For the first time in recent memory, the LSU football team is without established upperclassmen on either side of the ball to lead the team.
The Tigers fell victim to the ravages of the NFL draft and graduation last season like so many other college football programs, losing 19 players from their 2013 roster, including former quarterback Zach Mettenberger, safety Craig Loston and running back Jeremy Hill.
At the early stages of spring practice, roughly eight of the 22 offensive and defensive starters came from the junior or senior classes. That number could rise or fall in the coming months, but those eight upperclassmen are the only ones who appear to have their position locked up.
The most notable lack of experience comes under center where the most experienced option is LSU sophomore quarterback Anthony Jennings, who played one full game and some change during his freshman season.
But LSU senior running back Kenny Hilliard thinks a lack of veterans doesn’t necessarily equal a lack of leadership.
“Who said that young guys can’t lead?” Hilliard said. “Jennings is doing a great job leading us as a quarterback. A quarterback has to lead, that’s his job. … Who says you have to be young and not lead. You can lead from anywhere.”
One-fifth of LSU’s 2014 Unity Council — a player-voted leadership role among the team — is made up of sophomores and freshmen and two players who did not play a single snap in 2013, including freshman wide receiver John Diarse.
Diarse said he doesn’t think his lack of experience will affect his ability to be a leader on the offense. In fact, he doesn’t think the two have any correlation at all.
“I believe a leader is born from inside,” Diarse said. “If you’ve been a leader all your life … it’s going to come out naturally even if you have played or haven’t played.”
Defensively, junior linebacker Lamar Louis listed sophomore linebacker Kendell Beckwith and sophomore defensive tackle Christian LaCouture along with freshmen defensive tackles Maquedius Bain and Greg Gilmore as those who stepped up early in their respective careers.
Louis said it’s difficult to view players like 19-year-old Beckwith as a young player because he’s been thrown into the fires of an LSU linebacker corps where players are forced to grow up fast or be left behind.
But Louis and several other defenders seemed more impressed with the way the defense has created a cohesive unit when it comes to leadership instead of the individual leaders of seasons past.
“It hasn’t really been a one leader or two leader type thing,” said senior defensive end Jordan Allen, who is also one of the defensive line representatives on the Unity Council along with junior Danielle Hunter. “You’d think so with all the veterans we have on the defense, but it’s really kind of a group effort and disciplining ourselves.”
The No. 18 jersey has routinely been passed down to one of the team’s top leaders ever since former running back Jacob Hester began the tradition in the mid 2000s.
Allen said it would be an honor to have the number bestowed upon him, but knows it’ll go to whomever is most deserving.
“Realistically, it’ll go to whoever is getting it done and whoever the coaches feel like will represent that number well and carry it with tradition and pride,” Allen said.

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Richard Redmann

LSU sophomore wide receiver Travin Dural (83) catches a pass during a drill Tuesday, March 18, 2014 during practice at the Charles McClendon Practice Facility.