Ed Orgeron holds press conference to preview season opener against Georgia Southern
You know it's LSU game week when Coach Ed Orgeron is repeating the phrases "Tell the truth Monday" and "block out the noise" practically on a loop. The third year Tiger coach held his first game week press conference Monday to talk about the position battles still up for grabs and LSU's first opponent, Georgia Southern.
The team is leaving no stone left unturned when it comes to preparing for the triple option offensive attack the Eagles will run against the Tigers.
"I would say we started breaking them down last February," Orgeron said. "Started looking at them in the spring. Analysts did a great job in recruiting, the recruiting period. We had extensive meetings on them, walk-throughs on them. Been preparing for them since the spring."
Preparing months in advance for one non-conference game may seem like overkill but seeing as LSU rarely faces a team that runs the triple option in the SEC, much less as successfully as the Eagles have, it's better to be over prepared than under prepared.
Georgia Southern averaged 266 rushing yards per game in 2018 and is returning starting quarterback Shai Werts, who ran for over a 1,000 yards with 15 rushing touchdowns a season ago. Orgeron said containing Werts will be the biggest challenge of the game and said the key to stopping him will be to keep him from scrambling to the edge.
"The thing that happens, when this quarterback gets on the edge, he's very dangerous," Orgeron said. "He can make you miss. He'll pitch it at any time. That's where they make their big plays."
LSU also released its first depth chart of the season with a few position battles still hanging in the balance. The tight end battle between Thaddeus Moss and Stephen Sullivan has been an ongoing topic of discussion for the last week. Moss is listed first on the depth chart but Orgeron said that both Moss and Sullivan are considered starters and get ample playing time.
"Thaddeus has had a great camp and I do believe he and Stephen are considered starters now," Orgeron said. "Thaddeus can block. He's big and physical. Catches the ball well, is very mature. He and Joe have a tremendous combination. He's made some tremendous catches. He has great hands. That's why I recruited him, because of his catching ability."
"Stephen is a difference maker. Obviously he's not the big blocker like Thaddeus would be. Can stretch the field. We can flex him out, do a lot of things with him. Stephen has proven to us he can make big plays in big games."
Another battle that will be a game time decision is the inside linebacker position between Jacob Phillips and Patrick Queen. Orgeron said sophomore Damone Clark has been phenomenal in camp and will be on the field a lot this year but said the experience from Phillips and Queen will be good compliments opposite Michael Divinity.
"They are battling, man," Orgeron said. "It's very close between him and Patrick. That's going to be a game time decision. Again, Damone Clark has had an excellent camp, you're going to see him a lot. He's going to play a lot. I expect him to be an excellent LSU linebacker."
The left guard position between Chasen Hines and Adrian Magee has been another battle as an injury to Hines left Magee handling most of the first team reps during fall camp. Hines recently returned to practice and there is no indication on which one will ultimately receive the start.
Nose tackle Tyler Shelvin and Siaki "Apu" Ika have been in a battle all camp as well and Orgeron said today he considers both to be starters but isn't ready to pull the trigger on a starter against Georgia Southern.
"He and Siaki (Ika) are listed right there," Orgeron said. "I think we look at this week. It would be easy to name a starter today. But I like to have the competition. I like to see how they're going to practice this week, how they're going to act. Then on Friday night, I like to talk to the coaches about what kind of week they had. This is going to motivate those guys to have a great week, to keep competing all week. Then we'll make a decision Friday or Saturday."
