How Does the Loss of Tyrann Mathieu Affect the 2012-13 LSU Tigers?

Tyrann Mathieu was a game-changing and exciting player in 2011. Now, in 2012, he's gone from LSU.
(Credit: Getty Images)

The big news out of the college football world yesterday was that Louisiana State University dismissed cornerback Tyrann Mathieu from their football team. The story seems to be that Mathieu violated an 'undisclosed team rule,' which is speculated to be a third failed drug test within the time period that he's been at the university. This is a pretty big story due to Mathieu's popularity nationwide and the way he played last year. #7 inherited the number from now-NFL pro Patrick Peterson, and he took it and ran with it, becoming an exciting player who feasted on causing turnovers, returning punts and kicks and for his nickname, as Brent Musberger noted, "The Honey Badger." Mathieu is deciding between lower schools and signs seem to be pointing him to McNeese State at this point in time. 

What we're here to discuss is not what Mathieu will do with himself for his future. He may have done a bit of damage to himself in his professional aspirations, but how does this dismissal affect his now former team? Where do the LSU Tigers go from here for their upcoming season? Well, we're here right now to dissect and determine just that. 

With players like Eric Reid in the secondary,
it's tough to imagine LSU's secondary taking
too big of a hit in 2012.
(Credit: Getty Images)

Mathieu was a game-changing player, there's no doubt about that. The things he did for the LSU team will be hard to replicate, whether or not the Tigers have future All-Americans waiting in the wings or not. The Tigers will still have Eric Reid, the best safety in the entire country, they still have Tharold Simon and Jalen Collins, the latter taking over for Mathieu in the starting role. Simon and Collins are much more complete cornerbacks, and are much taller than the smaller "Honey Badger."

They also do a much better job at covering wide receivers than Mathieu. It's a small sample size, but if you take a glance at how Tyrann Mathieu did in the BCS National Championship Game against the Alabama Crimson Tide, you'll start to scratch your head and wonder how he got all the hype in the first place. Mathieu got picked on and abused by Alabama wide receivers, and to be frank was never really the better cornerback in the first place. That would have been Morris Claiborne, who I think got the cold shoulder by the media a lot last year. Claiborne earned it though in the NFL Draft this year, going in the Top 10 and being selected by the Dallas Cowboys. 

So, wrapping things up here, I think there will be an impact from the loss of Tyrann Mathieu. It's ludicrous to think that they wouldn't feel some sort of blow after losing a turnover machine like Mathieu was. It could change the scope of some of their games played, but LSU's defense is just too talented to take an enormous hit. This is still a BCS National Championship contender, make no mistake about it. Sam Montgomery, Barkevious Mingo, Eric Reid, Tharold Simon and Jalen Collins make up just a little over half of one of the best defenses in the country, if not the very best. They'll lose a bit in the turnover and turnover differential department, but I would not second-guess putting money on the Tigers to be in Miami in the month of January, fighting for the National Championship.