LSU football: 3 biggest offseason questions facing Ed Orgeron’s Tigers in 2021
By John Buhler
If the LSU football does cannot it right in 2021, Ed Orgeron could get the Gene Chizik treatment.
Now that we are firmly into the offseason, we have to wonder what year for Ed Orgeron’s LSU football team was the anomaly. Was it the undefeated 15-0 national championship campaign of 2019 or the sub-.500 mess we all saw on full display in 2020?
Despite being Louisiana’s native son, Orgeron has to get his Bayou Bengals back to being at least a 10-win team here fast. LSU may recruit at an elite level, but that top-tier talent needs to be cultivated to pay out in dividends on the gridiron. The Tigers may not be able to catch the rival Alabama Crimson Tide in the SEC West standings, but LSU does need to push for second place.
LSU has made a pair of hires to its coaching staff. Jake Peetz of the Carolina Panthers replaces Scott Linehan and essentially Steve Ensminger as offensive coordinator, who moves down to an analyst role. Daronte Jones comes in to fix a Bo Pelini defense that did not work. How the Bayou Bengals rebuilt their coaching staff will go a long way towards having these questions answered.
3 biggest offseason questions facing LSU Tigers
3. Which true freshmen could be vying for early playing time?
What LSU more than anything was a universal mass exodus. The Tigers lost so much talent to the 2020 NFL Draft, their two top coordinators left for better jobs and a few key players either opted out or hit the transfer portal. While it may have been a season doomed from the start, LSU is tasked with putting together a better offseason than the year prior. It can only go up from here.
Fortunately, LSU has the No. 4 recruiting class in the country, according to 247Sports. Though only nine of their 20 2021 signees early enrolled, there are a handful of players who could be in the mix to get some early playing time. Three players jump off the page in five-star defensive tackle Maason Smith, four-star safety Derrick Davis Jr. and four-star wide receiver Deion Smith.
Smith is one of two five-stars in this recruiting class for LSU and the only one to early enroll. He plays the right position group that Orgeron can get the most out of. Look for him to carve out a rotational role as a true freshman by the second half of the season. Davis could benefit from playing in the LSU secondary best known as DBU. Look for him to learn from Derek Stingley Jr. in 2021.
As for Smith, he goes to a position group that has produced so much top-flight talent of late. While Ja’Marr Chase and Terrace Marshall Jr. will join Justin Jefferson in the NFL, there will be opportunities for a player of Smith’s caliber to earn some early playing time. Keep in mind this will be a relatively new offensive scheme run by Peetz in Baton Rouge. Look for all three to play early.