LSU’s defense has found a freshman who doesn’t look like one.
Through four games of 2026, Deuce Geralds has forced his way into the center of the Tigers’ front, and he’s done it at the hardest spot for a young lineman to handle. He is the first LSU true freshman to start the first four games of a season since Anthony “Booger” McFarland in 1995, and the early returns have been impossible to ignore.
Geralds already has four sacks, 13 tackles and a forced fumble. His two-sack outing against Texas A&M earned him SEC Freshman of the Week honors, making him the first non-quarterback to win the award this season. He now sits No. 11 in the nation in total sacks, and no other freshman is in the top 50.
That production has come with LSU asking a lot of him. The Tigers have leaned on him more than any other tackle on a defense that currently ranks first in the nation in sacks at 4.75 per game. LSU also sits second in rushing yards allowed at 47.5 per game, third in total yards allowed at 226.8 per game, No. 7 in tackles for loss at 8.2 per game and No. 26 in scoring defense at 15.5 per game.
Junior linebacker Davhon Keys said Geralds’ impact has been obvious from the start.
“He’s been an absolute animal, but you see that since day one, even in the offseason,” Keys said of Geralds on Tuesday. “In the offseason every day, he’s coming to work hard.
He’s showing up early. He’s doing the extra.
So, it comes to no surprise to me that he’s doing what he’s doing. He showed it since day one, and now he’s just finally getting to put it on the big screen.”
Geralds arrived in Baton Rouge from Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Georgia, where he became the state’s all-time prep sack leader. As a senior, he posted 91 tackles, 37 tackles for loss and 16 sacks. A consensus four-star recruit, he was ranked as high as the No. 2 defensive lineman in the country by ESPN and No. 3 by Rivals.
He didn’t waste much time turning that pedigree into a role. Geralds pushed for first-team reps in spring practice and locked down a starting job in fall camp.
Coach Lane Kiffin said in April that the freshman’s game was showing up before the stadium lights ever came on.
“For him to come and play at the level that he plays at but practice the way that he does, it says a lot about his coaching in high school; it says a lot about his upbringing with his parents because that’s very unique to be able to handle all that,” Kiffin said during spring practice in April. “He’s gonna be a great player here, and (I) really enjoy coaching him too, because of his mindset.”
That mindset has mattered because Geralds hasn’t been winning with pure physical advantage. He is listed at 6-foot-1 and 285 pounds, and he turns 19 in October.
But on a weekly basis, he’s lining up across from bigger, older interior offensive linemen. Against Texas A&M, for example, he faced center Mark Nabou Jr. (6-foot-4, 307 pounds, 23-years-old) and guards Wilkin Formby (6-7, 320, 21) and Trovon Baugh (6-4, 335, 22).
Those matchups have only sharpened the story. Geralds has carved out major playing time not because of size, speed or strength alone, but because of his dedication, maturity and technique. Kiffin said that back in spring practice, and the results have only backed it up.
LSU’s early-season front has become one of the defining pieces of the team, and Geralds is right in the middle of it. Keys said the defensive line is making everyone else’s job easier.
“They’re taking up doubles,” Keys said. “Not only are they taking the doubles, they’re getting off the doubles, getting in the back field, and we’re going through untouched half the time. It really makes my life a lot easier.”
McFarland’s freshman season in 1995 remains the benchmark for an LSU true freshman interior lineman. He finished with 73 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and two sacks in 12 games.
Geralds, who has already doubled McFarland’s freshman sack total, is on pace for 39 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and 13 sacks. That would nearly double LSU’s freshman sack record of 7.5, set by Harold Perkins in 2022.
There’s still a long way to go, and nothing is promised over the next eight games. But Geralds has already done enough to make one thing clear: LSU has another freshman star on its hands.
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