Derek Stingley Jr. adding receiving duties to game could make LSU star a Heisman finalist

If Derek Stingley Jr. can make a few plays on offense, get him to New York.

What we saw last year out of LSU football defensive back Derek Stingley Jr. was no joke.

Stingley turned heads every time he took the field for the Bayou Bengals. Entering his season second with the LSU Tigers, Stingley feels like the frontrunner to keep the Jim Thorpe Award in Baton Rouge. By the end of the year, he was playing better than his teammate Grant Delpit, who earned another Thorpe Award for DBU. What about getting Stingley into Heisman consideration?

LSU saw its second player ever win the Heisman Trophy last year in quarterback Joe Burrow. Not since Billy Cannon starred for LSU in the late 1950s had the Tigers had a Heisman Trophy winner. They’ve had other finalists before, including defensive back extraordinaire Tyrann Mathieu during his unforgettable sophomore season of 2011. Maybe Stingley can be that for LSU in 2020?

Playing receiver sometimes is key to getting Derek Stingley Jr. a Heisman.

It’s exceedingly rare that a defensive player wins the Heisman Trophy. In fact, the only Heisman winner of note who was a defensive player was Charles Woodson. He starred in the defensive backfield for the 1997 Michigan Wolverines. Playing a little bit as a receiver helped him edge out Peyton Manning of Tennessee, Ryan Leaf of Washington State and Randy Moss of Marshall.

What does serve Stingley in his potential quest for the Heisman is he’s only a rising sophomore, so he has ample time to get this done. He’s also already seen as the best defensive back in all of college football. The other thing he has going for him is a handful of defensive players have been Heisman Finalists in recent years in Mathieu, Chase Young, Jabrill Peppers and Ndamukong Suh.

While Young and Suh were strictly defensive players, Peppers factored in a little bit as a running back/receiver for Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines. Mathieu was a return specialist for Les Miles’ Bayou Bengals on the team that nearly went undefeated. Having something else to accentuate great defensive prowess, whether that be as a receiver, running back or return man, will aid Stingley.

Even though passing game coordinator Joe Brady has left the LSU program for the Carolina Panthers’ offensive coordinator role, head coach Ed Orgeron replaced him with a former NFL head coach and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who will be overqualified to serve as Steve Ensminger’s passing game coordinator. Perhaps he’ll have a package he can feature Stingley?

Because LSU won a national title last year, the Tigers are given the benefit of the doubt to do pretty much whatever they want for the next season or so. Myles Brennan has a chance to make it back-to-back Heisman winners for LSU, but don’t count on it. He’s not the most talented player on this team, as Stingley and wide receiver extraordinaire Ja’Marr Chase beat him to the punch there.

Chase has a strong opportunity to win the Heisman in his own right. He might be the best wide receiver in college football in years. Receivers like Johnny Rodgers, Tim Brown and Desmond Howard have won the trophy before, although Howard was the most recent one to do it in 1991. Maybe Stingley can learn to strike a pose like Howard did at Michigan nearly 30 years ago?

No, we don’t need to see Stingley lead his team in receptions in a game. Let the masterful wide receiver Chase do that for LSU. All we need is Stingley to have a few electrifying plays with the ball in his hands to give some uniformed Heisman voters a taste of what special looks like from a non-quarterback position. He’s a long shot to win it, but adding receiving skills give him a chance at it.

Stingley may be the next defensive star to earn a Heisman Trophy ceremony invitation in 2020-21.

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