Admittedly, Bradyn Swinson is a little superstitious — enough so that he likes to carry around an NFL football.
One time, he brought it to a cookout. Another time, it accompanied him on a trip to the grocery store, wedged at the top of his basket.
Swinson, an LSU senior edge rusher, carries the football around because it reminds him of his ambition. He wants to keep his dream close.
“It worked for me last Saturday,” Swinson said.
LSU’s win over South Carolina was the best game of Swinson’s five-year career. Before the No. 16 Tigers faced the Gamecocks, he had never recorded more than three sacks in an entire season.
But Swinson tallied three in the game against South Carolina alone. He even forced quarterback Robby Ashford to fumble on one of his sacks, giving LSU an important fourth-quarter turnover.
The LSU defense still has a few glaring problems to address, but it’s beginning to accomplish its No. 1 goal under first-year coordinator Blake Baker — create more havoc. As part of their search for the optimal mix of scheme and personnel, the Tigers decided to give Swinson — their top returning pass rusher — more responsibilities.
Against South Carolina, that move paid off.
“Swinson was the dropper,” coach Brian Kelly said, “so you got a chance to see him in space, and he did some really good things for us.”
LSU positioned Swinson as a linebacker on four snaps in its win over the Gamecocks, according to Pro Football Focus. When the Tigers faced Southern Cal in the season opener, he lined up over the slot four times.
Last season, LSU didn’t position Swinson anywhere but the edge. Per PFF, he was a linebacker on only four snaps all year. In that role, he tallied only two sacks, 16 hurries and 22 pressures.
At his current pace, Swinson won’t have much trouble exceeding those totals. He’s already up to 11 pressures, four hurries and three sacks, according to PFF. He notched seven of his pressures in the win over South Carolina, when LSU moved him to different positions of its prowler front, a specialty blitz package the Tigers use to dial up creative pressures.
A disguised blitz sprung Swinson for his sack-fumble. LSU showed pressure from the left, but instead, it dropped those defenders into coverage and blitzed a pair of defensive backs from the right side. Linebacker Whit Weeks collided with two South Carolina linemen, opening a rush lane for Swinson, who used a swim move to reach the quarterback.
“I really love this defense,” Swinson said. “I love how we got a lot of different blitzes and everything, got a lot of different looks, different packages. So overall scheme, I love it.”
Baker’s challenge is to squeeze better production from a defense with largely the same personnel as the one that played so poorly last season. What configuration can LSU use to maximize its talent? According to Kelly, the Tigers are still trying to answer that question, as Baker learns more about the defense he inherited.
LSU tweaked the unit against South Carolina, making changes to both its scheme and personnel. With the adjustments, the Tigers created havoc, but they still surrendered too many explosive plays, much like they did in their loss to USC and their win over Nicholls State.
“We're not that far off,” Kelly said. “And if we make the two plays that we should make, just being fundamentally sound on the two run plays, we're gonna give up less than 250 yards in total offense. So, we're really close.”
No matter what the LSU defense looks like, Swinson will have a key role. The Tigers need their edge rushers to create pressure, and this year, they’re toying with different ways to tee them up for free rushes to opposing quarterbacks.
The experimentation helped Swinson have a career day against South Carolina. Additional fine-tuning could lead to improvements in other areas, such as tackling at the second and third levels.
The hope is the unit can help LSU hang with No. 5 Ole Miss and gut through the most difficult stretch of its schedule.
And it also could help Swinson inch closer to meeting his goal of becoming an NFL edge rusher.
“Every time we take steps,” Swinson said, “it's like we're getting closer and closer.”