re: How big of a jump will LSU's defense really make in the upcoming year with new faces.

You cannot defend today's offenses by letting them come to you, even if you have great talent. The only way to stop modern offenses is to attack them relentlessly. You will get burned if you don't mix it up, but putting pressure on quarterbacks is absolutely the key. Shake them up and they don't see the field and miss open receivers. LSU sat back and let even average offenses pick them apart, and even when they applied pressure it was poorly schemed. Players knew what was going on and became demoralized and their effort declined noticeably.

All this to say, while LSU will not have quite the personnel to be elite, they will be markedly better because they will attack from every angle. Players will be excited about the possibility of making big plays and you will see the defense improve consistently throughout the season.

There is no doubt in my mind you will see much better tackling and more plays being made in the offensive backfield.

I'm excited about next year's defense.