Auburn Tigers defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder said the Tigers would be playing significantly more out of their base 4-3 set against the LSU Tigers than they have so far this season. The switch is due to Auburn primarily playing nickel defense against their first three opponents, who all ran some variation of the spread offenses. LSU prefers a power rushing attack. However, the switch in scheme means that more underclassmen will see significant time, including sophomore and freshman linebackers Justin Garrett and Cassanova McKinzy.
VanGorder wasn't overly concerned with such young players seeing significant time against an opponent as strong as LSU:
I think you'll see Cassanova play quite a bit. He's big and strong, so it makes since the way LSU runs the ball, he's more comfortable against that kind of offense.
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