LSU Football's Focus Remains on Finishing 2020 "Right Way" Despite Planning for Future
Throughout all of the craziness and downward spiral this 2020 season has brought to the LSU program, Ed Orgeron has remained optimistic. The 3-5 start to the season hasn't at all been what Orgeron sold throughout the offseason as the general consensus around everyone you talk to was that this wouldn't be a rebuilding year.
Following a championship caliber season and the amount of players the program lost, many were expecting a slight fall from grace rather than a plateau. But after the opt outs of Ja'Marr Chase and Tyler Shelvin, an injury to Myles Brennan and early season losses to Mississippi State and Missouri, it became overwhelmingly obvious that a rebuild is exactly what LSU is going through.
According to Orgeron, the 55-17 loss to Alabama didn't reflect the effort and preparation the team played with throughout the game. It was a statement he reiterated on Monday during his weekly press conference and was an outing that Orgeron said came down to a lack of execution and facing a better opponent.
"I thought our team, just like I said after the game, competed very hard, prepared well. The will to win on the sideline was there throughout 60 minutes of the game," Orgeron said. "A lot of young players got a lot of valuable playing time, competed really hard."
At some point, turning focus to 2021 has got to be the goal as this season for all intents and purposes is finished. The Tigers' coach has said in the past that he wouldn't sacrifice wins for getting the younger guys an opportunity to show what they have on the field.
But in recent weeks, you've seen more true freshmen absorb snaps, something that has come with a loss of key players throughout the season and the program leaning heavily on its young group.
LSU has played 19 true freshmen this year, many of whom have carried out starting roles with the program. Freshmen quarterbacks (TJ Finley, Max Johnson) are throwing to freshmen wide outs (Arik Gilbert, Koy Moore, Kayshon Boutte).
Redshirt freshmen and sophomores are anchoring the secondary (Jordan Toles, Cordale Flott, Jay Ward). Even true freshmen defensive linemen (Jaquelin Roy, Jacobian Guillory, BJ Ojulari) are starting to see an increased volume of the snap count.
The future is now for the Tigers and what is hopefully seen down the stretch is some momentum and establishing strong building blocks that a young, inexperienced group can grow from.
"To be honest with you, we're doing it already. They're all playing. It's not like we're saving for the future," Orgeron said. "It's what we have. Most of the players that are playing are playing for 2020. It just happens most of them are young players."
Despite an obvious focus on building for the future, Orgeron said that the focus has always remained on 2020 and that there has been no talk of 2021 and beyond.
"We don't talk about 2021. We talk about finishing 2020. I got to give credit for all these guys that stayed, that didn't opt out," Orgeron said. "We want to finish strong. I think you saw the willingness to compete to the very end against a very good football team. I expect that throughout the season."
