Position Change: LSU Tigers Defensive Back Javien Toviano Making a Move

Toviano remains a player the coaching staff wants to see on the field, looking to expand his role.

LSU sophomore defensive back Javien Toviano has played sparingly this season after taking on a role in 2023, but the second-year Tiger may be presented an opportunity to see more snaps moving forward.

Toviano has switched positions from cornerback to STAR ahead of SEC play with the LSU coaching staff hoping to utilize his talent moving forward.

The Lone Star State native has bounced around between reps at both safety and cornerback during his time with the Tigers, but eventually took on a bigger role at cornerback as a freshman in 2023.

Toviano played cornerback last weekend for the Tigers in their 42-10 victory over South Alabama last weekend.

Now, the plan is clear, according to head coach Brian Kelly. Toviano will make the move to the STAR role (hybrid safety/linebacker) for the foreseeable future.

"We need to settle him into a particular position," Kelly said. "We can't keep moving him around. He does a lot of things really well for us, and we just now have to accent those and say, 'Listen, these are the things that he's really good at. Let's build off of that,' instead of trying to make him something that maybe he's not. I think we had a little bit of that going on."

Toviano has played in all five games this season as both a reserve cornerback and special teams piece, but all signs point towards the second-year Tiger now looking to compete with Major Burns for reps at STAR.

"We really like Javien Toviano," Kelly said. "It's just finding the role for him."

Toviano has played safety, cornerback and nickel during his first two seasons in Baton Rouge. A former Top 100 prospect coming out of high school, he appeared in every game and made three starts as a freshman in 2023. He finished the year with 33 tackles and one pass breakup.

The decision to place Toviano at STAR for the remainder of the season does two things for the Tigers:

1. Provides Toviano with a clearcut role on defense with the program ready to get him on the field in an expanded role.
2. Gives defensive coordinator Blake Baker flexibility with Major Burns and other pieces of the defensive backfield.

"It allows us now some flexibility where we can move Major Burns back to safety if we need some help back at the safety position," Kelly said, "because we believe Toviano's really good closer to the line of scrimmage because he's such a sure tackler and he's assignment correct."

LSU has flip-flopped defensive schemes over the first five weeks of the season, but will move forward with a 4-2-5 in conference play.

After beginning the season in a 4-2-5 defense with Major Burns at the STAR, the coaching staff elected to go with a 4-3 defense in Weeks 3 and 4 while placing Harold Perkins, Greg Penn III and Whit Weeks as the trio of linebackers.

Now, with Perkins out for the remainder of the season, LSU will go back to the 4-2-5 defense with Burns and Toviano looking to make noise at the STAR position.

No. 13 LSU will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 12 with the Bayou Bengals hosting the Ole Miss Rebels in Tiger Stadium at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC.

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