LSU Coach Ed Orgeron Talks About Strong Leadership Group Forming With 2020 Team

Orgeron touches on deep secondary and who is competing for those starting spots.

A good foundation of solid leadership is one of the most important qualities a successful team can have. For LSU last year, it was Joe Burrow, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Thaddeus Moss, Lloyd Cushenberry, Rashard Lawrence, K'Lavon Chaisson, Patrick Queen, JaCoby Stevens and Kristian Fulton that were all viewed as leaders on the field and off.

With so many of those guys now off to the NFL, it's up to a new group to establish themselves and coach Ed Orgeron said in a Tuesday interview with Baton Rouge radio show "Off the Bench" that he's starting to see signs of a strong leadership group in 2020.

"Leaders develop and when you find out who your leaders are, it's when you're going through adversity," Orgeron said. "Anybody can lead when it's good but let's find out who steps up when there's some adversity."

On offense, Orgeron sees Racey McMath, Ja'Marr Chase, Austin Deculus and Myles Brennan as players who will be counted on to lead while on defense, Orgeron says Andre Anthony will continue to step up in that role.

"He's going to be our quarterback so he's going to have to lead for us," Orgeron said of Brennan. "We believe in him and we're going to have to have him lead in some way."

In the secondary, a few candidates that Orgeron alluded to were Stevens and Todd Harris. Stevens, while it hasn't been made official, is a prime candidate to earn No. 18 next year for the Tigers and Orgeron said Derek Stingley Jr. is somebody who will lead by work ethic. 

The various leaders of the team will need to step up now more than ever, with the impending return of athletes to campus and voluntary workouts just around the corner.

When voluntary workouts do start on June 8, the players are not allowed to have contact with any coaches in person outside of the strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt. But what about the plans for July?

During a normal summer, coaches are allowed eight hours a week with the players, six with the strength and conditioning coach and two with the position coaches. Orgeron said that's the plan the staff is working towards for the month of July but admits that could change at any moment. 

"Those two hours with us can be film and/or walkthroughs just like we did last year," Orgeron said. "We called it "Football School" last year so we're planning for "Football School" in the month of July, that's what we were told to plan for. We're planning for eight hours, two hours per week with us."

Orgeron also talked a little about the secondary for the Tigers this upcoming season and said, outside of the defensive line, it's the deepest and most talented position group on the 2020 roster. 

It all starts, of course, with Derek Stingley Jr. but Orgeron also mentioned that sophomore Cordale Flott is another guy the staff really likes and is the front runner to start opposite Stingley. With JaCoby Stevens back in the fold to not only be a leader but a versatile safety as well as Todd Harris to play deep, there is reason to think this could be one of the more well rounded units in all of college football.

"I think he [Stingley] could be one of the best players in the country and then you look at the other side we have Cordale Flott who I think did a tremendous job for us and then Elias Ricks, who looked very strong in those three days of spring camp," Orgeron said. "We've got Cordale listed as the starter right now but Elias is coming along and so is Jay Ward. We're always going to be rotating three cornerbacks."

The benefit of having two secondary coaches in Corey Raymond and Bill Busch, one that focuses on cornerbacks and the other on safeties, is an invaluable asset according to Orgeron.

"Corey, who is one of the best coaches in the country and Bill Busch is phenomenal, so it allows us to coach the nickel and allows us to be more multiple on defense," Orgeron said.

Orgeron is set to have a team meeting with the players today, a meeting that will be important in understanding what is not only expected of the players now that they're back but also commending them for the last few months of hard work in trying times.

"I'm going to praise them for protecting the team and then I'm going to talk to them about the things that we did well like the zoom meetings, the individual workouts," Orgeron said. "Like I said, Myles Brennan came back at 218, Apu Ika is a 'slim' 339 so how about that."