Ja’Marr Chase expected to turn pro, what to make of LSU football WR corps?

Ja’Marr Chase will not return to LSU football, as he is turning pro.

LSU football’s chances at repeating have taken a hit with Ja’Marr Chase turning pro.

According to CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd, “LSU star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase has informed the team that he is choosing to opt out of the 2020 college football season to concentrate on his professional career…A formal announcement is expected Monday with Chase, the nation’s top returning wideout, declaring for the 2021 NFL Draft.”

How will LSU football adjust to life without Ja’Marr Chase in 2020?

From a professional standpoint, it makes sense for Chase to forego his final two years of collegiate eligibility and enter the 2021 NFL Draft. Had he been eligible this past spring, Chase would have been the first wide receiver taken in the 2020 NFL Draft. His sophomore season with the LSU Tigers was sensational, as he had 84 catches for 1,780 yards and 20 receiving touchdowns.

Chase won the Fred Biletnikoff Award for the most outstanding receiver in college football. Poised to win it a second year in a row in 2020, it seems as though agents have changed his mind about turning pro after his sophomore year rather than after his junior year. Chase is projected to be a top-10 pick, possibly coming off the board in the top five. He is a generational receiving talent.

So where does this leave the Bayou Bengals? Despite losing so much talent to the 2020 NFL Draft off last year’s team, LSU enters Week 1 of the 2020 college football season as the No. 6 team in the AP Poll. Once the No. 2-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes fall out of the next rankings, LSU has a shot at ascending into the top five. However, the Tigers are not expected to repeat this fall.

LSU is seen as the second-best team in its own division behind the Alabama Crimson Tide. Though they may beat the Tide in Death Valley this year, look for the Bayou Bengals to have at least a pair of SEC losses with Myles Brennan taking over at quarterback for 2019 Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow. It will be a year of adjustment for Brennan and the entire LSU football program.

Though Brennan won’t have Chase to rifle the football to, he does get a strong returning receiving corps now headlined by junior Terrace Marshall and senior Racey McMath. Keep in mind LSU landed a five-star tight end in Arik Gilbert this offseason, who will help offset the Tigers’ passing game losing Thaddeus Moss to the NFL. Overall, LSU should be in decent shape to contend.

However, it will be challenging for them to recreate the magic from a year ago. Burrow, Moss, running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, wide receiver Jordan Jefferson and passing game coordinator Joe Brady are all in the NFL. Though Ed Orgeron and his staff did reload, expect the Tigers offense, and the team as a whole, to regress at least somewhat in 2020, now sans Chase.

While losing Chase to the NFL hurts their title chances, LSU has the roster of winning big this fall.

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