LSU to be without DL coach for Texas Bowl against Houston, per report
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LSU won’t have defensive line coach Kyle Williams for its Texas Bowl showdown against Houston on Saturday night, according to a report by The Advocate’s Wilson Alexander on Friday afternoon.
When 7-5 LSU faces the 9-3 Cougars in their Houston backyard to close a chaotic 2025 season, Williams won’t be of service after serving as the Tigers’ defensive tackle position coach this fall. It was already known that Williams wouldn’t be back at LSU for Lane Kiffin‘s first season in 2026 after mutually agreeing with the school to part ways.
LSU moved quickly to replace Williams in hiring South Carolina defensive assistant Sterling Lucas to coach the Tigers’ interior defensive line next season. It wasn’t known leading up to the Texas Bowl whether Williams would stay on for one more game, but Friday’s report finally answered that question. Jermauria Rasco, who played at LSU and has been an analyst the past 2 seasons, will replace Williams for the Texas Bowl as the defensive tackles coach.
Much-heralded LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker is staying in Baton Rouge to partner with Kiffin starting next fall, and they’ve assembled a strong defensive staff to coach under Baker.
Despite LSU’s struggles as a team in 2025, Baker had the Tigers in the top 25 in total defense and the top 15 in turnovers gained this season.
LSU will finish off that crazy 2025 season on Saturday night in the Texas Bowl in a 9:15 p.m. ET kickoff on ESPN. Then it’ll officially be time to start the Kiffin era in Baton Rouge.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
