LSU Standout Players: Cordale Flott, Micah Baskerville Turn in Career Outings Against Texas A&M
As the LSU defense kept turning away the Texas A&M offense that entered Saturday's game as one of the more efficient offenses in the country, the Tigers had many players flash brilliance. That's what happens when you clamp down on a team for just 13 points and 267 yards of total offense.
A number of the LSU players turned in stellar performances against the Aggies but these three stick out above the rest.
Cordale Flott (CB)
The sophomore cornerback quite simply had his best game as a Tiger against the Aggies, recording eight tackles, one tackle for a loss and a pair of pass breakups. He just jumped off the screen all night, not allowing hardly any completions throughout the course of the game and was a big reason behind holding Kellen Mond to 105 yards passing on 32% completion percentage.
Flott, along with Derek Stingley Jr., picked up the slack in the secondary with freshman Elias Ricks limited throughout the night with an injury. It was the unit that coach Ed Orgeron called the most improved group on the field which was nice to see after six games riddled with inconsistency and explosive plays.
The longest passing play the secondary surrendered was 18 yards on Saturday and that was due to improved communication and man-to-man coverage.
"We're gonna keep fighting every week to get better," Baskerville said after the game. "The preparations throughout the week with communication really helped."
Micah Baskerville (LB)
It seems with every passing week Baskerville gets more and more comfortable with his role in the starting rotation. Against Texas A&M, Baskerville turned in his most complete performance to date, recording 12 tackles, one tackle for a loss and one forced fumble in the first half on fourth-and-goal.
That play was a turning point in the first half as the Aggies were threatening to go up 17-0 at that time but LSU was able to adjust course and flip the momentum, even though it was short lived.
"We worked on that play all week because they were like 100% on it and we had a plan going in on not letting them get that on us," Baskerville said. "That was a big energy boost for the team."
The linebacker play out of Baskerville and Jabril Cox was one of the more impressive of the game as, with the exception of two runs, the LSU defense was able to hold Isaiah Spiller in check. Not only was the run defense much improved but Baskerville and Cox did a nice job in coverage with Spiller and some of the tight ends on passing plays as well.
Though the team sits at 3-4 and is in danger of letting this season slip completely out of control, Baskerville says the main goal moving forward is to just keep working to get better.
"We're staying together, just positive thoughts and getting better and we're just a couple of plays away from winning the game," Baskerville said. "We're gonna keep pushing to get better."
Terrace Marshall (WR)
It might've been a relatively porous day for the LSU offense but it wasn't for LSU's star receiver. Marshall hauled in 10 catches for 134 yards and a touchdown in the loss to the Aggies. Marshall's touchdown catch from quarterback Max Johnson in the fourth quarter was the 23rd of his career, moving him three behind Dwayne Bowe for the most in program history.
Orgeron commended Marshall for his performance within the offense when nothing else was working as he made some big plays when LSU was still theoretically in the game. A 52-yard catch and run set LSU up for a Kayshon Boutte touchdown on the next play, only to have it called back and an interception being thrown on the very next play.
"Look how hard he played," Orgeron said. "Look at the catches that he made, we've gotta use these guys better, gotta have a better plan."
Marshall has always been a team first guys but with him being so close to the touchdown record at LSU and not much left to play for this season, that should be one of the story lines to keep an eye on over these next three weeks.
