LSU football: Ja’Marr Chase won’t opt out of 2020 season

LSU football fans should be relieved Ja’Marr Chase is returning for 2020.

Don’t worry LSU football fans, Ja’Marr Chase isn’t opting out of the 2020 college football season.

Chase won the Biletnikoff Award as a sophomore as the best wide receiver on the 2019 LSU Tigers’ National Championship team. Had Chase been eligible to enter the 2020 NFL Draft, he would have been without hesitation the first wide receiver off the board. Keep in mind the 2020 NFL Draft was widely considered to be the greatest wide receiver draft of all time.

While he could have opted out of 2020 and declared for the 2021 NFL Draft like Penn State Nittany Lions linebacker Micah Parsons did, doing so was out of the question for Chase. His father Jimmy Chase spoke with 247Sports Wednesday about his son’s plans to finish out his LSU career strong and keep playing for the Bayou Bengals this season.

“He’s going to play the season out,” said Jimmy Chase. “He’s locked in with his team, and as long as everybody is healthy, he’s said he wants to play with his team and his teammates…He just loves the game, and he loves LSU. He wants to finish his career out in a positive manner.”

Ja’Marr Chase sticking with LSU football is ideal for Myles Brennan.

Even though it is unlikely LSU will repeat as College Football Playoff National Champions, as the Tigers lost so much talent to the NFL, including Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Joe Burrow, Chase has plenty of reasons to return to Baton Rouge for his true junior season and to continue to ball out of control. His new quarterback Myles Brennan must fell ecstatic.

Brennan has the tall task of replacing “The Geauxt” as the LSU starting quarterback. However, he does have the best wide receiver in college football to rifle the ball to in Chase for one season. Chase has to be the frontrunner to win the Biletnikoff again, but much of that is contingent on his growing rapport with Brennan in the passing game, as well as the revamped LSU passing offense.

LSU lost passing game coordinator Joe Brady to the Carolina Panthers’ offensive coordinator role this offseason. While head coach Ed Orgeron landed a fantastic, overqualified replacement in former NFL head coach/offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, it will never be what we saw out of the Two Joes in that one magical LSU football season.

As for Chase, he recognizes his brand will only grow by suiting up for the Bayou Bengals. He has the highest NIL valuation of any returning player in the SEC for a reason at over $500,000. For a school that has produced Odell Beckham Jr., Justin Jefferson and Jarvis Landry at the wide receiver position, we’re quite possibly looking at the next Randy Moss in Chase at wide receiver.

With Chase coming back for 2020, LSU has a decent shot at repeating as SEC Champions again.

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