LSU Football Coach Ed Orgeron Previews Spring Practice

What Orgeron picked up from coaching under Jimmy Johnson and what the expectations are leading into spring

LSU was back on the field Monday afternoon, just a month after clinching its fourth national championship. The Tigers begin their "Fourth Quarter" programs this week so it was only natural for coach Ed Orgeron to appear on local Baton Rouge radio show "Off the Bench" to preview the upcoming spring.

"It's really the foundation, the start of our fundamentals," Orgeron described the Fourth Quarter program. "It's about doing things right, about taking command under pressure. The guys got tired and did make some mistakes but I thought for the first day there was tremendous energy, tremendous coaching from our staff. Everybody's on the same page."

Orgeron said in spite of last year's success, it's officially time to start thinking about next season, putting the magical 2019 season behind them and focusing on getting better. Orgeron, who will be heading into his fifth season as the Tigers head coach said it's a message that's hard to convey to his players but that it's necessary to get them in the right frame of mind.

"I think it helps on one hand and it hurts on the other because we lost a lot of players," Orgeron said. "I think if you have those guys coming back I think you'd probably expect a little complacency. But this is a new group, we've got a new quarterback, new offensive line so they're hungry to prove themselves."

With so much roster turnover in such a short span of time, Orgeron immediately looks to players that will be asked to lead this team including Biletnkoff winner Ja'Marr Chase and safety JaCoby Stevens on the defensive side of the ball.

One of the things Orgeron said he picked up from coaching under Jimmy Johnson was holding the best players on the team to higher standards and making examples out of them.

"They understand my standard of expectations of them are very high and if they don't meet it I'll let them know immediately," Orgeron said. "Not in front of the team, not in an embarrassing way but if they do something incorrect I will not let it slide. I learned that from Jimmy Johnson, coach your best players the hardest and the rest of the team will respect you. These players know that we care about them first and they know that we have the knowledge to get to where they ultimately want to go." 

With spring practices beginning March 7, Orgeron said priority No. 1 is to reestablish the LSU standard of performance that made last year's team so special while at the same time starting to learn just what makes this 2020 team different from the title team.

"There are different ways to win a football game," Orgeron said. "Last year we were dominant on offense, dominant quarterback play, dominant running back play and just played phenomenal all around. I'm not saying we will or won't be that dominant on offense but the matter at hand is to win the football game. I do believe we can be better on defense, better on special teams and continue to improve on offense."

If you care to catch the full interview, click this link.