Matt House’s new toy
Among the many, m a n y reasons Matt House was let go at the end of the 2023 season was due to his awful and at times seemingly purposeful misuse of the LSU linebackers—his position group mind you—specifically Harold Perkins.
All last summer we heard that Perkins and the coaching staff was intent on moving inside. Our resident Xs and Os genius Max called his shot and said moving Perkins inside was going to be a mistake and totally counter to everything he’s so naturally gifted at. Turns out Max’s warning signals proved to be accurate and the experiment was scrapped immediately after the Florida State game.
But still even after the loss in Orlando, Perkins just didn’t…feel like the guy who took the college football world by storm in 2022. His numbers were similar, sure, but it felt like they were in spite of House, not how House was utilizing his star linebacker.
Four years ago Blake Baker turned Damone Clark into a Butkus Award finalist. Can he do the same with Perk?
Of the three levels of the LSU defense, this is the unit I feel strongest about.
Greg Penn may not go on an LSU linebacker Mount Rushmore, but you can do a lot worse than having a fourth-year starter manning the middle of the defense, especially since a new defense is being installed. Penn’s numbers have improved in each and every one of his three seasons in Baton Rouge and he’s physically built (6’2”, 236) along the same lines as Damone Clark (6’3”, 240) was during his one season with Blake Baker. Maybe it’s Penn, not Perkins, who is in line for the massive leap under Baker’s tutelage.
Perkins wasn’t the only underutilized underclassmen in 2023. Whit Weeks led all LSU freshmen in tackles but didn’t see the field at all in the Florida or Georgia State games, and while his bio lists him as having played in the Alabama game, I’m not sure if he played any defensive snaps.
I am not a coach nor will I ever pretend to be one, but to my untrained eye #40 in purple and gold made things happen when he was on the field. When he wasn’t on the field, the unit was worse. Again, I’m not a coach but “play 40 more” seems like an easy solution.
West Weeks, the older brother of Whit, is back for his third and final season in Baton Rouge. The older Weeks brother has been more of a depth/special teams piece in his career, but with 38 games played in his career he is plenty experienced to fill in if called upon.
Brian Kelly and Baker are going to work hard to stock the linebacker room back up with bodies because at season’s end you’re losing Penn, West Weeks, and Perkins. Kelly has insisted that he wants to build through the high school ranks and supplement with the transfer portal. If he wants to practice what he’s preaching, that hopefully will lead to some mop up experience for true freshmen Xavier Atkins, Dahvon Keys, and Tylen Singleton. Singleton comes as the highest rated prospect of the three, but at 6’0” and 230 pounds, Keys is probably more ready for college football from a physical standpoint.