Brian Kelly was forced to rebuild a majority of the secondary in his first year as head coach of the LSU Tigers. While that was an area of concern for many Tigers fans, the secondary turned out to be a pretty solid and reliable unit for Kelly's squad in the 2022 season. Entering the '23 season, Kelly and the rest of the defense finds itself in a similar position with only two cornerbacks returning this year, both of which had very limited playing time. So can the LSU secondary find similar success in 2023 that it did last season considering it is facing similar circumstances as it did last year? To who or to what do we attribute the secondary's success last season?
But LSU's defense might be facing even bigger changes as it did last year considering three leaders and core players on the defensive line are entering the NFL Draft: BJ Ojulari, Ali Gay, and Jaquelin Roy. Can a defense that will be reloaded with a lot of transfer portal players and young guys, both up front and in the defensive backfield, find even more success than it did last year? One factor of that will be the health and contributions of Maason Smith. Smith tore his ACL week one of the 2022 season against Florida State and should be back and healthy for the beginning of this upcoming season. Will Smith be totally healthy and ready to be a veteran leader for a new LSU defensive line, and even the entire defense as a whole?

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