A common theme that surrounds the LSU football team is being the ‘next man up’ — ready for whenever his number is called and ready to step up. For the defensive secondary, Eric Monroe is the newest ‘next man up’.

The redshirt freshman out of Houston, Texas, stepped up in place of senior safety John Battle against Syracuse. Battle, the team’s starting safety, went down on the field with an undisclosed injury and did not enter the game again.
Monroe recorded three tackles and could earn the start against Troy with Battle’s return being unknown.
In the week of practice before the Syracuse game, senior safety Ed Paris suffered a season ending knee injury, which initially gave Monroe an idea he would be rotating in with Battle.
Monroe joined a young secondary with redshirt freshman Greedy Williams and true freshmen Grant Delpit and Kary Vincent Jr., leaving junior Donte Jackson as the inevitable leader, with his own ‘next man up’ experience two years ago.
“Guys in that room are always ready when their number is called,” Jackson said. “It’s been like that since I got to LSU. Jalen Mills went down my freshman year and I had to step up right away and play against Mississippi State at Mississippi State.”
With Battle and Paris out, the secondary is thin — a scary type of thin that coach Ed Orgeron addressed following the Syracuse game. The good news is that while it is thin, there is still a lot of talent.
Williams earned his first start this season, replacing junior Kevin Toliver who was suspended during the season opener against BYU. But with four starts under his belt, Williams is aware that other teams won’t try to avoid him just yet.
“[The other teams] see a redshirt freshman,” Williams said. “It’s on my name. Teams are still going to try to test me because I’m a redshirt freshman. There is still more to come.”
In four games, Williams has three interceptions and 19 tackles, just behind Battle and sophomore linebacker Devin White.
This season in particular, it has been common to see freshman out on the field for LSU and thrown into larger roles. LSU has earned the popular nickname ‘DBU’ over the years, but leaving the role up to so many younger players can cause concern.
With Paris and Battle on the sidelines, Jackson is the most experienced player by two years and the opponents are aware of that.
Jackson went the entire Syracuse game without a pass being thrown to his side or anywhere near him, but he sees it as a compliment.
“It tells a lot about your game,” Jackson said. “If another offensive coordinator respects you that much and not do much your way, you can only take it in a positive way. Tre’Davious White had to go through it a lot and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
While Jackson is trying to stay focused on his side of the field, he’s been taking the others under his wing before the team heads into more conference play.
“I just want to make sure Greedy and all the other guys are ready since I don’t see a lot of action against the other teams,” he said. “I know when we get into conference play there is always going to be a chance where somebody is going to throw at you because it’s conference play.”
Even though Monroe came in and did what he had to do for LSU, the experience is the biggest thing missing in the defensive secondary. Two senior starting safeties out for the Tigers leave a big gap in the experience level of players putting pressure on Jackson.
Williams easily transitioned from a reserve to a starting role and knows what Monroe is going through.
“Eric was probably just shocked,” Williams said. “Everyone isn’t going to have the best first game. Just coming out there and doing what he did without very many reps at practice, I thought he did well. We’re going to look forward to having Eric out there with us this weekend.”

Despite the young secondary defense, Jackson stresses what goes into practice and the end product the team comes up with. 
“Everybody takes the same notes,” Jackson said. “Everyone does the same things at practice. They might not get as many reps at practice as other guys, but you’re going to take advantage of the reps you get. We’re going to be all right.”