Kevin Toliver headed into his sophomore season entrenched as the starter opposite of former All-American cornerback Tre’Davious White.
Toliver, who started eight games in his freshman season, struggled in 2016 with nagging injuries. The junior defensive back missed five games with a shoulder injury he has dealt with since high school and a knee injury.
“It was kinda tough,” Toliver said, “But just talking with my coaches and my teammates, it’s the past and you just gotta focus on this year.”
Toliver looks to rebound in his junior year and is projected the starting cornerback across from junior cornerback Donte Jackson, a 6-foot-2-inch defensive back has made 13 starts in his career with one interception.
“Last year Toliver dealt with injuries the whole year,” Jackson said. “There was days he didn’t even practice. He knows that he has to get healthy, and he has to tighten up his screws. He knows he is the older guy.”
Toliver said now that he is healthy, he is working on being more consistent in his coverage.
Consistent play from Toliver is something coach Ed Orgeron stressed. To fix those issues, Orgeron compiled a tape of 10 good and 10 bad plays from Toliver that they watched together.
“That was different what he did,” Toliver said, “Ten good plays, and 10 bad plays of me being here. I just got to learn from my mistakes, talking with coach [Corey] Raymond ever day and watching film every day, it’s just going to get better from here.”
Toliver’s experience will be a big help for LSU as it looks to rebuild a secondary that lost two All-Americans in White and Jamal Adams.
Toliver and Jackson are the only two members in the secondary who have double digit starts under their belt. The duo of Toliver and Jackson is joined by senior safeties Ed Paris and John Battle as the leaders of the secondary. The four upperclassmen look to continue a long line of successful defensive backs at LSU, and for the first time since 2014 will be playing a second year under the same defensive coordinator.
“It helped a lot we don’t have to learn a new playbook or nothing,” Toliver said. “We just have to clean up things that we had problems with last season. [We’re] just gonna be moving around faster, you know, not thinking as much as last year.”
Toliver looks to use the spring to continue his development, and continue to compete alongside other members of LSU’s secondary.
“We compete every day,” Toliver said. “No spots given, just gotta keep competing every day and getting better.”
LSU freshman cornerback Kevin Toliver II (2) awaits the next play during the Tigers' 31-14 defeat against the University of Arkansas on Nov. 14. 2015 in Tiger Stadium.
