COACH O TALKS 2021 LSU @ THE ROTARY CLUB

transcribed by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN

@LonnPhillips

-This past spring semester, LSU's players hit their highest ever GPA during the Coach O era.

-"Our Offensive Line will be our strength but we have to develop some depth."

Coach O said both Garrett Dellinger & Anthony Bradford can play "guard & tackle" & "are the 2 guys I'm expecting to get some playing time behind our starting O-Line."

So it looks like Dellinger & Bradford will be fortified swing men.

-Running back Ty Davis-Price weighs 225 and is in "the best shape he's ever been at LSU". Coach Orgeron leads with TDP's name first, quickly followed by John Emery Jr's as another strong running back option. Yet, you feel the name to beat is Ty Davis-Price, what we've preferred and believed all along.

"Two five star running backs outta high school, best shape they've ever been in, John Emery's doing some great things academically."

-Orgeron was extremely excited about LSU's wide receiving group, but he paid extra tribute and attention to LSU's 2021 freshmen WR class:

"WR...we're loaded again," Coach O began, an expression of vengeful menace upon his face.

"I really believe our WR corps, especially our freshmen, is gonna be one of the strongest parts of our team."

ON KAYSHON BOUTTE: "After Ja'Marr left, we put #1 on Kayshon Boutte. It took a little while for him to come, but then you saw his last games, broke all kinds of records. I think he's gonna have a tremendous year for us."

ON TREY PALMER: "Trey Palmer, who won the state 100 yard...100 meter....right there out of Kentwood."

ON JARAY JENKINS & KOY MOORE: "Jaray Jenkins, Koy Moore, all those guys (Kayshon & Trey included) are gonna have a great year."

"Guys I'm excited about....are.....freshman Deion Smith, the #1 player out of Mississippi right there....Brian Thomas Jr, who we fought like heck to get right there out of Louisiana.

Malik Nabers...who was committed to another school. I woke up on Wednesday morning, I said 'you know what, we have another scholarship...let's get that boy from Comeaux, Malik Nabers....and he's ended up being one of our best players.

Chris Hilton right there from Zachary, I believe those guys are one of the best freshman wide receiver classes that we've had."

ON QUARTERBACKS:

-NUSSMEIER: "I really believe we have two championship quarterbacks, three possibly when Garrett gets....he's a freshman, it's gonna take him a little while to learn the offense, as you saw in the Spring game. He's a great athlete, comes from a great family, has great athletic ability.

-MYLES BRENNAN: "Max Johnson...and Myles Brennan....it's a toss-up. It's gonna go all the way down to the wire, probably one week before we play UCLA we'll decide who's the starting quarterback. I told them 'it's competition in everything we do, but one thing I do like about Myles is he came in last year, there were a lotta question marks about Myles...I thought he played great. I thought he was fantastic, I thought he played good enough for us to win every one of those games, it wasn't his fault."

-MAX JOHNSON: "And Max Johnson, as a freshman, Max waits his turn, TJ goes in....Max gets his turn and as a freshman, goes & wins on the road in the Swamp...I told them 'there's only one quarterback at LSU right now that's 2-0, his name is Max Johnson'....so let's see...let's see who's the best man: whoever wins, we'll be in great shape."

"The Offense is gonna be geared to what you saw in 2019. Spread offense, throw the ball, 50/50, get the ball to our playmakers, get 'em in space and let 'em make a lotta plays."

-ON KOLE TAYLOR: "I gotta give Steve Ensminger a lot of credit for recruiting Kole Taylor. Before I got here, the tight end was considered an offensive tackle, that was a joke....now they actually catch the ball.....so, he's 6'6 250, he can block for us."

-ON JACK BECH: "He's a great receiver out of St. Thomas More....he's gained some weight and we're gonna play him at TE.

-ON JACK MASHBURN: "Watch out for a young man named Jack Mashburn, he's a walk on from St Paul's High School and I think he's gonna have a great career for us."

"We're excited to have our whole defensive line coming back. Andre Anthony, Ali Gaye, B.J Ojulari, Neil Farrell, Glen Logan, and Joe Evans had one of the best springs of all our defensive tackles.

But I wanna tell you guys....watch out for these two names: Maason Smith & Bryce Langston. Maason is from Terrebonne, he's about 6'6, about 315....can move, very good student, very good athlete. Bryce Langston is from Florida, very quick, I think those two guys are gonna play a lot this year. We have a rotating defensive line..."

"We have two of the best, if not the two best corners in America in Derek Stingley and Eli Ricks, backing him up Dwight McGlothern and Ray Jones. So, Corey Raymond, as you know Corey's a great Tiger & great recruiter, has done a tremendous job with those guys. We gotta nickel starting position for us now...we don't have a SAM linebacker as all the offenses are spread now, and we feel like we have an outstanding nickel in Cordale Flott, backed up by Cam Lewis."

SAFETIES:

"At safety, it was a question mark, okay, but then we went out and get Sage Ryan, Derrick Davis from Pennsylvania, we had the #1 safety & #3 safety. And then we went and get Major (Burns), Major came back....he was at Georgia, he was from Baton Rouge....came back, transferred, has done a tremendous job and probably has the best chance to start for us. So, we have changed a weakness into a strong position. Also, we moved Jay Ward....Jay Ward had an outstanding year for us last year, blocked a field goal against Arkansas, had a tremendous interception against Florida...we've moved him to free safety so I think we're gonna be very strong in that area back there in our back four."

LINEBACKERS:

"At linebacker, we think Damone Clark is gonna have a tremendous year, Micha Baskerville is eligible, he's back...Jared Small, from right here in Baton Rouge is 5'9 but plays like he's 6'3...Mike Jones who transferred here from Clemson...and then, Buggs, "Bugg" Strong was one of the top JC linebackers in the country...we have turned that into a possible strength for our defense."

DEFENSE OVERALL:

"I'm excited about our defense, a 4-3 defense, zone coverage, eliminate the big plays...we gave up way too many big plays last year, too many miscommunications, too many missed assignments. So, I told Daronte, 'I want that gone'. He said 'yes sir'....so it seems he's gonna do it (crowd laughs).

"I gotta thank Tommy Moffitt and his strength staff for doing a tremendous job getting our guys ready (for camp). I wanted to do something different this year, I said 'Tommy, I wanna go back and run the stadiums'. So what we did is we opened the stadium up every Friday at 5:50 am, our guys were really excited about it (sarcastically, crowd laughs)."

ON OU & TEXAS JOINING SEC:

"I do believe it's good, we'll become a super-conference, it'll open up areas in recruiting that weren't open before. It may open up their eyes a bit. I don't know how it's gonna affect us yet, if they ask me I'm gonna say 'whatever'....but football's changing: Name, Image & Likeness, super powers, whatever it is you gotta wanna change with the times....so I welcome them in, we've played both of 'em before."

transcribed by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN

@LonnPhillips

Copyright 2021 Uninterrupted Writings Inc

SHOUTOUTS: LET'S GEAUX COACH O!