Is LSU’s Defense Better Without Their Best Player?

Honestly, this feels like a dumb question to type out, but a lot of people on social media, in sports bars, and across the message boards area all asking it. "Is the LSU defense better without Harold Perkins?", and with a small sample size, we can see why.

This weekend, the LSU Tigers boat-raced South Alabama 42-10 at Tiger Stadium. Normally, there isn't anything noteworthy that comes from a home win against a 2-2 Sun Belt team, but this doesn't feel like a normal year in Baton Rouge. After the Tigers struggled to put Nicholls State away into the second half, there was genuine concern over what LSU would do against South Alabama.

For good reason, South Alabama seemed to have figured something out on offense recently. Sure, hanging 87 on Northwestern State isn't an indicator of things to come, but when you go to App State and put up 48 in their house, its worth taking notice. Then when you have an LSU team that's had a suspect defense, loose their best defensive player, it felt like the trap was set.

Harold Perkins is easily the best athlete on the LSU defense. He's been projected as a first round NFL Draft pick for a couple of years. He's often described as a "physical freak" by scouts. But in his first few games of the 2024 season, before it was unfortunately cut short with an injury, Perkins wasn't delivering for LSU the way you'd expect a top NFL prospect to.

LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly has alluded to the fact that Perkins seems to be trying to do too much on the field. He's trying to be a Superman type player; covering other positions, making plays he doesn't need to, finding himself out of position and exposed because he's trying to help.

With LSU now relying on players with far less NFL Draft pressure on them, it seems like that might be different.

Now, it's only one game against a 2-2 Sun Belt team, but the way LSU's defense handled Major Applewhite's South Alabama offense was a bit better than some expected. Especially since some were pointing at what South Alabama's offense has done to the specific weakness in LSU's defense.

But all of that was silenced by the play of the Tigers' defense on Saturday.

Does this mean that LSU's defense is better with Greg Penn, Whit Weeks, Bradyn Swinson, Sai'von Jones, and others picking up perceived slack? Not necessarily. But with these players holding position, and not trying to do too much, the defense as a whole might actually play a bit better.

But the schedule isn't full of South Alabamas...so lets see it work against an SEC opponent first.