 2023

It’s now a totally different feel around the defense heading into this offseason. For House, he knows what he’s working with across the board, was able to pick out the additions from the portal, and has largely the same coaching staff in year two.

The biggest question mark for the Tigers is in the secondary at this moment. The cornerback room has been completely turned over with only one returning scholarship player, Laterrance Welch, making it a second straight year where it’s several portal additions to build the cornerback room.

“We have some experience if you take Zy Alexander, Denver Harris, and Duce Chestnute, those guys have played a lot of football. [Last year] Mekhi Garner and Jarrick Bernard Converse had a lot more experience, but I don’t feel like we put ourselves in a position where we’re throwing freshmen out there either. We’re younger where we’ll have a little more continuity and consistency at the position and we’ve put ourselves in a position where we can develop this talent over the next few years.”

While the cornerback room continues to come together, the safety position is even more intriguing this spring. With returning starters Greg Brooks and Major Burns limited or out for the spring with injuries, it’s been a spot where young players have been tasked with more than expected in their first few months on campus.

“Because we’re being cautious with Major Burns and Greg Brooks, Javien Toviano is getting to play some Nickel, Ryan Yaites is playing a ton of safety. I don’t know if he would have gotten all this work [if Burns and Brooks were healthy]. It’s great we’re giving him this kind of work and he has to make a lot of checks. As a head coach this is a cool spring where a lot of the young guys have to make a lot of checks and it’s been a good proving ground for them.”

While new faces continue to take the field for House, there remains a sustained confidence that House is putting the pieces together and developing depth across the field with his defense.