LSU Veteran CB Ashton Stamps Sees More Talent Around Him In Secondary And WR Than Ever

By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE

Tiger Rag News Services

LSU junior cornerback Ashton Stamps has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of LSU’s defense, which includes more of the latter two descriptions.

The Tigers improved last season on defense over the disaster of 2023, but LSU consistently over the last five seasons has not met the standards of generations of quality defense going back to the late 1950s.

But wait until this year, says Stamps, who has started 16 straight games going back to 2023, including 13 last season.

“The main thing is confidence in the room,” he said. “We’ve been out there making plays, so now it’s just expected.”

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It is year two of defensive coordinator Blake Baker, whom LSU coach Brian Kelly was able to hire away from Missouri after significant success there in 2023. Baker’s unit showed flashes of a classic LSU defense in a 9-4 season last year in wins over Ole Miss and Arkansas, but it regressed mightily in blowout losses at Texas A&M and to Alabama.

Then Kelly got Baker many new toys via his No. 1-ranked NCAA Transfer Portal in the off-season with senior cornerback Mansoor Delane of Virginia Tech, red-shirt sophomore cornerback Ja’Keem Jackson of Florida, red-shirt sophomore safety Tamarcus Cooley of North Carolina State and senior safety AJ Haulcy of Houston. Delane has started 29 games in his career. Haulcy has started 33. Cooley started nine, while Jackson started two before an injury last season.

The depth of experience is hard to miss.

“They’re smart and willing to understand where the cornerbacks are coming from,” Stamps said.

That was not the case at times in his first three years at LSU.

“The last few years, I felt like we’ve been a little bit separate,” he said. “The corners were doing one thing, and the safeties were doing another. This year, we’ve been communicating and we have the same lingo.”

Communication between corners and safeties is critical.

“Bringing in AJ and Cooley, you’ve got to be able to gain relationships with them outside of football and just be able to be comfortable speaking to them,” Stamps said. “Because if you get on the field, you have to be able to trust them and communicate.”

Stamps himself has significant experence. His 14 passes defensed last season finished third in the Southeastern Conference around 51 tackles. He will have to play better this season to keep up with his well-credentialed new teammates.

“Last year I had a good season, and I’m expected to bring it up even more this year,” he said.

Help is also on the way for the secondary from the Tigers’ improving defensive line, which was also enhanced by the portal.

“I feel that presence of the pass rush,” Stamps said. “The ball is coming out quicker. I’m sticking it to the receivers, and I’m able to make plays right away.”

Stamps and the rest of the defensive backs, meanwhile, may not see more wide receiver talent on the Tigers’ 2025 schedule than whom they go against every day in practice – such as Aaron Anderson, Chris Hilton Jr., Barion Brown, Zavion Thomas, Nic Anderson, Kyle Parker and Destyn Hill.

“Each one of them has different abilities,” he said. “Some are faster. Some are stronger. Just being able to have that gives us more of an advantage going into the season. Being able to have the multiplicity of different receivers will prepare us.”