LSU vs. Tennessee: Mark It Down—Tyrann Mathieu Is Already the Defensive POY

In terms of a single player, there may not be a more impressive player in all of college football than LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu.

Following the departure of Patrick Peterson to the NFL, people worried that their secondary would drop off in production. Instead, under the “Honey Badger,” the unit has gotten even better.

Many people consider him to be an outside contender for the Heisman Trophy, so it should come as no shock that he is the leader for the national player of the year award.

Let’s look at his competition to see who else he’s up against.

Vinny Curry

Curry is the best player to come through Marshall since possibly Chad Pennington.

He had 11 sacks last season and is on pace to break that with six already this season. He’s forced two fumbles and blocked two kicks in addition to registering 33 total tackles as a defensive end.

This guy is good, but he goes to Marshall, and they are 2-4. Curry won’t get any awards outside of Conference USA.

Luke Kuechly

Kuechly leads the nation in tackling with 99, and the next closest only has 81.

He’s an absolute tackling machine, but he has yet to get a sack this year, and while he's incredibly consistent, voters like to see big plays.

Plus, Boston College is 1-5 this season, which never helps.

Vontaze Burfict

The next best linebacker is Vontaze Burfict from Arizona State. Burfict doesn’t have the crazy stats like Kuechly, but he makes up for it with his big plays and hard-hitting.

He has four sacks on the season, as well as an interception and three other defended passes.

But the national player of the year should have both style and substance, and Burfict doesn’t have enough tackles to justify giving him the award

Melvin Ingram

All of the preseason talk about South Carolina surrounded super freshman Jadeveon Clowney.

Melving Ingram made sure people started talking about him. He’s had some crazy plays, including a fake punt run in for a touchdown and two fumble recoveries for touchdowns. He also has 5.5 sacks, two passes defended and two interceptions. As a defensive end.

But the difference between Ingram and Mathieu again comes down to which team they play for. South Carolina lost to Auburn, and it doesn’t look like LSU will come close to losing at home to the Tigers.

Tyrann Mathieu

Mathieu has forced six turnovers by himself, recovering three of them and returning two for touchdowns. He also has defended four passes, which ranks 52nd in the country, a sack and 41 total tackles as a cornerback. As a punt returner, he is averaging 7.46 yards, which is 36th in the country.

Not only does Mathieu have the consistency and big plays, he also plays for the current No. 1 team in the country.

The next closest cornerback is Virginia Tech’s Jayron Hosley, and he hasn’t even scored a touchdown or forced a fumble.

Unless he gets injured or drastically falls off in production, there is no way the Honey Badger doesn’t win the Defensive Player of the Year Award.