LSU Competition Series: Bradyn Swinson vs. Dashawn Womack

We continue our LSU Competition Series today with a pair of exciting defensive ends on LSU’s defense who are at different points in their career, but both loaded with talent: Bradyn Swinson and Dashawn Womack.

The two are likely going to be incredibly important pieces on Blake Bakers’ attacking style defense as pass rushers and need to show their growth in 2024. Here, we’re going to compare their games, their strengths, and fit in LSU’s defense this year.

Previous competition series: CJ Daniels vs Chris Hilton, Whit Weeks vs. Greg Penn, Aaron Anderson vs Zavion Thomas.

Stats/Background

Bradyn Swinson transferred to LSU in 2023 after two years at Oregon where he struggled to get on the field consistently, but he quickly moved into the two-deep in Baton Rouge with his exceptional athleticism. He spent most of the season as a backup to Ovie Oghoufo, but ended the year with just 31 less snaps than Oghoufo for the season. It quickly became clear how valuable Swinson’s talents were and he ended the season with 35 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, and two sacks.

Dashawn Womack was a heralded five-star prospect out of Baltimore in the 2023 class who came to Baton Rouge hoping to contribute early. The change at defensive line coach perhaps hindered that potential in year one, but he still showed flashes in his limited playing time. Womack played in just 79 snaps last year, finishing with 13 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

Strengths

Bradyn Swinson LSU Football

Swinson actually graded out on PFF to be LSU’s best defensive player and best pass rusher. Now, I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves here, but Swinson certainly proved he was better than Oghoufo quickly and continued to make plays as a pass rusher this spring, showing he has what it takes to be even more dynamic in 2024 off the edge. I think Swinson process the game at a high level as well, with his run defense also holding up consistently when he’s put in the right positions. He’s overall a really solid player off the edge and someone LSU’s defensive staff should be able to trust this year.

As for Womack, he’s still dripping with potential. This is a player who came in last year and showed incredible flashes in games against Arkansas and Texas A&M, but was ultimately inconsistent in his production. The athleticism is his greatest gift and the pass rushing package he has shows enough tools to be a terrorizing edge threat with the right coaching. He also has an awesome drive to hunt the quarterback where he plays through the whistle. At 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, I have very few doubts that Womack will turn into one of LSU’s better defensive linemen this year.

Areas of improvement

For Swinson, my question is about taking the next step. The defensive production for LSU as a whole was poor last year, but he had three NFL defensive tackles rotating in to take some pressure off of him and still only finished with 2.5 sacks and 16 hurries in 207 pass rushing snaps. Harold Perkins had six sacks and 17 hurries in just 162 pass rush snaps. Is there another gear for Swinson to reach this year? As great as a high PFF grade is, Swinsons needs those reps to materialize into more pressures and sacks this year with more on his plate.

Womack needs consistent coaching this year and I believe he will get it. A lot of people said Womack needed more time on the field, but I think he was still too raw to rely upon for long stretches in big games. Outside of the Arkansas game, Womack had 49 pass rushing snaps last year and totaled five total pressures with one of those being a sack. The notion he was an instant solution last year was always misguided, but the talent is obvious and needs to be tapped into in 2024.

Fit on LSU’s defense

Dashawn Womack LSU Football

There’s a chance these two are the most important defensive linemen on LSU’s roster entering the season. With the absence of any dominating presence on the inside, Blake Baker will have to get creative, but ultimately needs the EDGE position to yield heavy attention from offenses to open up his playbook. Womack and Swinson should be a nasty two-headed monster rotating in series after series to keep constant pressure on opposing tackles. The combination of elite athleticism and speed is certainly a bright spot when evaluating this defense and I believe Baker knows that he needs to rely on these two to unsettle offenses. 

Darius Robinson was an excellent edge rusher for Missouri last year with 42 pressures in 290 snaps and that’s the role Baker will task this duo with. If these two are not playing at a high level collectively, I will be seriously worried about the defense.

Overall thoughts on Womack vs Swinson

I remain a firm believer in the talent and upside of Dashawn Womack and believe there is a chance he surpasses Swinson at some point this season. However, based on what we saw in spring camp Swinson has earned the right to be the starter and have the benefit of the doubt entering the year. 

This is one of the positions on LSU’s defense I feel great about entering the season and LSU fans should at least take solace in the fact they have real pass rushing options off the edge and at linebacker, even if the defensive tackle spot is limited. We’ll see which player can take the next step in their game, but with Baker as the defensive coordinator, I expect their stats to take a significant step forward in 2024.

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