LSU football moved its green dot — the helmet communication device that allows a player to hear a coordinator's instructions — from the linebackers room to the safeties room "a couple of weeks ago," coach Brian Kelly said Thursday.
The adjustment was made to help LSU's safeties, a position group that has struggled for much of this season. Senior linebacker Greg Penn had the green dot duties before redshirt junior safety Sage Ryan took on the role.
"We've instituted the green dot because we can get them some information," Kelly said ahead of LSU's matchup on Saturday against Florida.
Among the units issues, tackling in space has been toward the top of the list. Kelly on Thursday said that in addition to the green dot adjustment, LSU's defense also must do a better job of shrinking the amount of space its safeties need to cover when they're tasked with making a tackle.
"There was a lot of space, and our safeties had to be really, really good at being inside out on the ball carrier and making tackles with too much air," Kelly said. "What we have to do collectively is shrink that down a lot more. That means better defensive line play, linebacker play and initial force play so they don't have to make a tackle from the size of this room with a guy (at) 235 pounds coming up through that hole.
"Their play will be better because the entire unit recognizes how important it is to give them a better opportunity in those tackling situations."