{"id":878594,"date":"2026-04-30T10:10:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T10:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/878594\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T10:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T10:10:24","slug":"lsu-football-depth-chart-projecting-the-defensive-starters-lsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/878594\/","title":{"rendered":"LSU football depth chart: Projecting the defensive starters | LSU"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0LSU<\/a>\u00a0defense has made steady improvements in the first two years of Blake Baker\u2019s<\/a> tenure as defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

Now coach Lane Kiffin<\/a> and his staff hope they\u2019re on the verge of taking another step forward on that side of the ball. Continuity will help them do it. So, too, will the few key players they\u2019ve added from both the transfer portal and high school ranks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really critical to keep (Baker),\u201d Kiffin said on March 31, \u201cbecause he has done a great job continuing to improve them, and now we want to go to another level and play really physical, dominant defense that creates a lot of havoc and turnovers but at the same time plays with great discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will LSU accomplish that goal? It\u2019s too early to tell. But what is clear, now that the Tigers are done with spring practices<\/a>, is that Kiffin, Baker and the rest of the coaches may have most of their defensive starters in place.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a projected defensive depth chart based on everything we gathered from spring practices.<\/p>\n

Defensive end<\/p>\n

Starters: Princewill Umanmielen (Sr.), Jordan Ross (Jr.)<\/p>\n

Rotation: Dylan Carpenter (R-Jr.), Lamar Brown (Fr.)<\/p>\n

Also: Kolaj Cobbins (R-Soph.), Damien Shanklin (R-Fr.)<\/p>\n

LSU\u2019s depth took a hit here when Gabe Reliford<\/a> suffered a torn ACL in spring practice. His injury will force the Tigers to rely more heavily on both Ross and Brown as they try to create a more disruptive four-man pass rush than they did last season.<\/p>\n

Umanmielen should help that cause. In 2025, only two SEC defenders recorded more sacks than he did (nine), and neither of them played for LSU. The Tigers\u2019 top two edge rushers \u2014 Patrick Payton and Jack Pyburn \u2014 combined to register only three sacks.<\/p>\n

Defensive tackle<\/p>\n

Starters: Malik Blocton (Jr.), Deuce Geralds (Fr.)<\/p>\n

Rotation: Dominick McKinley (Jr.), Stephiylan Green (R-Jr.)<\/p>\n

Also: Richard Anderson (Fr.), Shone Washington (R-Sr.)<\/p>\n

Brown and Anderson grabbed most of the headlines when LSU signed its freshman class in December. Perhaps we should\u2019ve paid more attention to Geralds<\/a>, who was one of spring\u2019s standouts<\/a>. It looks like he\u2019s already earned significant snaps inside the defensive tackle rotation, which is no small feat for an early enrollee. It\u2019s rare for an interior lineman to start during his freshman year.<\/p>\n

Linebacker<\/p>\n

Starters: TJ Dottery (R-Sr.), Whit Weeks (Sr.)<\/p>\n

Backups: Davhon Keys (Jr.), Tylen Singleton (R-Soph.)<\/p>\n

Weeks\u2019 health<\/a> will be one of the top storylines of preseason camp. He was limited to individual drills in spring practices because he\u2019s still recovering from a broken foot that abbreviated his junior season. If healthy, Weeks can form a potent duo with Dottery, the Ole Miss transfer who led the SEC in tackles last year. LSU has solid depth behind them, too.<\/p>\n

Star<\/p>\n

Starter: Dashawn Spears (Jr.)<\/p>\n

Backup: CJ Jimcoily (Soph).<\/p>\n

Spears decided to enter the transfer portal in December, then changed his mind<\/a>. Now he\u2019s set to take over for Harold Perkins at Star \u2014 a position that Kiffin thinks is a \u201creally critical\u201d piece of the LSU defense. Baker will ask him to defend the run, blitz and drop back into coverage, so it\u2019s important for Spears to prove that he can step into an every-down role.<\/p>\n

Cornerback<\/p>\n

Starters: DJ Pickett (Soph.), PJ Woodland (Jr.)<\/p>\n

Backups: Michael Turner (R-Soph.), Ja\u2019Keem Jackson (R-Jr.)<\/p>\n

Kiffin wishes he had a spring transfer portal window this year, in part because he\u2019d like to shore up the cornerback depth. The Tigers already were somewhat thin at that spot before spring practice, then they lost sophomore Aidan Anding<\/a> to an Achilles tear in a scrimmage. Pickett and Woodland are each capable starters, but if one of them has to miss time, the Tigers will have to rely on someone who doesn\u2019t have much starting experience.<\/p>\n

Safety<\/p>\n

Starters: Ty Benefield (Sr.), Tamarcus Cooley (R-Jr.)<\/p>\n

Backups: Faheem Delane (Soph.), Jhase Thomas (R-Fr.)<\/p>\n

The back end of the defense figures to be a strength. Cooley is a returning starter. Benefield has the look of an early-round NFL draft choice. And Delane, the younger brother of first-round draftee Mansoor Delane, is a little overqualified to be a second-team safety. He\u2019s a former top-100 recruit who rotated into Ohio State\u2019s secondary as a true freshman in 2025.<\/p>\n

The group also has positional versatility. Benefield excelled around the line of scrimmage last year at Boise State, so he could drop down to Star, and Spears could slide to safety. Baker has options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0LSU\u00a0defense has made steady improvements in the first two years of Blake Baker\u2019s tenure as defensive coordinator. Now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,4095],"class_list":["post-878594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-hardwall"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116493118539389422","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}