It’s alarming how good John Chavis had it defensively during the 2011 season at national runner-up and SEC champ LSU.

There were four early-round draft picks starting in the secondary, personnel that only strengthened the Tigers’ rep as ‘DBU’ in college football. LSU was so talented at the back end that then-Oregon coach Chip Kelly commented it was the best secondary he’d seen after his Ducks coughed it four times and were thrashed in the season opener.

LSU’s 2011 secondary was deadly:

  • CB — Tyrann Mathieu: SEC Def. POTY (AP), All-American, Bednarik Award, Heisman finalist, third-round pick in 2013
  • CB — Morris Claiborne: SEC Def. POTY (Coaches), All-American, Thorpe Award, first-round pick in 2012
  • FS — Eric Reid: Future All-American, first-round pick in 2013
  • SS — Brandon Taylor: Third-round pick in 2012

Named the nation’s top defensive back, Claiborne intercepted a team-best six passes as a lockdown corner — and he wasn’t even the best player in his own position group.

That honor went to Mathieu, a Heisman finalist and elite playmaker who found the football nearly every snap. We knew him as the Honey Badger, an in-your-face defender who scrapped and clawed his way to takeaways and moonlighted as a dynamic threat on special teams.

Mathieu led the team in tackles with 76 that season and broke up nine passes. Six forced fumbles pushed his career total to 11, seventh all-time in college football.

Meanwhile, the hard-hitting Reid was a raw sophomore who trusted his athletic ability as LSU’s free safety. He blossomed into a consensus first-team All-American the following season after putting together a monster 91-tackle campaign.

Rarely out of position, Taylor was a three-year starter at strong who wore No. 18, a honor that holds special meaning in Baton Rouge for more than a decade. If you haven’t heard the backstory, a player who displays selflessness and courage is voted to wear the old number worn by quarterback Matt Mauck, a captain on LSU’s 2003 national title team.

Craig Loston, a future draft pick and two-year starter, was buried on the depth chart and rarely saw the field, seeing action in 10 games mostly on kick coverage units.

Throwing on these guys was a chore. Opposing teams managed just seven touchdown passes, the second-fewest in the nation behind Alabama who flexed the nation’s top defense overall (one spot ahead of the Tigers).

Besides being known as ballhawks, LSU’s quartet were expect tacklers — a lost art in today’s game. LSU allowed 15 touchdowns in 14 games, the fewest in the Les Miles era.

The storybook ending on defense wasn’t to be however after the Tigers entered the BCS Championship ranked No. 1 at 13-0. After beating Alabama in overtime during a 9-6 slugfest earlier in the season, LSU ran out of gas in the game that mattered, blanked by 21 points in a shocker.

The Tigers mustered just five first downs and 92 total yards against the best defense in the country.