LSU LBs continue to shine

• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 2, 2009

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A lot of football coaches will tell you their sport isn’t really a complex game from a defensive standpoint.

A strong defensive line occupies the offensive line and forces action to the second layer, the linebackers.

If those linebackers get blocked or don’t do their jobs well, it’s up to the secondary to clean up whatever is left.

And if the players in the secondary — where the best athletes with the most speed generally reside — can’t come up with tackles … well, it can be a long day and long season.

For LSU’s defense, there haven’t been a lot of long days this season.

And a big reason for the defensive about-face from 2008 is a linebacking corps that has fully embraced first-year coordinator John Chavis’ scheme.

No. 9-ranked LSU (7-1, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) logged its first shutout since 2007 on Saturday, stifling Tulane 42-0 at Tiger Stadium.

To accomplish that feat and hold the Green Wave scoreless for the first time since 1969, the Tigers got another huge game from junior middle linebacker Kelvin Sheppard and strong complementary performances from weakside linebacker Perry Riley, jack-of-all-trades linebacker Jacob Cutrera and backup Ryan Baker.

Sheppard recorded 13 tackles for the third game in a row and upped his team-leading tackle total to 70.

He also recorded three tackles for loss to give him a team high 7‰ for the season.

Riley recorded eight tackles and has 55 for the season. Cutrera and Baker had six apiece (a career-high for Baker), one more than Harry Coleman, who ranks third on the team with 52 tackles. Cutrera is fifth with 34, although he usually comes off the bench in the four-man linebacker rotation.

One of those four has led LSU in tackles in every game this season. Riley has 11- and 12-stop games to his credit, while Coleman has notched seven tackles or more five times.

Last season, when the LSU defense had trouble getting offenses off the field and allowed 325.5 total yards and 24.2 points per game, somebody in the secondary led the Tigers in tackles seven times.