LSU Football 2021 Commit Matthew Langlois Provides Versatile Skillset
LSU’s newest commitment will bring a high level of athleticism and position flexibility to Baton Rouge.
While every football player is pegged within a specific position group, there is no definitive position for Matthew Langlois. Quite simply, his position, football player.
The 6-foot-0, 185-pound talent from New Roads (La.) Catholic of Pointe Coupee possesses the frame to weigh over 200-pounds in a couple of years, and he’s also capable of adding even more explosiveness. He plays both sides of the football in high school.
While playing in a Wing-T offense, Langlois dashes and darts around defenders, smashes would be tacklers as a lead blocker, and out-races defenders down the sideline. Defensively, where LSU recruited Langlois, that’s where it really becomes a cornucopia of football talent and IQ.
Where to begin? As everyone will see with the defensive videos below, Langlois plays with reckless abandon. His mindset is to attack down hill, every play. The highlighted plays help paint a picture, but it is suggested that everyone watch multiple videos of this young man.
He does not yet have a full senior highlight video, but it’s worth going through each game video. Here are the four videos that have been selected, beginning with Langlois tackling a player in space during a screen pass.
Langlois will appear in the upper right corner. He takes an inside-out angle to the ball carrier, runs over the blocker, and then explodes into the runner. It's an excellent pursuit angle and tackle. Because it’s a play near the sideline, Langlois also did a good job of defending the cutback lane by staying to the inside of the ball carrier.
Instincts, speed, quickness, strength and football IQ all on display with this play. Considering how often college teams use screens, this is a great example of what to expect from Langlois at the next level.
This next play, Langlois played outside linebacker. It’s an inside run away from him, and he did a great job of moving laterally while staying parallel to the line of scrimmage. He keeps his eyes on the ball carrier, lines up a path to make a tackle, and then explodes forward to initiate contact into the running back.
Langlois showed excellent knee bend and overall flexibility from this play. It helped him deliver a powerful blow to the running back.
A similar play shows Langlois coming down hill yet again, but this time he needed to avoid traffic in the middle of the tackle box. He went laterally to his right, adjusted to come towards the line of scrimmage, and back to his right to de-cleat the ball carrier.
Just fantastic athleticism from Langlois. His quickness and range are great, but so was his recognition. Before the ball carrier was even at the line of scrimmage, Langlois was decreasing the yardage between himself and the running back.
This final clip showed Langlois coming down from a two-high safety look. Langlois had to zig-zag through traffic to get to the ball carrier, including a last moment inside lateral cut to pass by an offensive lineman, before immediately cutting back to the outside to bring down the running back.
First and foremost, instincts were on display. He waited until the last moment to make a sharp cut to get by the offensive lineman, and Langlois also knew to quickly come back the other direction. This play personifies why he’s a football player. Not every player can adjust on the fly like this.
These types of versatile players allow a defensive coordinator to not substitute against up tempo teams that attempt to catch a defense running players on and off the field. Here’s the link to all of the highlights from Langlois.
This is a young man that will contribute right away for LSU, beginning with special teams. Long term, Langlois is a versatile enough player to be a nickel or dime linebacker during passing downs, while being an every down strong safety. LSU added a really good football player to its program with Langlois.
