LSU football: Arik Gilbert opting out, but may return to Tigers in 2021

LSU football tight end Arik Gilbert will opt out for the rest of the 2020 college football season.

Arik Gilbert‘s true freshman season with LSU football will come to an end after eight games.

The former five-star recruit out of Marietta, Georgia committed to the LSU Tigers as a cornerstone of their 2020 class. Gilbert played in eight games, hauling in 35 balls for 368 yards and two touchdowns. However, LSU has struggled this year at 3-5 and the Northwest Georgia native is reportedly homesick. He missed practice earlier this week and has officially opted out.

While LSU head coach Ed Orgeron remains optimistic that Gilbert will return to Baton Rouge for the 2021 campaign, there is a great chance he has played his last snap for the Bayou Bengals. The most obvious team to keep an eye on here is his home state’s Georgia Bulldogs, a team head coach Kirby Smart would certainly love to gain his five-star talent at the tight end position.

Is Arik Gilbert as good as gone from LSU now?

No matter how you want to slice it, this is not a good look for Orgeron and the LSU program. We are not even a year removed from the Bayou Bengals going a perfect 15-0 en route to a national championship. Now we are looking at the first defending champion to not finish above .500 the following year in a lifetime. Yes, Gilbert may return, but the ball is firmly in Georgia’s court now.

Gilbert’s native Marietta is about 90 minutes from Athens, Georgia, making it very easy to occasionally go home and for his family to see him play. Though Gilbert would be a huge get for the Georgia offense. Keep these two things in mind. Georgia has struggled to throw the ball to the tight end for some time. They also have fellow five-star Darnell Washington in the same class.

No doubt this year has been hard for all of us. Can you imagine being a college freshman right now, much less playing high-profile college football for a blue-blood program that is struggling after winning a national title? It’s understandable Gilbert is experiencing some homesickness. Maybe spending the holidays back in the Peach State will do Gilbert some good? Let’s hope so. However, the writing is on the wall that he is done with LSU after 2020.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.