Leonard Fournette not certain to play vs. Florida

 LSU running  back Leonard Fournette missed last Saturday’s game with an ankle injury, and his status remains up in the air.

After a last-second loss to Auburn, LSU moved quickly to fire Les Miles and promote Ed Orgeron to interim head coach. Offensive coordinator Cam Cameron was also dismissed, and right on cue the Tigers piled up a school-record (for an SEC game) 634 offensive yards in a 42-7 win over Missouri last Saturday.

Star running back Leonard Fournette missed last week’s game, as he continues to deal with an ankle injury that dates back to August. Orgeron originally said he expected Fournette to return to action this coming Saturday against Florida, but on Monday that optimism was a bit diminished.

Against Missouri, Derrius Guice (17 carries for 163 yards, three touchdowns) and Darrel Williams (21 carries for 130 yards and three touchdowns) filled in very capably for Fournette. Going against Florida is a significant step up in competition for LSU’s offense, as the Gators enter this week second in the country in total defense (230 yards per game) and fourth in scoring defense (11.6 points per game).

That said, other than a loss to No. 14 Tennessee, Florida has not exactly faced great competition to this point (UMass, Kentucky, North Texas, Vanderbilt).

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Assuming no real clarity from Orgeron, or leaks to media otherwise between now and then, Fournette’s status will a topic right up until kickoff Saturday (noon ET). There have been questions about whether Fournette should even play this season, at less than 100 percent or otherwise, with his NFL future in mind.

Keeping him out against Missouri or possible Florida is a reasonable path from LSU’s perspective though, with an eye toward having Fournette at full strength against Ole Miss (Oct. 22) and Alabama (Nov. 5).