Ranking LSU's 3 Strongest Defensive Positions for 2026

LSU football has a lot to look forward to in 2026 with Lane Kiffin bringing a new life, energy and excitement to the program's prized Saturdays in Death Valley.

The offense has been overhauled with new players, coaches and schemes, drawing all the attention this offseason.

But LSU's defense will be the key to success in 2026, with nearly every position having a claim as the team's strength.

3. Safeties

Nov 16, 2024; San Jose, California, USA; Boise State Broncos safety Ty Benefield (0) intercepts a pass against the San Jose State Spartans in the second quarter at CEFCU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images | Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

LSU is DBU.

This year, that reputation will be proven.

The cornerbacks have a top-heavy room that has lost some depth with injuries and will need some standout play to impress in 2026.

So it's up to the safeties to prove that DBU resides in Baton Rouge this season.

Luckily, the deep-half of the secondary is up for the task.

It starts with the returning pieces. Tamarcus Cooley, Jhase Thomas and Dashawn Spears come back for their redshirt junior, redshirt freshmen and junior seasons, respectively.

Cooley will be a second-year starter, bringing experience and high-level play to the skies for LSU after a strong redshirt sophomore campaign.

Spears will move away from the typical safety role, taking on Harold Perkins Jr.'s star position this season. He'll play closer to the line of scrimmage, covering the slot, blitzing the quarterback and sometimes dropping into deep zones.

LSU needed more bodies in the room, and it got just that this offseason.

It notably added Ty Benefield, a transfer from Boise State and projected starter alongside Cooley; Faheim Delane, brother of LSU's 2026 No. 6 overall pick and unanimous All-American Mansoor Delane; and Aiden Hall, a four-star and top-30 player in the 2026 class from Edna Karr in New Orleans.

The starters will be dominant, with Cooley coming off a massive breakout campaign in 2025 and Benefield drawing the attention of his head coach throughout the spring and summer.

2. Defensive Line

LSU Tigers Football: Deuce Geralds. — Courtesy of Deuce Geralds via Instagram.

The defensive line will be one of the SEC's best defensive lines by the time everyone looks back on the 2026 season.

The returners are strong, the transfers are stronger and the freshmen are the strongest.

The returners include Dylan Carpenter, a Louisiana native primed for a junior-season breakout; Damein Shanklin, a promising redshirt freshman who flashed in limited time in 2025; and Dominick McKinley, a 6-foot-6 tackle who eats up double-teams and disrupts the run and pass game.

The transfers are even better, with LSU claiming the top player in Princewill Umanmielen, and multiple other highly coveted defensive linemen in Tennessee's Jordan Ross, Auburn's Malik Blockton and Clemson's Stephiylan Green.

But the strongest part is the freshmen.

LSU landed three of the top four defensive linemen in the 2026 class: Lamar Brown, Richard Anderson and Deuce Geralds. All three are elite, and can be impact players as freshmen.

1. Linebackers

The separator between the other defensive positions and the linebackers is experience and proven talent.

TJ Dottery led the entire SEC in tackles in 2025 with 98, adding 5.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and two forced fumbles across 15 starts during Ole Miss' College Football Playoff run.

He wasn't a one-year wonder either. In 2024, he posted 76 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and 2 sacks, finishing second on a Rebel defense that set the school record and led the nation in sacks and tackles for loss.

Then there's Whit Weeks, a returning piece who makes this unit truly special.

In 2024, when Weeks last played a full season, he finished second in the SEC in tackles with 125, leading the conference with 61 solo tackles, earning First-Team All-SEC honors. A broken ankle derailed most of his 2025 campaign before he could build on that breakthrough.

2026 will be that time for him.

There's a third linebacker in the rotation, Davhon Keys, who led LSU in tackles in 2025 with 92, a total that would make him a starter at virtually any other program in the country. He was behind just one player: Dottery.

Weeks was second in the conference in 2025, but now all three share the same position room.

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