BATON ROUGE - As LSU opened the third week of fall camp, Defensive Coordinator Blake Baker offered a preview of the Tigers’ defense in his second season leading the unit.

OPENING STATEMENT:

"Obviously practice number 10 today. I think, you know, overall, we look at it defensively, a lot of energy every single day. I think we have really, really good quality depth. You know, the big emphasis this week, as we go into it, we're about to go five, six straight days. And you know, we're really working right now on situational situation. We're proud of the group overall. I think these guys really, really enjoy playing together. I think there's a true love. It's true brotherhood. I'm on both sides. I think there's definitely a mutual respect over a lot of respect."

SAFETY PLAY IN CAMP:

"it's usually the burning question, and rightfully so. I've been really, really pleased with those guys. I think Coach Olson and coach Joseph, you know, one, it helps being in year two, and then two, I think with the additions to Marcus Cooley and AJ Hall. See, it's been really, really good, especially with AJ, he's played a lot of football. He's extremely instinctual, one of the most instinctual players I've been around. So him just having that awareness communication. But when you look at the depth in that ring again, we talked about the Sean spears, Toby Jordan, it's a good problem to have one second. It's a good luxury to have, and that's kind of going to be the recurring theme as we move on, when I really, I really feel good about our depth across the board, but especially with that position."

HAROLD PERKINS:

"Yeah, I mean, I felt really good about Harold Perkins last year. You know, unfortunately, got hurt. I think the most encouraging thing that I've seen is it never looked like he's had knee surgery. He's moving around, very, very fluid. You know, we're going to be smart with him, according, you know, to his reps, and make sure that he is he's ready to go on the 30th. But he's just so dynamic. I think, out there in space, when you see his ability to close, you know, there's a check down to the flat or obviously coming off the edge, or even internally, he just has a sixth gear that not many guys in college football possess, and so to have that luxury, I think he's more comfortable out there, you know, I really do, and I've seen growth from him. He's very coachable. I'm excited to see what he does this season."

HOW DO NEW PIECES FIT IN WITH SCHEME:

"You know, part, part of the job of being a defensive coordinator is obviously fitness scheme to your players, and every coordinator has specific things that they want to have the luxury to do, right? I think when you look across the board, I think it's two fold. I think from an athletic, overall athleticism standpoint, we've upgraded, and then also from a experience standpoint, we brought in, like we talked about 1000 times, guys that played a lot, a lot of football. And I'll kind of leave it at that to get into too many specifics, but I think those are the two biggest generalizations."

COVERING TREY'DEZ GREEN:

"Like just wondering, what's it like to have to defend trade history for your defense, any defense, any defense kind of difference makers? Yeah, Trey does is He's an unbelievable athlete. He's got the ability to flex out like a receiver and be a matchup mismatch, and then he's physical in the run game. You know, the one thing, especially, you know, he's a highly talented basketball player that doesn't necessarily translate to physicality. Trey does, will throw it in there. So he provides a problem. You know? The other thing he provides problems, you don't know, depending on what personnel, they can line up in a lot of different formations. So he's a mismatch, and I think Coach Sloan, that offensive staff, does a really, really nice job of trying to put him in advantageous situations."

ALL 3 WEEKS BROTHERS ON THE TEAM:

"It's a lot of fun. Those are those three brothers are fun to coach. You know, Zach's. Zach's, like a lot of freshmen, he's, he's probably getting coached a lot meaner than the other two, but it comes with it, with the territory. But those three guys, especially two older ones you know, that have been great leaders all the stuff that they do from a tangible standpoint, what's more impressive is how they carry themselves off the field. They do everything the right way. They're the type of guys, you know, once you want your daughter to marry, you know, and I don't say that lightly, I think those two guys, three guys, are phenomenal young men. Obviously, they play on the field speaks for itself, but what they do off the field and how they carry themselves, and the job that David nav done raising them is it's fun to coach. There's not a lot of high maintenance with those."

STOPPING QB RUN & GETTING PRESSURE WITH FRONT 4:

"Yeah, I think one of the things when you go back and look at last year with stop and running quarterback, I'll answer that question first. You know, there's definitely some things that we're going to do different schematically to give our guys a better chance of that. You know, sometimes, and it's probably just something that I have to do a better job of is understanding. I'll just leave it at that, making sure that we give them the tools necessary to stop the run, whether that be an extra hat, whatever the case would be, as far as the defensive line, again, as I said, it's going to be a recurring thing. Feel really good about really four or five at both of those positions, at defensive end and defensive tackle, I look at it as one, A, 1b and you know, it's a luxury to have those guys, but when you look at them rushing the pass on from for the biggest difference so far from this camp to last year is we're getting some pressure from the inside. You know, it's not necessarily just on the edges to be able to push that pocket. That's just as important. When you look back at last year, we were the best teams in the country, pressuring quarterback. Think we're middle of the road and sack of the quarterback, it's all going to work together, meaning front end coverage, but also the front four. You know, there were several times our interim right there, if we could have got a little more push inside, quarterback goes down. So been pleased, especially inside with those guys getting a push."

DJ PICKETT:

"DJ has grown so much from when you when we had them in bowl practices to spring practice to now, 10 days in you know, he's a freshman. There's been some days where we got to continue to work on his consistency. But the biggest improvement from spring to fall has been his physicality.He's done a really, really good job tackling this fall. You know, in the spring, there were some moments where, and again, he's put on, I don't know, 20 pounds or something like that, since he's been here. So the weight room is going to build confidence, from that standpoint. But I've been really, I've been impressed, more impressed with his physicality so far than the coverage, shields and stuff. He's always had that, and he's gotten better, doing me wrong, but his physicality is he's turned it up."

WISH YOU HAD PLAYCALLS BACK FROM LAST YEAR:

"Yeah. I mean, you know, yeah. Any, coordinator that came up here says he doesn't wish he had a call back. He's lying through his teeth. There's and there's some that definitely stick out more than others. You know, the thing again, kind of answering the question earlier, I think I got a better feel as our personnel, for our personnel, is the season what went on, and I think that's kind of why we improved. There's some things that we did that weren't necessarily in my DNA later in the year, but again, as a coordinator, you got to adapt to what you have and adapt to the schemes that you're going to see, and I think that's what we're good as a defensive staff. As the year rolled on." 

LINEBACKER ROOM:

"Yeah, I think that's a big part of this week. You know, to me, this is kind of a big evaluation for those guys, you know, when and Harold, obviously, coming off injuries, the bonds, played a lot of football, even though he's used to sophomore West has played a lot of football. I know he obviously red shirted last year. So I want to get an evaluation on the shoulder guys and how they're doing, not just necessarily against, you know, who they've been wanting this on a daily basis. Throw them out there with the ones and the twos. You never know how a guy's going to elevate his game until you put him into that situation. And I'd much rather do it now and see how they respond and, you know, first or second, third game of the season. So that's kind of the premise behind that. But I've been pleased with those guys, man, I'm on hard. You know, it's, it's a,it's a prideful group, those those three Fisher freshmen in particular, I'm coaching Brian harder than anyone on field, and they're probably about sick me by now, but they keep showing up every day and coming to work, so that's always good."

BERNARD GOODEN ALL OVER THE PLACE:

"yeah, I love, I love. That was, that was a, that was a great pickup. Bernard Gooden has been a joy in every sense of word to coach. He is high energy. Y'all probably hear him more than anyone on the field. But in today's game, you know, you even look in the NFL, there's not many, you know, a lot of really, really successful defensive tackles are going to be between 280, and 305, pounds. The thing that he does really well, because he is so twitchy and has such good get off his second foot's in the ground before the offense bond. So even though he might be giving up 30 pounds, he's able to get leverage and get power and the offense bond. They're going to have a second foot in the ground. So you know, one of the things that we did through the evaluation process, obviously, being an undersized guy, is really evaluating more against the run. We really liked what we saw, and we really, really like what we see. Up to this point, he's done a great job creating havoc at home."

MANAGING LINEBACKER REPS AND ROLES:

"It's a combination of both. It's a really good question. Like, right now, how many times do we have the same 11 guys on the field throughout practice? Probably pretty rare, if you sit there and chart it again, part of it is to evaluate as a starter. Part of evaluate is to see, okay, when this guy gets thrown in with the other quote, unquote ones, how does he respond? Some guys elevate their game. Some guys don't. And then again, there's a lot of positions that are genuine, this is not coach week, that are genuinely up in the air right now, and that's a positive. It just speaks to the quality of depth that we have. But across the board, I mean, to sit here and say, I would say there's very few bona fide stories, and I'm going to say, Okay, this guy on the 30th is going to be the first one out there, and that's a good problem to have. I've been, I've been it's competitive debt. I've been so impressed with how all these guys are working together too. You know, it's, it's it's they are striving together to become the best defense they can be. It's not, there's no pettiness. There's no I'm not going to tell you the check because I want your job. So it's been encouraging."

ASSIMILATION OF NEW PIECES & WORKING WITH KYLE WILLIAMS:

"Yeah, this again, we're, we're, we haven't lost the game yet. But this, this is one of the most fun defenses I've ever coached, it is a group of guys that are all pulling the rope in the same direction. And again, that came through the evaluation process, whether it be freshmen or poor guys. I think Coach Kelly has built a tremendous culture here, and those guys became one of us. You know, it wasn't a mercenary here and a mercenary there. They all came together very, very quickly. And so it's been fun. It's an unselfish group. Coach Williams, been a blast, man. It's fun picking his brain about stuff on the field and stuff off the field in the league for 13 years, and kind of just just telling old training camp stories right now and stuff. He's He's a joy to be around." 

DOM MCKINLEY:

"He's been very, very dominant. How different of a football player is he from this time last year? Obviously, we didn't have him last spring, and it's hard. Some guys pick it up quicker. Some don't. You haven't been there in the spring, and your first acclimatization is fall camp. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer, and he's still making strides. He's improving every single day. But I think, more than anything, if you were to ask any guy too, you know, just your two in the skin, he's not thinking about, Oh, that call, which allows me, but again, it's been talked about Bruce Feldman's freak list. He was top 10 or whatever the weight room, as much as anything to get your confidence out there on the football field. I think that's that's going to show up coaches, the guys got to Scheme and go up against the buzzing quarterbacks."

NUSS LEADERSHIP:

 "He's a pain in the butt. I know that he's a really, really good player. He's very smart. He does a phenomenal job understanding coverage and how to look that coverage off. He's done a really, really good job this camp, you know, it's been written by the time, as far as extending plays. But again, of all those things, the thing that he does off the field, and the way that he leads, and he's not afraid to speak, he's, he's what you want a quarterback, talk about there's quarterbacks that sometimes really good players and quiet leaders, but he's outspoken, and the guys were out of mind."

WHIT, JACOBIAN, PERKINS HEALTH:

"Yeah, I think the all three work really, really good again. We're being smart in how we manage their reps. We're listening to them. They know their body better than anybody, but they really haven't skipped a beat. Again. You really couldn't tell, had you not known, you would not know that any three had oxygen surgery. And I do. I think this is the best fit for star. One of the things that we did after the injury as perk and I sat down, and he's such a good young man, you know, asking, What position do you want to play? He's like, whatever you want me to play, coach. I said, No, Harold, what do you want to play? He said, Coach, I think I'll be best to start. And so a lot of that, you know, I do that a lot with guys, because if they believe that's the best position, they're probably going to be more most comfortable there. So he looks really, really comfortable out there. Like I said earlier, he can do it all. He can cover, he can blitz. He's got great range on in zone. He's, he's, he's got a tailor made for that job."