LSU Coach Ed Orgeron Confirms COVID-19 Outbreak, Team Still Preparing to Play Alabama

Orgeron confirms a number of starters included in quarantine

LSU coach Ed Orgeron says that there are a number of players who are currently in quarantine because of a COVID-19 outbreak within the program. Orgeron wouldn’t confirm a number of current players who have the virus and are in quarantine, just multiple starters are included.

The outbreak started early last week on Tuesday or Wednesday and the program has contacted the SEC, according to Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger.

#LSU has notified the SEC. The two parties have been communicating for the last few days on this situation. https://t.co/NH4N2PgQI2

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) November 9, 2020

Dellenger reports that the outbreak stems from a party around Halloween and that the quarterback and defensive back positions have been most affected.

"We are dealing with COVID and contact tracing I can’t go into detail. It’s a very fluid situation," Orgeron said Monday. "We do have some players who have COVID and have some players in quarantine."

As far as potentially postponing this weekend's game against Alabama, Orgeron said that as of now the team is still preparing for the game and that he would let doctors, the SEC and athletic director Scott Woodward make the call on whether to move forward with a game on Saturday.

An interesting decision from the conference could be ahead, as LSU has already filled its Dec. 12 makeup date with the Florida Gators as a result of an outbreak in October. We should know more by Wednesday as to whether or not the conference will move forward with postponing the LSU-Alabama game.

According to a report from The Athletic, LSU currently has no available long snappers, tight ends and just one scholarship quarterback available at this time, freshman TJ Finley. 

The SEC as a whole is dealing with some tough decisions as Arkansas coach Sam Pittman has also tested positive for COVID-19 and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher also announced that team activities were suspended due to an outbreak.

The Tigers are currently slated to kickoff with Alabama at 5 p.m. on ESPN.

This story will be updated as more details are provided.