Improving Protection Communication Along the Offensive Line a Key Area of Focus for LSU Football

Communication has been a word that has carried plenty of negative weight around the LSU program over the last year. During the 2020 season, it was a lack of communication in the secondary that led to defensive breakdowns. There was also some disconnect between the players and coaches that forced a near complete revamping of the position coaches on staff.

That extended to the offensive line this summer with the late addition of Brad Davis to the group. Davis is known as an excelllent developer of talent but he's only been with this group for a matter of 10 days on the field so naturally there's been some adjusting.

The general feedback from coach Ed Orgeron after the first scrimmage of fall camp was a dominant performance from the defense and particularly the defensive line. All offseason we've heard and learned about the excitement and depth on the d-line but those positives also come with some negatives on the opposite side of the line.

Orgeron did say there were some struggles with protection along the offensive line, something not too uncommon for the beginning of fall camp and especially with a new offensive line coach. The goal over the next few weeks about fall camp will be about trying to perfect that communication up front as much as possible, quarterback Max Johnson says.

"I think we need to do a better job of communicating the protections, getting them right, focusing on where the pressure is coming from and getting that right," Johnson said. "I think it comes with time and I think we've had great communication over the summer and throughout fall camp it's just trying to make it as perfect as we can be."

Veteran offensive lineman Ed Ingram said the main adjustment will need to be not allowing the pocket to collapse so quickly and being able to key and diagnose different blitz packages.

"It's going to be working on picking up different blitzes, helping each other pick up line games and creating a good pocket awareness for the quarterback," Ingram said. "We gotta work on not getting pushed back in the pocket so the quarterback can have some room and be comfortable.

"We just need to get better at gelling with each other and trusting coaching and technique from our new offensive line coach. I know we haven't been with him for that long but we need to trust him, trust the process and know that his coaching will lead to greatness down the line."