Coach Brad Davis!

[LSUDad]

COLUMN: Brad Davis provides safety net for the LSU offense

  

 

  

 

 

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Will Rosenblatt 

 

December 31, 2023 4:56 pm CT

It’s hard to find good offensive linemen.

No matter the level of football, no matter the league, it’s rare to find five guys that can lineup and block consistently. And if you’re lucky enough to have a solid five, it’s even harder to keep them all healthy over the course of the season.

Depth is usually tested, and more often than not, that test is failed. Even the top programs have trouble stashing competent and experienced players on second line.

LSU struggled with this for a long time. In the final years of the Les Miles era, offensive line play started to decline. Ed Orgeron’s first few years weren’t much better, until a veteran line gelled together in 2019.

But after that, it got rough again, and in the summer of 2021, Orgeron hired Brad Davis to take over the offensive line.

Davis is a Baton Rouge native and upon arriving at LSU, he was already a SEC veteran who had spent the last year working under Sam Pittman.

Orgeron and LSU agreed to separate later that year, leading Davis to serve as the interim coach for the bowl game as Brian Kelly got settled in Baton Rouge.

Kelly came with his own program, wanting to put together his own staff. Assistants who had been at LSU for years, like Corey Raymond and Tommy Moffitt were let go. But Davis wasn’t, making him the lone assistant from the previous staff.

That decision has paid off with LSU’s offensive line emerging as one of the best in the country, with the future looking bright too.

LSU’s losing a lot on offense next year. Between Jayden Daniels, Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr., LSU will be saying bye to the Heisman winner, the nation’s leading receiver, and the FBS leader in receiving touchdowns.

On top of that, someone else will be calling the plays with Mike Denbrock taking the job at Notre Dame.

Changes are coming. Turnover is part of college football. But on the offensive line, LSU will have continuity.
 

Will Campbell and Emery Jones will be back at the tackle spots and there’s plenty of talent returning on the interior too.

Nussmeier will be stepping into a well-protected pocket, which is important given LSU will be taking a step back at receiver and Nussmeier doesn’t possess the same scrambling ability as Daniels.

That’s what this offensive line is, a safety net for an offense about to enter a transition period. Every unit on this team will go through growing pains next year, but the guys up front shouldn’t.

This is positioned to be one of the best offensive lines in the SEC for years to come.