Bo Davis is just what the Tigers’ defensive line needed

Nearly 20 years after helping Nick Saban win his first national title, Bo Davis is returning to LSU.

Fans have hoped for, wished for, and speculated about this for years. Anytime the defensive line coach position opened at LSU, you heard Davis’ name. And for good reason, too; for nearly 20 years, Davis has been one of the best defensive line coaches in the sport.

Davis played at LSU in the early 90’s before spending a few years as a graduate assistant. He was the assistant strength coach under Saban and followed Saban to the Dolphins and later Alabama.

Now, Davis is finally back at LSU. It’s a reunion that felt inevitable, even as the years passed and Davis didn’t return.

It’s rare to see this much made of a position coach hire. Davis isn’t running the program and he won’t be calling plays either. But Davis isn’t just a defensive line coach. He’s a presence and one that LSU needed in a bad way.

Davis spent the last three years at Texas. With Davis on staff, Texas went from a program that lacked physicality to a program that bullied the rest of the Big 12 in the trenches. According to PFF, Texas had the top two graded defensive tackles in the country with T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II.

Davis inherits an LSU defensive line in need of work. After Maason Smith and Mekhi Wingo declared for the draft, LSU is left thin at defensive tackle. Before Davis can even focus on development, he needs to find a way to get talent in the room.

LSU knows that, too. Brian Kelly knows it. That’s why LSU continued to chase and chase until Davis was finally wooed back to Baton Rouge.

You need an elite defensive line to compete at the top of the SEC. It’s not a matter of if LSU will have that under Davis, it’s a matter of when. Everywhere this guy goes, success follows.

Sometimes building a staff isn’t hard. This is the rare case where you’re average message board poster could have done it.

This doesn’t mean the LSU defense is going to flip a…