4 LSU football spring game breakout candidates for 2024

3. Jacobian Guillory, DT

LSU featured the second-worst run defense in the SEC last season after yielding 161 rushing yards per game on the ground. The unit also lost the heart of its defensive front in Mekhi Wingo and Mason Smith to the NFL draft, so depth issues are apparent in Baton Rouge. 

Newly hired defensive line coach and LSU alum Bo Davis, who is one of the most coveted position coaches in the country, will look to retool and elevate a thin Tigers front that may take some time to fully blossom. For context, Davis helped flourish the Texas defensive front into one of the country's best in 2023, highlighted by T'Vondre Sweat being named the Outland Trophy winner as the nation's top defensive lineman. Those same expectations will be pressed upon Davis in 2024.

Who will emerge and have a breakout spring for LSU is the question, but if there’s one defensive lineman to pinpoint it’s Jacobian Guillory.

The former four-star recruit is the veteran of the bunch and has all of the ingredients to be one of the SEC’s most impactful interior defensive linemen in 2024. While his stats aren’t jaw-dropping (just 26 total tackles across 13 games in 2023), Guillory is a size monster who stands 6-foot-2, 320 pounds and is known for his run-stuffing ability.

With his return, Guillory is by-far the most experienced player up front and perhaps the most valuable piece that Davis will be able to groom in the ensuing months.

In spite of Guillory’s upside, don’t be surprised if the Tigers still go searching for an additional defensive lineman or two in the spring portal window to help beef up the depth chart.