How Brian Kelly, LSU football's defensive line continues to underperform

BATON ROUGE — LSU football's secondary is a problem.

It was a perceived issue heading into the 2023 campaign and its been a crutch for the Tigers' defense in almost every week since the start of the year.

But LSU's embarrassing 55-49 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday, a night in which it surrendered a program record 706 yards to the Rebels, wasn't just on its secondary. The Tigers' front-seven failed to step up when called upon, especially their defensive line.

"We've got to be able to maximize the potential of our defensive line," coach Brian Kelly said on Monday. "We're in conversation about are we doing that?"

LSU (3-2, 2-1 SEC) entered this season with a much-anticipated group on its defensive line.

Defensive tackle Mekhi Wingo returned after being named a third team All-American and would pair up with Maason Smith, an All-American caliber talent in his own right, in the middle. Sai'vion Jones, who played valuable snaps a season ago, was expected to start at defensive end with Oregon transfer Ovie Oghoufo and Texas transfer Bradyn Swinson rotating for each other at Jack linebacker.

And unlike last season, LSU also had plenty of depth behind its starting group with the likes of Jordan Jefferson, Jalen Lee, Paris Shand, Quency Wiggins, Da'Shawn Womack and Jacobian Guillory.

But, so far through five games, only Wingo and Swinson have played to their potential. Oghoufo, Smith and Jones have combined to record 16 quarterback pressures and one sack this year, according to Pro Football Focus.

Against Ole Miss, LSU's defensive front failed to record a sack and played a big part in allowing Ole Miss to put up 317 yards on the ground.

"We're big upfront," Kelly said. "We have to play physical, we have to play with low pads, we have to create a new line of scrimmage."

In an attempt to fix the problem ahead of its matchup against No. 22 Missouri on the road on Saturday (11 a.m., ESPN), LSU hired former defensive line coach Pete Jenkins as a consultant and assistant with LSU's defensive line room, Kelly confirmed Monday.

Jenkins' return to LSU marks his fourth stint with the program, even serving as the team's defensive coordinator and assistant head coach throughout the 1980s. Jenkins has also served as a defensive line coach for the Philadelphia Eagles, Southern Cal, Oklahoma, Florida, Mississippi State and Auburn.

Kelly hopes that Jenkins' expertise can help fill the gap left behind by Jimmy Lindsey, who left the team during the preseason due to "a personal health matter" and hasn't returned since.

"John Jancek has the defensive line (but) his expertise is not necessarily in that area," Kelly said. "He's a good football coach but we want to provide our student athletes with the most resources and Pete gives us the expertise and the ability to help us with technique and some technical things we want to do on a day to day basis."

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Lindsey's absence hasn't helped LSU's defensive line; nor has the loss of BJ Ojulari to the NFL or Smith's expected slow start to this season after missing nearly all of last year with a torn ACL.

But there is no good excuse as to why LSU's defensive line has dominated the line of scrimmage once in five games this season. The Tigers have the talent and the depth to stop the run and make life difficult for opposing quarterbacks, but haven't done it with any consistency.

Given LSU's struggles in the secondary, that has to change in order for its defense to stand a chance moving forward.

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Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU football defensive line continues to underwhelm for Brian Kelly