Video: Orgeron hopes for no more LSU opt-outs but hints it may not be over

In facing the media Tuesday for the first time since a rough weekend for his football team, LSU coach Ed Orgeron knew the topics of players opting out and social justice would come and come quickly.

After two days of losing two key players in Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Shelvin for the 2020 season who have decided to opt out to prepare for the NFL Draft, Orgeron stated the obvious.

“We talked about next man up,” Orgeron said. “We wish them the best. They did everything they could for LSU while they were here, helped us win a championship. We wish them the very best in the NFL in their training coming up and we’re going to support them 110 percent. We have guys that are going to step up.”

Orgeron added that he hopes they were the last players to opt out, joining Neil Farrell and Kary Vincent but said it may not be the last of those to do so.

“There’s a couple of guys that are thinking about it to be honest with you,” Orgeron said. “Every one for different reasons, maybe family reasons, maybe health reasons. Maybe there’s one or two that maybe are thinking about it. Hopefully, they don’t but if they do, we’re living with it. If they do opt out, we’re still going to have a great football team.”

With the numbers of those opting out growing, is LSU looking for immediate help to fill holes?

“Yes, we’re always looking for players,” Orgeron said. “We’re looking at players right now, obviously. We have some needs. We have a need at cornerback. We have one scholarship remaining and I think we’re going to use it on a cornerback.”

Fortunately, LSU has a lot of wide receivers capable of contributing to help mitigate the loss of a special player in Chase and depth up front on defense to help deal with the loss of Shelvin and Farrell.

“If there’s any position that can take that, it would be the wide receivers and the defensive line because we have a lot of depth there,” Orgeron said. “A guy that a lot of people don’t talk about that’s a great player is Terrance Marshall. That’s 200 balls between Jefferson and Ja’Marr that’s got to be caught. These guys are eager to catch them, man. Boutte, Koy Moore, those guys have stuck out. Jontre Kirklin, Racey McMath and Terrace, this is their time.”

With the losses to players opting out and the loss of 19 players to the NFL level, including 14 who were drafted, the current state of LSU football took Orgeron back to a dark time not long ago with his program.

“Especially the day after we lost to Troy (24-21 on Sept. 30, 2017),” Orgeron said. “The black clouds were all over, it wasn’t good. I think that’s one of the most important games we’ve played since I’ve been the coach here. That’s when things started changing. That’s when we got back to business. That’s when we focused in on the daily tasks. Whatever this team turns out to be, my job is to get them to be the best they can be.”

Meanwhile, Orgeron is doing some soul searching about how to deal with non-football issues permeating his program and others around the country.

“Over the weekend, we had a lot of time to think about things that are going on. I talked to the team yesterday. I talked to Pete Carroll, my mentor about how he’s handling the things outside the football facility, the social injustice, racism and we talked about it as a team. We’re getting more educated about letting our guys voice their opinions, talking about things they are going through and how we can be part of the solution.”

One player who has become a team leader on and off the field is Jacoby Stevens.

“Phenomenal,” Orgeron said. “I can’t thank him enough for what he’s done. We had a leadership meeting on Monday. Our guys were having a meeting again today talking about things. We really opened up some dialogue and I know who team leaders are. We he speaks, everybody is listening. He’s very intelligent. His family is from Louisiana. He’s a great player, great young man. He’s a big asset to our football team.”

Orgeron praised a pair of players who looked very good in practice Monday.

“I thought that Kayshon Boutte had a great day yesterday and Jacobian Guillory, those guys are making plays,” Orgeron said.

It was reported last week that all but four LSU offensive linemen were quarantined with coronavirus concerns. Orgeron defused the concern.

“Our whole offensive line was back, as far as I know, yesterday,” Orgeron said. “It was good to see them. I’m not going to give you numbers. It’s good that it happened now and not in the middle of the season. We had a very physical practice yesterday. We did not have any physical practices yesterday because of it.”

Orgeron also praised the work of passing game coordinator Scott Linehan.

“I think he was a tremendous hire,” Orgeron said.

LSU will venture into Tiger Stadium to work for the first time this week for a big scrimmage. That will help prepare the Tigers for possibly playing before no fans in the regular season.

“We have to create our own energy, we have to create our own excitement,” Orgeron said. “It’s going to be something new.”