BATON ROUGE – Blake Baker, who for the past two years has served as the defensive coordinator for the Miami Hurricanes, has been named linebackers coach at LSU, head coach Ed Orgeron announced on Thursday.
Baker joins the LSU staff with six year of experience as a defensive coordinator – two a Miami and four at Louisiana Tech. In addition to his coordinator duties with Miami and Louisiana Tech, Baker also coached the linebackers at both schools.
He joined the Hurricanes in January of 2019 and in his first year, he oversaw a Miami defense that ranked No. 13 nationally in total defense and 12th in the nation in yards allowed per play. The 2019 Hurricane defense also ranked among the Top 20 in the nation in rush defense (No. 10), redzone defense (No. 16) and pass defense (No. 18).
Two linebackers – Michael Pinckney and Shaq Quarterman – from Baker’s 2019 defense earned All-ACC recognition. Quarterman was selected in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL Draft. His 2020 defense featured first team All-America defensive end Jaelan Phillips.
Prior to arriving in Coral Gables, Baker spent four seasons (2015-18) as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Louisiana Tech where the Bulldogs had one of the nation’s top defenses when it came to impact plays. In 2018, Louisiana Tech ranked No. 4 in the nation in sacks per game, No. 12 in tackles for loss and No. 33 in turnovers gained.
Baker’s star defender at Louisiana Tech was All-America Jaylon Ferguson, who led the nation in sacks (17.5) and ranked No. 2 nationally in tackles for loss with 26.5 in 2018. Ferguson was a third round pick in 2019.
As a unit, Louisiana Tech led Conference USA in rush defense in 2015 and finished second in the league in total defense that year. The Bulldogs were third in C-USA in rush defense in 2016.
Prior to being elevated to defensive coordinator at Louisiana Tech, Baker coached the safeties for the Bulldogs in 2014. He spent the 2013 season as the safeties coach at Arkansas State.
Baker got his start in collegiate coaching at Texas, where he was a graduate assistant for the Longhorns from 2010-12. At Texas, Baker worked with the linebackers and defensive backs, two position groups that featured eight All-Big 12 selections over that span. He also coached All-America linebacker and Lott Trophy finalist Emmanuel Acho and 2011 Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year Quandre Diggs.
Prior to joining the Texas staff, Baker spent the 2009 season as a wide receivers coach at Clear Springs High School in Houston, Texas, before taking over duties as linebackers coach the following spring.
The Houston native was a four-year letterman and three-year starter at linebacker for Tulane from 2000-04. In 42 career games, he racked up 145 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and six sacks. He helped lead the Green Wave to a win in the 2002 Hawaii Bowl. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Tulane in 2008.
Baker is married to the former Roslyn Jones of Mandeville, La., and the couple has a daughter, Anderson, and a son, Byron. His wife is a former All-SEC soccer player for LSU.
(Press release via LSU Athletics)