Maason Smith raves about Pete Jenkins' impact on LSU's D-Line

The loss to Ole Miss triggered a few key changes on this LSU team under head coach Brian Kelly. Perhaps the most notable one was the addition of Pete Jenkins.

With the Tigers’ SEC title hopes on its last leg, the 82-year old defensive line guru was pulled out of retirement in order to try to save the defensive line from getting pushed around time after time. The absence of defensive line coach Jimmy Lindsey was felt throughout the first few games of the season, but with Jenkins, things began to turn around.

There were moments of competency from the defensive line against Missouri, followed by the best game of the season against Auburn the following week. Now, after a shutout win over Army, there’s a sense that this defensive line has taken a substantial step forward from where it was just one month ago and Jenkins continues to receive praise from the defensive linemen he’s coached up.

“Adding coach Pete [Jenkins] to our room it’s been very helpful,” third year defensive tackle Maason Smith said. “Just to have an old mind like him around, somebody who was innovative in D-Line play. It’s the little things with eyes, hand placement, that will go a long way. All of that stuff we were lacking at the beginning of the season.”

Smith has gone from Ed Orderon, to Jamar Cain, to Phillip Lindsey, to John Jancek and Pete Jenkins in his three years at LSU and now feels more at home with what the defensive line is being taught.

“Transitioning from different coaches from Orgeron my freshman year and speaking the same language O was speaking, then going to Cain and he spoke a different language [from Orgeron], so hearing that [Orgeron] language [from Jenkins] that I was used to was refreshing to me,” Smith said.

Defensive improvements

A re-energized defensive line has led the push for defensive improvement coming off of the loss to Ole Miss and Smith has been a key catalyst. After reading his ACL on the first series of the 2022 season, then coming back and tweaking his ankle in fall camp, he’s been working relentlessly to get back to 100 percent and now he’s showing flashes of being the player LSU fans know he can be.

“There have been ups and downs, but the last couple of weeks I’ve been steadily getting better,” Smith said. “For me it was just getting back to who I am and who I know I can be. It was just getting the rust off and now with coach Jenkins teaching me good technique and how to act and think right it will go a long way for me. I’m comfortable to know I’m prepared now.”

LSU heads into a bye week now, with Alabama on deck on Nov. 4. The preparation for the trip to Tuscaloosa starts with getting healthy, which is where Smith is going to focus on early in the week.

“I definitely want to get 100 percent healthy,” Smith said, “I had a couple dislocated fingers the past few weeks, so just getting my hands right and my legs right. Taking a break I haven’t had since the beginning of the season.”

The defense has been scrutinized throughout the season, and justifiably so, but the work continues to pour in from this staff and personnel in hopes of making one final push at the SEC title.

“After a tough loss to Ole Miss, we went back to the drawing board and doubled down on our process,” Smith said. “When a lot of people could have chosen to put their head down, we chose to keep going and that shows the fight of this defense. Just kep stacking the days and keep getting better every week.”