LSU football loses another defensive starter to transfer portal

TK McLendon is the latest former LSU football player to bail on the team.

LSU football is experiencing a mass exodus of sorts with many key players leaving this offseason.

According to Matt Zenitz of AL.com, LSU defensive lineman TK McLendon has entered the transfer portal. The exodus of talent from the LSU football roster has been ongoing all offseason. One day after Ja’Marr Chase opted out to prepare for the draft and on the same day Justin Thomas transferred to UAB, LSU has lost so much on top of the 2019 defections.

Neil Farrell, Kary Vincent are two more LSU football players who have entered the portal this month.

This is an LSU team that went 15-0 last year and won a national title but will look dramatically different from the last time we saw them on the field vs. Clemson.

McLendon was slated to start on the defensive line opposite Thomas, so the Tigers will have their depth tested.

Players are leaving the LSU football program at an alarming rate right now.

Not only did LSU lose a heaping number of star players from last year’s team to the 2020 NFL Draft, but defensive coordinator Dave Aranda now leads the Baylor Bears, while passing game coordinator Joe Brady now runs Matt Rhule’s offense for the Carolina Panthers. LSU replaced Aranda with Bo Pelini and Brady with Scott Linehan, but that’s not stopping the mass exodus.

A regression to the mean of being a top-10 football team was expected for the LSU Tigers, but how could we have foreseen five players leave the program in August 2020 alone? Superstar wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase opted to turn pro, but he’s a borderline top-five pick, so can you really blame him for doing so? As for the rest, there has to be a greater underlying issue here. What is it?

It might have a lot to do with schematic issues in Pelini’s scheme or dare we say it, a personality clash of sorts. Aranda had been with Orgeron every step of the way since the interim tag was removed. He earned his opportunity to be a Power 5 head coach in Baylor. If former Bayou Bengals were flocking to Waco that would be one thing, but leaving for UAB is totally different.

For this reason, we can’t reasonably expect LSU to contend for a national title this year, even if two of the Power 5 conferences aren’t playing ball this fall. LSU may have been the No. 6 team in the AP voters’ eyes at the start of fall camp, but the Tigers may drop a few spots after seeing this many starters leave the program in the 11th hour. Something is up in Baton Rouge, that’s for sure.

Hopefully, McLendon is the last LSU starter to leave the team before the start of the 2020 season.

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