LSU’s defense got a makeover this offseason. Out the door went defensive coordinator John Chavis, replaced by former Alabama linebackers coach and Clemson DC Kevin Steele. Gone too is former defensive line coach Brick Haley, with vaunted DL coach Ed Orgeron coming into the fold to take his place.

Orgeron’s position group is going through somewhat of an overhaul, too.

Last year’s defensive line was painfully thin, something that became evident as Mississippi State and Auburn racked up 600 yards combined on the ground across the two early season games. When defensive tackle Quentin Thomas’ biceps injury became too much for him to play effectively, LSU was left with little depth at the position, made worse when a handful of redshirt freshmen couldn’t get up to speed. Without the emergence of Davon Godchaux and Christian LaCouture, LSU would have been up a creek with no paddle.

LSU also relied on just two defensive ends for much of the season, as the players behind Danielle Hunter and Jermauria Rasco were young, inexperienced or both. Both of those players are gone, and there will be a host of new faces to replace them.

Maquedius Bain, one of those redshirt freshman DTs from last year, will move outside and hold down one starting spot. Bain is a big man, listed at 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds, and his move from DT to DE could signal a shift in LSU’s defensive philosophy, which under Steele could include more 3-4 fronts and eventually a full-time shift to the alignment.

His likely starting counterpart is sophomore Lewis Neal, who also spent time filling in at defensive tackle last year amidst LSU’s depth issues. Unlike Bain, Neal is a bit undersized at 6-foot-1 and 255 pounds. Orgeron has compared him to current Indianapolis Colts pass rusher Trent Cole, another high-motor player who makes up for his lack of size with tenacious effort.

Behind those two will be several talented players: Sione Teuhema, Tashawn Bower, Deondre Clark and incoming freshman Arden Key.

Behind Godchaux and LaCouture, one of the better starting duos in the SEC, there is more in question. Greg Gilmore and Frank Herron played very limited roles last year, while Trey Lealaimatafao and Travonte Valentine both sat out the season with their own issues, Lealaimatafao with a scary arm injury and Valentine due to eligibility problems. While Orgeron can count on Godchaux and LaCouture, the rest of the depth chart is a bit murkier.

LSU will need a much better performance out of the front four this season. LSU managed to overcome an almost complete lack of a pass rush last year to finish first in the SEC in total defense, but being unable to pressure opposing quarterbacks came back to bite the Tigers on several occasions. LSU finished 13th in the SEC with 19 sacks and had just 37 quarterback hurries.

Orgeron has instilled a mentality of working as a four-man unit on the defensive line, something that should pay off and create more pressure than last year.

“It takes all four guys to get a sack,” Bower told NOLA.com in March. “If you have one guy pushing up the middle but not the other side, the quarterback has a place to go. If all four guys stay in their lanes, one of us is going to get the sack because of the other three.”

If LSU’s defensive line can adhere to that, last year’s disastrous pass rush could turn into one of the team’s strengths. Orgeron’s teams always get after the quarterback, and with the way Steele