Devin White has worn many hats in his three season at LSU: talented freshman, breakout sophomore, All-American junior.
In the final game of his third season, White is eyeing a new role ahead of the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl: preacher.
In fact, the Butkus Award winner will be preaching a message he’s practiced before to a congregation of eager up-and-comers on a Tiger defense looking for reinforcements.
With four starters from the season opener absent – including both cornerbacks and key reserves in both the secondary and front seven – LSU will need contributions from new places not unlike the one White offered as a freshman in the 2016 Citrus Bowl.
“That just gives new guys an opportunity to make plays and make a name for themselves,” White said. “That’s how I made a name for myself. Kendell Beckwith went down, and Devin White stepped in for the bowl game, got a sack against Lamar Jackson. I’ll never forget that. The Heisman Trophy winner. A lot of great young guys can do that this year as well. I’m going to preach that before the game. It’s your time. What are you going to do with your time? You only get one shot, so make the best of it.”
Playing Through Pain
There’s one player, in particular, White is expecting big things from. With Greedy Williams (NFL Draft), Kristian Fulton (injury), and Kelvin Joseph (violation of team rules) all unavailable, the Tigers are looking to Kary Vincent, Jr. to move from nickel to the outside.
Vincent will be playing in Tuesday’s game with a heavy heart, after his father, Kary Vincent Sr., passed away just days ago.
“I think that’s the guy who’s going to make the biggest name for himself: my little brother Kary Vincent, Jr.,” White said. “He’s just had a tragedy in his family with his father passing, but he still came to practice like nothing was wrong. I feel like he’s got a lot of pain built up inside, and he’s going to let it out on the field. He’s going to have a heck of a game.”
Defensive coordinator Dave Aranda has had several one-on-one conversations with Vincent, a sophomore who has started nine games in his career, including six this season.
“It’s such a hard situation for Kary,” Aranda said. “He’s very emotional, as he should be. As coaches, you want to be there for him. Spending time with Kary, one on one, talking to him, letting him know you’re there for him. I think Kary’s going to have a great game. You can see in the look in his eye, the determination that’s there. I think he wants to play out for his dad.”
LSU will also look to senior Terrence Alexander to start at the opposite cornerback spot. The graduate transfer from Stanford turned down a six-figure job offer in cybersecurity to play one final season of college football, and his toughest test yet could be an explosive UCF offense that loves to get one-on-ones on the edge.
Alexander started LSU’s first two games and its last two of the regular season, playing an average of 34 snaps per game in the Tigers’ first five games. Between weeks six and ten, Alexander played just 39 snaps total over a four game span, before working his way back into the rotation, culminated by a 112-snap outing in the seven-overtime thriller against Texas A&M.
“I have a lot of respect for Terrence,” Aranda said. “You look at the ride he’s been on, his career at Stanford and now here. Early in the year, he’s playing, middle of the season, he’s struggling to get on the field, late in the season he’s back playing, contributing. The way he’s handled all that and his approach to his work, I got a lot of respect for him, man. He’s battling. I think he’s going to have a great game.”
No Track Meets
With UCF’s breakneck, up-tempo pace – their average play clock at snap is 18.4 seconds, nearly double the 9.6 of the Tigers’ most recent opponent, Texas A&M – another high snap count game could be in the cards for Alexander and Co.
Ready for the challenge in Arizona! pic.twitter.com/LFoBFJYLMk
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Aranda is preparing for the worst – high-play drives from a fastball offense – but hoping for the best: that his defense gets quick stops to get off the field and stay fresh.
“What makes UCF so unique is their use of tempo,” he said. “So it does limit you in a traditional way of identifying, communicating, checking this, adjusting to that when they’re just on the ball so fast. Sometimes the ball is snapped within ten seconds. So there’s a lot of just ‘get lined up and playing’ and there’s more isolations.”
The stat Aranda is preaching: winning the time of possession battle. Over the past few seasons, UCF wins 90 percent of the games in which they win the TOP battle. When they don’t, their record dips to .500.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” said defensive lineman Rashard Lawrence. “They’re going to be going fast. It’s going to be tough. If we don’t get off the field, it’s going to be a track meet, and that’s the one thing we don’t want.”
Like the secondary, the front seven will be tested for numbers. Among those unavailable for Aranda in the trenches are Breiden Fehoko (injury), Ed Alexander (NFL Draft), and, for a half, Jacob Phillips (targeting suspension).
Lawrence says the man to watch is redshirt freshman nose tackle Tyler Shelvin, who will take over for Alexander in the center of the Tiger defense.
“Tyler Shelvin, that’s going to be the guy who’s the man in the middle,” Lawrence said. “He’s pretty much now the heart of our defense with Ed (Alexander) out and Breiden (Fehoko) out. Everything’s going to start with Tyler. Glen’s going to be moving around a lot. I told coach wherever he needs me to play, I’ll play. Davin Cotton, Nelson Jenkins, and Neil Farrell are all going to have to come in and play.”
Aranda likes the way all the former understudies are adapting to their starring roles.
“You like the feeling that you’ve got when you’re at practice and guys are attacking their job and understand the importance of it when it’s a new job for some of them,” Aranda said.
The biggest challenge, he said, will be communication. That’s both a factor of UCF’s incredible tempo and LSU’s developing chemistry.
“You’ve got guys on the field who just haven’t worked with certain guys,” he said. “There’s always a feeling of brotherhood when you get to see stuff and see it the same way. You don’t have that when there’s new guys, so we’ve been really stressing the hand signals.”
The good news: White will be right in the thick of everything LSU is doing on defense, and the junior hopes he gets a front row seat for someone else’s breakout party, two years after his.
“If I’m a guy who has been sitting behind Greedy Williams, not playing, when it’s my time to get in, I’m going to have so much pride and stuff built up that when I’m ready to get in and help my team, I’m going to be firing on all cylinders, because I finally get my time to show what I can do,” White said. “I’m hoping that’s what the guys who were behind those guys’ mindsets are.”