Line prepares to contain Mingo, Montgomery, speedy LSU defense
South Carolina offensive line coach Shawn Elliott isn’t sure about how he is going to stop the LSU defensive line from getting to quarterback Connor Shaw.
“They’re awfully good,” Elliott said. “I don’t know what we are going to do to slow them down. Tight ends and tackles, I mean we’re going to have to put running backs and everything on these guys.”
The guys he is talking about are defensive ends Sam Montgomery, Greenwood, S.C., and Barkevious Mingo. While their statistics aren’t eye-popping — combined three sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss through six games — Mingo and Montgomery are a couple of the fastest defensive ends in the league.
“Those guys are as just as fast as me,” Shaw said. “I don’t think I am going to be able to get out of the pocket as good as I usually do. I just have to have my eyes downfield and get the passing game going this week.”
The offensive line did a good job against Georgia’s Jarvis Jones, a probable top-five pick in next April’s NFL draft, and John Jenkins, but Elliott says that LSU will be a “different animal.”
“Hopefully it’s not the roller coaster ride we’ve been on,” Elliott said. “Hopefully, we can find some consistency and put together back-to-back good games.”
Sophomore left tackle Corey Robinson has entrenched himself as the starter over the past few weeks while freshman Brandon Shell has taken over the right tackle spot while sophomore Mike Matulis recovered from a shoulder injury. Matulis was available for the Georgia game, but did not play.
Going into the season, Robinson was a backup to Shell; however, Elliott says that something clicked in the 6-foot, 8-inch, 337-pound North Carolina native after Shell struggled in the opener.
“He always (has) had the tools to come out and be a good player, and he never really bought in to playing it,” Elliott said. “We were struggling early on in the Vanderbilt game and he came out and said, ‘man, I can do this; I’ll show you.’ And I said, ‘well you show me and I’ll put you in there,’ and that’s just what he did. As long as he can keep his motivation and focus he’s going to be a good player.”
Elliott said there were some “ups and downs” to the way Shell played Saturday but said he did a good job overall.
While the speed of the LSU defense may limit his ability to run, Shaw said that he can’t try to do too much through the air against the Tigers.
“I think the biggest thing for me is to limit the turnovers, manage the game and just be smart with the football,” Shaw said.
Last week, players and coaches noted how fired up the team was in practice before the biggest game in Williams-Brice stadium history. The efforts paid off in a dominating 28-point win over Georgia and Shaw said that there has been no let down in intensity this week, nor has the increased hype around the program affected anyone.
“We followed through with that,” Shaw said. “I think so far, so good through this week and we’re just going to continue on getting better. We had a lot of hype going into last week’s game and we are handling it fine.”
While center TJ Johnson says that the LSU defense is “incredible,” he is excited to get down to Baton Rouge and experience the atmosphere.
“I’ve heard a lot of stories,” Johnson said. “I’m excited to get down there, excited to experience it all. This is what college football is all about — the atmospheres and stuff. It’s the one SEC stadium that I’ve always wanted to play at and I am excited to go.”