Danny Etling is no stranger to pressure from his blind side.
The junior quarterback has dealt with a collapsing pocket from a few of the nation’s top pass rushers — Alabama’s Jonathan Allen and Tim Williams and Auburn’s Carl Lawson — and he lined up against former Ohio State defensive end and No. 3 overall draft pick Joey Bosa when he was at Purdue.
But Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett may be better than all of them.
“You don’t really see many guys that big with that type of athleticism,” said sophomore left guard Will Clapp who will have to handle the junior preseason All-American with a torn shoulder. “With that length that he has, it allows him to win more than he loses.”
Stifling Garrett is LSU’s No. 1 priority when it battles Texas A&M in the season finale at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at College Station’s Kyle Field.
The Bednarik Award finalist has combated a high ankle sprain that’s held him out of three games.
But he may be at his healthiest since before the Sept. 24 injury when he faces off against junior left tackle K.J. Malone, after registering a career-high 4.5 sacks against the University of Texas at San Antonio this past Saturday. He enters the matchup with 8.5 sacks on the season and 32.5 for his career — the sixth most in SEC history.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper ranks Garrett No. 1 on his 2017 NFL Draft “Big Board” and considers the “brilliant, natural pass-rusher” a lock to be selected within the top five picks.
LSU coach Ed Orgeron compared the 6-foot-5, 270-pound Garrett to another elite pass rusher he knows quite well.
“Him and [defensive end Arden Key] are a lot alike,” Orgeron said. “And he may be a little bit bigger and stronger than Arden. I recruited him out of high school … [We] have to protect.”
Orgeron wasn’t hesitant to admit that he’ll have to sell out if he hopes to keep Garrett, who ranks 7th in the nation with 1.7 tackles for loss per game, out of the backfield.
“He’s going to come off the edge, and it’s going to take two to block him, maybe three,” he said. “He’s that good. And anytime you think about dropping back pass, you’ve got to think about who is blocking Myles and how are we going to block him. He’s a dominant player.”
What’s troubling for LSU’s sake is that Garrett isn’t Texas A&M’s only pressure-generating weapon. There’s also 6-foot-6, 270-pound senior defensive end Daeshon Hall who has 16 career sacks.
And Aggies defensive coordinator John Chavis frequently sends blitzes and sells out to stop the run, Clapp said. Chavis’ defense gives up 428 yards per game but ranks second in the nation with 98 tackles for loss and second in the conference with 34 sacks.
“They’ve been mixing some stuff up and trying to pressure quarterbacks,” Etling said. “Sometimes when you bring enough pressure, it allows somebody like Garrett to get a one-on-one, and obviously he’s so talented that he’s going to make some plays.”