Being worthy of the “DB U” moniker was a major point of pride within the LSU football program for years.
From the mohawked Tyrann “Honey Badger” Mathieu to Patrick Peterson and Jamal Adams, LSU produced standout defensive backs who flourished at both the college and NFL levels. There were other great programs like Alabama and Ohio State that produced more than their fair share of talented defensive backs, but LSU closely held on to that unofficial title.
And then the standard started to slip. LSU produced top-three pick Derek Stingley in 2022, but the defensive secondary hasn’t had that same swagger or prowess in recent years. The Tigers couldn’t crack the top 75 in pass defense in either 2023 or 2024. The defense suffered with it, not finishing in the top 50 in rushing defense, scoring defense or total defense.
That could finally change this season after LSU spent big money on a defensive secondary talent infusion this offseason. As part of the nation’s top-ranked transfer portal class, the Tigers added Virginia Tech cornerback Mansoor Delane, Houston safety A.J. Haulcy, North Carolina State safety Tamarcus Cooley and Florida cornerback Ja’Keem Jackson. Add in five-star cornerback D.J. Pickett, who could be a freshman starter, and you have five instant impact additions in the secondary.
“The entire defense besides the linebackers needed an overhaul,” one source familiar with LSU’s plan told CBS Sports.
Sources around LSU’s program believe the players they added will have a significant impact on improving a defense that was lackluster a season ago. “Night and day different,” said one LSU source. Delane, who started 29 games for the Hokies, looks like the breakout star and best cornerback after terrific spring and fall camps in Baton Rouge.
Said another LSU source about the new-look secondary: “Fast. Experienced with a good mix of youth. Has the ability to get in peoples face and play bump and run but also the instincts and feel to play zone as well.”
That optimism will be put to the test in Week 1 against No. 4 Clemson and star quarterback Cade Klubnik. The Clemson quarterback made major strides over the course of the 2024 season and has the ability to beat you in so many ways. And with a talented receiving group that includes Antonio Williams and Bryant Wesco Jr., LSU’s new defense will have its hands full.
Adding to the intrigue is the late breaking news of Haulcy, the projected starter at safety, being forced to miss the first half because of an ejection he received in his final game with Houston last season. Haulcy was listed with an unsportsmanlike penalty ejection for his involvement in in a fight against BYU, but an NCAA official told CBS Sports Thursday that the penalty was later changed to a fighting penalty and that comes with an automatic half-game penalty. LSU was caught off-guard this week by the news, though the NCAA said that Houston was notified of the penalty change back in December.
LSU starting safety A.J. Haulcy to miss first half of Clemson game for ejection dating back to 2024
John Talty
It’s a significant loss for a group that was peaking at the right time, according to program sources, but still should be markedly improved from last season’s struggles. There is a lot of pressure on fourth-year LSU coach Brian Kelly, who still has not won a season-opening game as the Tigers’ coach, much to the fanbase’s frustration.
If LSU can get past Clemson Saturday night at Memorial Stadium on its way to a College Football Playoff berth, the resurgence of DBU in Baton Rouge could be the biggest reason why.
Other notable Week 1 storylines
Manning vs. Sayin in monumental top-three showdown
There’s already been so much written about No. 1 Texas at No. 3 Ohio State that I’ll keep it simple: I just can’t wait to watch it. Arch Manning, Colin Simmons and Steve Sarkisian on one side. Julian Sayin, Jeremiah Smith and Ryan Day on the other. We are all lucky that we are getting such a terrific game right out the gate of the 2025 season. I picked Texas to win the game, the national championship and for Arch Manning to win the Heisman Trophy, so I’m obviously very bullish on the Longhorns. But I have to admit a soft spot for new OSU starting QB Sayin, who Armen Keteyian and I profiled extensively in our book “The Price: What It Takes to Win in College Football’s Era of Chaos.” (You better believe there will be shameless plugs in this column all season.) Sayin has a terrific arm and that cool California demeanor that doesn’t have him rattled at all headed into a heavyweight match against Texas. Manning versus Sayin is going to be a heckuva lot of fun to watch.
Revitalized Carson Beck makes Miami debut
Expect Carson Beck to look much better in his debut for No. 10 Miami against No. 6 Notre Dame than you remember seeing him as a Georgia Bulldog. Beck has had a terrific offseason for the Hurricanes and seems to be the epitome of someone who needed a new environment to flourish. It got ugly at times for Beck at Georgia last season — his lackluster receiving options didn’t help — and there were eyebrows raised across the sport after Miami went so aggressively after Beck in the portal, making him one of the highest-paid players in the country. Beck has been a model citizen down in Coral Gables and has the Hurricanes staff expecting huge things this year. Multiple sources around the program lavished considerable praise on where Beck stands headed into the season opener including one predicting to CBS Sports the Miami QB will be a Heisman finalist this season. Maybe I’m just buying the hype, but I expect Beck to look good in this one and Miami to not only cover as the 2.5-point underdog, per Draftkings Sportsbook, but win outright.
Tennessee, UCLA QB swap on full display
Who fares better in the (unofficial) quarterback trade between UCLA and Tennessee will be a storyline all season long. We’ll see the debut of Nico Iamaleava in a Bruins uniform late Saturday night against my pick to win the Big 12, Utah. Iamaleava garnered strong reviews from UCLA’s staff in fall camp with one Bruins source telling my colleague Matt Zenitz: “He’s been special.” Iamaleava should certainly raise the bar on offense, but I still like the Utes to win Week 1. The No. 24 Volunteers get a Syracuse squad that went 10-3 in Fran Brown‘s debut year guiding the Orange. Joey Aguilar, who played at Appalachian State last season before taking a big payday to go to UCLA, doesn’t have the pedigree or reputation as his predecessor, but sources around Tennessee have been very impressed with how he’s handled unexpectedly joining the program and being the guy. In what has been a wild offseason for all the wrong reasons for Josh Heupel and his Tennessee program, a win over Syracuse would be a nice tonic.
Must-win game for Hugh Freeze, Auburn on Friday
In the non-top 25 department, the game I’ll be following most closely is Auburn at Baylor in Waco on Friday night. Hugh Freeze badly, badly needs a win against the Bears. Coming off a disastrous 5-7 season a year ago, Auburn heavily invested in upgrading its roster through the transfer portal with high-profile (and expensive) additions like quarterback Jackson Arnold and receiver Eric Singleton. Multiple personnel sources around the SEC think very highly of Auburn’s roster and believe it should be much improved this season. But that has to start Friday against a Baylor team that could surprise people this season. Sawyer Robertson is very good, Dave Aranda is back running the defense and the Bears upgraded the roster this offseason. A loss in Waco cranks the pressure up on Freeze.
Will we see an unassuming national champion emerge?
Could this be the year a team outside the top six wins it all? The great Dennis Dodd, our friend and former colleague, had a great statistic in his version of this column a year ago. Since the College Football Playoff started in 2014, no team ranked outside the top six in the preseason top 25 has ever won it all. That means only one of these teams can win this year: Texas, Penn State, Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia and Notre Dame. That excludes trendy title picks like Alabama and LSU, which both have better title odds than the Fighting Irish. In Dodd I trust, but this year does feel particularly wide open, in part because the talent is better dispersed and perhaps more susceptible to that streak ending.
Salty Talty
Each week this space will be my airing of grievances, my opportunity to let the audience know what has been really grinding my gears. Hopefully it’ll be mostly college football-related, but it’s a good bet travel, family and other day-to-day life annoyances will find a way in.
This week, I’m salty about this new trend of trying to drop the rivalry names we all use and love. In case you missed it, “College GameDay” host Rece Davis said he was told not to use the term “Farmageddon” to describe last week’s rivalry game between Iowa State and Kansas State. The directive allegedly came from the schools and the Big 12.
This is preposterous! Farmageddon is an awesome name for a rivalry game. I excitedly texted multiple friends last Saturday about the Iowa State-Kansas State game almost exclusively as an excuse to write Farmageddon.
College football should be embracing its lovable weirdness, not running away from it. I want to watch games known as Holy War, the Iron Bowl and Bedlam. We’ve already seen the erasing of terrific game names like the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party (Georgia-Florida) and the attempt to rebrand the Red River Shootout as the Red River Showdown.
We’ve lost enough rivalry games and traditions over the years because of realignment and wanton greed. We can’t lose Farmageddon, too.
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