LSU Football: What's Next For The Defense?

The Tigers' defense showed life in the second half against Missouri, looking to carry success into Auburn matchup.

Brian Kelly sees "light at the end of the tunnel" with the LSU defense as Week 7 against Auburn nears, and after slight improvements against Missouri, this program is hoping to continue showing life.

It's no secret the Tigers' defense has been a work in progress through the first half of the season. Kelly and his staff have thrown out a myriad of options with growth beginning to become evident.

Kelly addressed the media on Monday where he described the improvements, cornerback play and a pair of youngsters emerging for this program.

Light At The End Of The Tunnel

“We feel there is some light at the end of the tunnel for our defense. The progress that was made upfront is going to be sustainable. We’re going to have to make some more progress on the back end of our defense. We’ve got to go compete for some balls that were out there for us to get. We found a position that we’re comfortable with now with Harold Parkins. It doesn’t have to change from week to week with a new teaching progression. There’s a lot of pieces there that are coming together. There needs to be continued improvement at the back end of our defense. If we do that, we feel like we’re moving in the right direction.”

Cornerback Play

“Denver [Harris] is continuing to grow. He is continuing to learn what we do and how we do it. He’s maturing. Sage Ryan is a reliable guy. He’s a veteran guy. He’s been here, knows our calls and knows our defense. He’s really playing the third corner when you’re a nickel. With Harold being on the field all the time, we’re taking the third corner and saying, ‘Alright, if he’s not going to be on the field, what’s our best matchup situation?’ He really is the next-best player. We want to get our 11 best on the field, and that’s really what it came down to.”

The Youngsters: Ryan Yaites and Kylin Jackson 

On freshman safety Ryan Yaites... “Next man up. We don’t have a lot of options, but that doesn’t take anything away from Ryan Yaites. He’s done a nice job for us, and we have some confidence in him. His next step is playing with a little bit more aggressiveness and confidence. He’s a really good player. We want to have him let it go and play a little bit on the edge. He doesn’t want to make a mistake. He’s a young player, and he wants to be perfect. It’s nice to have a true freshman in there who is so conscious about all the little things, but he’s just got to go play and let it happen. He’s the next man up in the nickel situation for us.”

On freshman safety Kylin Jackson... “He’s tying his shoes. He’s got that down. We got him taking off his gold chain in pregame. That was good. He thought that would be a good idea to wear that out in pregame. We didn’t think that’d be a great idea. He’s coming along. It’s a process. He’s a great kid. We really enjoy him, but this is a process. He’s only been on a couple of trips. He’s a guy that we want to keep moving forward, but he’s young. He is just figuring it out as we go. If he keeps growing and keeps moving in the right direction, you probably see him on the field by the end of the year.”