Blake Baker, who led Missouri to an 11-win season and a top-10 national ranking in 2023, has been named LSU’s defensive coordinator, head coach Brian Kelly announced Friday.
Baker joins the LSU staff after spending the past two seasons as the defensive coordinator and safeties coach at the University of Missouri.
Baker coached linebackers at LSU in 2021.
He previously served as defensive coordinator at Miami (Fla.
) from 2019-20 and at Louisiana Tech from 2015-18.
He brings his eight years of experience as a defensive coordinator to his LSU program.
Baker’s 2023 Missouri State defense played a big role in helping the Tigers go 11-2 overall and end the season with a 14-3 victory over No.
7 Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.
Missouri’s 11 wins are the most for the school in nearly a decade.
In the win over Ohio State, Missouri held the Buckeyes without a touchdown for the first time since the 2016 season.
As a unit in 2023, Missouri ranked fourth in the SEC in scoring defense (20.
8 points per game) and fifth in the league in both rushing defense (122.
8) and total defense (336,1).
Ta.
Missouri led the SEC and was fourth in the nation in forced fumbles (17) and 11th in the nation in sacks (39).
The Tigers also rank in the top 20 nationally in fumble recoveries (16th with 10) and lost tackles (18th with 88).
Missouri’s 2023 defense featured three players who earned All-SEC honors: defensive end Darius Robinson, linebacker Tyrone Hopper and defensive back Chris Abrams-Drain.
In his previous season at LSU in 2021, Baker’s top linebacker was All-America Damone Clark, who was later taken in the fifth round of the NFL Draft and is now a starter for the Dallas Cowboys.
Clark had a breakout season under Coach Baker in 2021, ranking second in the nation with 135 tackles for loss, 5.
5 sacks, 5.
5 tackles for loss and 15.
5 tackles for loss.
Clark is a finalist for this year’s Butkus Award.
Baker came to Miami in 2019 after spending four years as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Louisiana Tech.
In 2019, his first year with the Hurricanes, he led a Miami defense that ranked 13th nationally in total defense and 12th nationally in yards allowed per game.
The 2019 Hurricanes defense also ranked in the top 20 nationally in rush defense (10th), red zone defense (16th) and pass defense (18th).
Leave a Reply