LSU Secondary Feeling the Impact of New Players and Coaches

Veteran Todd Harris taking on leadership role with new, inexperienced safety group

Todd Harris has been around LSU since the 2017 season and has learned to adjust to whatever is thrown his way. 

During his true freshman season, it was adapting to a role on special teams. Two years later in 2019, his opportunity to be a full time starter arrived only for it to be cut short three games into the season with a knee injury. The 2020 season was an absolute mess for the entire LSU program and particularly the secondary that shouldered plenty of the breakdowns in communication. 

"Last season, a lot of guys didn't communicate well so we would all be playing different things or be thinking about different things [while on the field]," Harris said. "That was one of the biggest problems."

It certainly hasn't been easy for the veteran Harris, who admits that the knee injury he suffered in 2019 still looms in the back of his mind. The ugly taste that last year brought only heightened his belief that coming back for one last ride in 2021 was a necessity.

Now there's only one goal for Harris, winning a championship and playing a big role along the way. 

"I want to be able to contribute and actually be able to play in a championship game," Harris said. "Having a knee surgery is different but I feel I've worked my way up to the level I was but I'm not that same guy before the injury. My journey has been long but hopefully it'll all be worth it, that's the plan."

"The defense this year is way better, I mean it's simple, the guys can relate to it easier, we can play faster and get a lot of different guys involved," Harris said. 

The impact of defensive coordinator Daronte Jones to not only finding an easier scheme for the players to understand but in the process, fix the communication errors that plagued last year's secondary can't be overstated. There was genuine comfusion between players and coaches a year ago that needed to be corrected and that not only comes with different scheme but confidence and trust.

Safeties and cornerbacks pretty much feed off each other in the secondary and having that confidence in the guy behind you makes all the difference in the world. Over the offseason, Harris said that the secondary has grown as a unit together and become much closer.

"Cornerbacks and safeties we meet sometimes to discuss different calls and how we communicate so that we're all on the same page," Harris said. "We're spending more time together, getting to know each other and really bought into his [Jones] plan and we all see that this defense is going to bring a lot of joy and success. Hopefully we can end this thing right."

Harris is the leader of a relatively new and young group of safeties that includes Jay Ward, Major Burns, Sage Ryan, Derrick Davis Jordan Toles and Matthew Langlois. Ward is entering year three in the secondary but will be making his debut at safety against UCLA while Burns is a summer transfer who is also expected to see reps early in the season.

For a guy like Harris, who likes to lead by example more than through words, one of the major focuses for him has been learning to be more vocal to help some of the new faces at safety. 

"I'm just trying to get those guys ready as soon as possible," Harris said. "I was a freshman and had John Battle take me under his wing so I'm just trying to do the same for them."

It's still unclear what kind of on field duties will be asked of Harris and the other safeties or what the rotations could look like. Safety was considered a position of weakness back in the spring but some of the moves like Ward and Burns has brought depth and stability to this group.