COACHES CARAVAN: WHAT COACH O, WOODWARD, JONES, CARTER, BAKER, MANGAS & PEETZY ALL HAD TO SAY

transcribed by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN

@LonnPhillips

HEAD COACH

COACH ED ORGERON

COACH O ON HIS SPRING 2021 FOOTBALL EXCITEMENT:

"Yeah you know the guys have a tremendous attitude about themselves. 20 guys decided to come back, they came back for a reason: to win a championship. Great leadership, they're excited about our coaching staff. You know we ended the season with 2 big wins, a great recruiting class, so we're in an upward trend right now."

COACH O WHEN ASKED BY T-BOB HEBERT HOW HIS STAFF WERE ABLE TO KEEP THE 2021 RECRUITING CLASS MOMENTUM GOING DURING 2020'S TUMULTUOUS SEASON:

"First of all, we built great relationships with these guys, I've been recruiting them for 2 years, 3 years and these guys saw the championship team...that was fresh in their mind and they wanna be part of that. And then again, they saw all the guys in the NFL this year, the development of 3 stars, the Joe Burrows, the Clyde Edwards-Helaires... ya know, Justin Jefferson just going out and doing such a great job in the NFL, they wanna be apart of that."

COACH O WHEN ASKED BY JACOB HESTER ABOUT HOW THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED RECRUITING:

"I actually recruited Derrick Davis, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and I'd never even met him or his parents. They walked right in front of me on the first day of reporting, I didn't know who they were, I had to introduce myself. They are great people, he's an outstanding young man but you know what, the relationships we built and the face time and the times that we spent every day on the pow wow was really (something or special)."

COACH O ON RETURNING STARTERS:

"They're battle tested, you know one of the things T-Bob and I were talking about this fourth quarter... (the fourth quarter drill) that we didn't work out of position groups. We mixed the team, I wanted the team to fight for each other. We would promote leadership, we would promote team, and guys you know running backs are working with linebackers, offensive linemen are working with DBs and they're learning each other and they're learning how to fight for each other."

COACH O AFTER T-BOB ASKED HIM ABOUT HAVING VETERAN LEADERSHIP:

"Yeah man! Confidence, man! Confidence! They've been there...hey, they know what we expect. I say something, we do it one time. Hey we're going through football school, think about this: we're putting in a new offense and a new defense again! Some of these guys this is their third offensive in a row. But they're not blinking and they love it."

COACH ON ASKED ABOUT MYLES:

"Myles is phenomenal. He's healthy, he's leading the pack, he's been the team leader...especially on offense. And you know we (?) after each practice who's elite. In the workouts he's been elite in at least 3 of 4 of the workouts so far."

COACH O ON THE OFFENSIVE LINE:

"We needed it. The young offensive linemen they're just not ready to play yet. And uh there's a gap, we talked about that the other day, but to have Liam Shanahan, Ed Ingram, Chasen Hines, Austin Deculus and Dare Rosenthal? Having all those guys back with Cam Wire gives us a lot of confidence that we can run the football."

COACH O ON THE DEFENSIVE LINE:

"On the defensive line, we got the whole front back. I tell ya, the guy who's really impressed me is Andre Carter our defensive line coach...man, he looks like he can play out there, he was fired up today. They're not gonna take anything from nobody I can promise you that."

COACH O ASKED BY T-BOB ABOUT THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN THE NEW COACHES:

"Well it's all start now, ya know, and I'm kinda stoking the fires myself a little bit, man, I like the competition in between coaches. You gotta start with our coordinators, two bright young coordinators...but they haven't been a coordinator yet, so they're hungry... but this is their shot, man they're at LSU they want to do good. I see 'em at work early, I see 'em at work late, they pay attention to the details and both of 'em are doing a phenomenal job and that trickles down to the new assistants. Think about this: you've got 5 new assistants who came to LSU to prove themselves...so they're hungry, they're ready to go."

COACH O ASKED ABOUT PEETZ & JONES' NFL ACUMEN:

"...that's what I wanted to bring to LSU, LSU deserves the very best and when I talk to these guys on offense and defense and listen to where they've been. Think about where Daronte's been. He's been in Minnesota where his head coach is the best defensive backfield coach in all of football. Know what I'm saying? And he's bringing that knowledge. I got the front seven, I know the front seven. He and I's mix has been phenomenal, then you got D.J and Jake comin' in...who worked under Joe...exactly what we wanted to do. I tell you what, I couldn't be more pleased with this coaching staff."

COACH O ON THE TEAM:

"Really impressive today, at the end of...T-Bob and Jake you'll like this, man...we brought these guys back okay, at the end of fourth quarter and I brought them all into one ring and I said 'okay gimme your top defensive lineman, gimme your top offensive lineman and we'll have 'em (battle?) against each other. Gimme your top wide receiver... top DB Derrick Davis Jr stood up against one of our top WRs and won as a true freshman. That goes a long way...(Jacob Hester says "that can springboard to the fall")....exactly!

ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

SCOTT WOODWARD

"It's something that's not a good part of what's happened in the past and it's something I'm glad that President Galligan, with his leadership, is owning and we're owning it as a department. Saying, "we have to do better and this isn't what LSU is" and we're hoping we learn from this thing and do it in a proper fashion. And it's something that as an LSU alumnus I'm embarrassed about. Hey while it happens and human beings can be flawed and problematic at times, it's not an excuse. We gotta get better and do better and we will do better. Hopefully our actions speak louder than our words."

"We are first and foremost an educational institution, we have to learn and get better at how we do things, we have to educate our staff and coaches to do better. We have to be really concerned about the survivors and what goes on in these things. We'll learn from this and do better, I'll promise you that."

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR

JAKE PEETZ

PEETZ RESPONDING TO QUESTIONS FROM LSU LEGENDS

T-BOB HEBERT & JACOB HESTER

- Peetz talked about integrating Sean McVay, Sean Peyton, Jon / Jay Gruden as well as Joe Brady's offensive philosophies.

- Peetz meets with one single position group in a day on offense, focusing on each group: yesterday was offensive line.

PEETZ ON HOW IT'S GOING "GETTING TO KNOW" THESE PLAYERS:

"It's been great and I think that's a testament to the guys Coach O brings into the organization. Because we have really good young men who want to grow, who want to learn."

-Peetz seems ready to put the entire package together, a career-full of learning & growth under some of the best offensive minds in the game:

"That process started day one..." Peetz met with every single player on the team and asked them "what do you think we can execute at a high level...and then, who are the best players to do those things."

"Joe Brady is one of my good friends not just in football but in life as well. Having that experience with him last year I think it was easy to work with each other because I was in a similar passing game when I was with McVay and Jay Gruden."

-He talked about learning processes, just like Daronte Jones: how he can help the players learn the best and how you can apply it.

ON HOW HE'LL UTILIZE THE ROSTER:

-"Talking to our staff, we have ya know X, Y, Z, F, 0 whatever you wanna call that person, just take that out. Everybody can be everywhere. And then the personnel groupings we can move in and out of 'em, cause who's our best 5? It's no different than in a basketball game: put your best 5 out there. Like we have 5 eligibles, let's maximize them and let's stress the defense."

PEETZ ON QBS & MYLES BRENNAN:

"It's been great. You look at the men we have in this room, great young men. You know you look from eldest down to youngest, look at Myles Brennan and the experiences he's had. Grew up wanting to play here at LSU, he's learned from some great coaches, great players, seen a lot of things and he's doing an outstanding job leading."

PEETZ ON MAX JOHNSON & T.J FINLEY:

"And then you look at Max Johnson & T.J Finley comin' in that class, and Max how great did he close the season out? Did a great job of leading and you look at uh T.J Finley, look at what he did...that kid has a lot of talent. I've been working on the lower half with all these guys, and I tell you what, when these guys are lower half sound, they can put the ball anywhere they want it. And those two are great young men..."

PEETZ ON GARRETT NUSSMEIER:

"And Garrett Nussmeier coming in as a freshman is really hungry..."

PEETZ ON QBU:

"and I'll tell you what, we wanna make this Quarterback University. Joe Burrow set this bar very high...and you wanna talk about being someone others want to emulate, we don't want to just try to get to that standard, we want to continue to meet that standard and move it up. So, the expectations are high and we have some really good guys who wanna play quarterback at LSU. And we're gonna continue to try to create competition in that room. Cause when we compete in that room, we can compete everywhere in the building."

LSU O.C'S JAKE PEETZ ON HIS OFFENSIVE SWAGGER:

"What we're talking about is we wanna create a nightmare...THEIR nightmare....OUR dream...."

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR

DARONTE JONES

ON HOW HIS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL EXPERIENCES IN LOUISIANA IMPROVED HIS TEACHING:

"Well, it helps you develop a plan. And so, teaching us about the lesson plans, being prepared for the day, how do you plan on being impactful for every student that's there in the class, ya know, everyone learns differently. And you know to try to have, or to try to get across to some of these students, we want to try to tap into the best way they learn."

ON TEACHING USING THE STATE OF THE ART WALKTHROUGH ROOM:

"It's been nowhere I've been before. It's invaluable what you can do with that room. You can put it on the screen and have four different formation adjustments. So now you don't have to worry about scout team knowing the formation, what motions occur, just put it on the screen. And then they go."

-He discussed how the simulator is really assisting the defense in learning gap assignment and praised the unparalleled technology of the room.

"It's almost like having another team in front of you...."

ON MIKE ZIMMER / NFL TRANSLATING TO COLLEGE:

"Well it's different. Uh, the field is wider cause of the hashes, so that's an adjustment there. Uhm, the concepts are different. You can say it's a copy-cat league, but in the NFL it is a copy-cat league. And I'm sure in college football it is as well, just to a different extent. So, Coach Zimm, I loved the way he went about preparation, I learned a lot from Coach Zimmer. Vance Joseph, one of the best DBs coaches ever and he's been a mentor of mine since 2001. And so I've been fortunate to be around some darn good defensive backs coaches. But one of the thing about the game is the RPO is starting to make its way into the NFL more....like, so you can see the influence on the college game on the NFL. Ya know if it was a couple years ago, you may say it's a huge adjustment coming from the pros to college, but now you're seeing it with the Baltimore Ravens, the Kansas City Chiefs, you seen it with the Arizona Cardinals...so, it's coming, right? Before you know it, you won't be able to tell the difference. The passing game, we see a lot of the same concepts. But the quarterback play is totally different in my opinion. In the NFL, the QB play is in the pocket, making those intermediary throws, where as college football you have to defend...it is 11 on 11 football. In the NFL, he's a conveyor belt, he can hand it off, it's more like 11 on 10. In college football it is 11 on 11 and they force you to defend the entire field."

"The tempo is different. I learned that early from the walkthrough. I said 'hey guys let's huddle up' and they all looked at me. I said 'well let's just make sure we get the signals' (chuckles)."

TAKING ON THE DBU EXPECTATIONS:

"Just the tradition of DBU, to walk into the cornerbacks room, the safeties room and just see the history. The guys that are on the wall...you look at that and are amazed by it. And that tradition is what sets the tone. And with the guys we have comin in, they have to uphold that tradition. A lot of the former players get together in the true offseason and they get together and work out with past and present players. They work on drills, talk about different techniques and there's like a clinic. So imagine that, DBU have past players (some in the league), present players who are young and eager to learn, and it's like a clinic. I think that stands the test of time. And to come to this university, if you are a defensive back or a defensive backs' coach or have a defensive backs background, that is what entices you. When you have a Stingley, an Elias Ricks, a Cordale Flott, a Jay Ward, ya know those guys that come in...and the room is deep. They're all taller than me, which is a good thing (chuckles)."

HAVING SUCH TALENT AT CB, DOES IT ALLOW CREATIVITY?:

"It allows you to try to maximize each individual. They're all different in their own way, there's strengths and weaknesses (mic drops out)."

DEFENSIVE LINE COACH

ANDRE CARTER

ON THE FOURTH QUARTER DRILLS:

"It was amazing, just the level of intensity and the level of competition, especially with Coach O and the rest of the coaching staff...this place...it's unlike anything I've ever experienced. I think we all came from some type of collegiate institution where they implemented (mic drops) workouts back in the day...I had my fair share of it, but it's been nothing compared to what we do here currently, it's great."

ON COACHING D-LINE:

"I always tell my players, I always tell them 'my mentality of coaching is to coach every day is if it was my last day coaching on earth', alright? For me, especially playing as long as I did, not to get long winded, I had 13 years of playing in the NFL, I had basically 9 position coaches and had probably 12 defensive coordinators...so I had 9 different position coaches telling me 9 different things. Out of those 9 position coaches, I probably had 4 that were truly good mentors. So what I did was I took the philosophies of those coaches and basically encompassed it into one where...this is the philosophy, style and technique of how to play defensive line.

And then I give them all the tools, within a day to day process of being elite. This is what it takes to be elite. And you spoonfeed 'em from alignment to assignment to technique to execution to how you stay in the game.....and I tell them this, 'I coach them as if I'm the younger version of myself in that seat'. Ya know and so they have to understand I'm giving you knowledge that I wish I had learned at the collegiate level...so, take notes and pay attention because like I'm trying to help you grow your career. You all have aspirations to be in the NFL, well this is what it takes."

HIS FATHER RUBIN:

"The funny thing is he won. We'll always compete: he'll be like 'I was a 5th Round Draft pick'...'alright, well I was a 1st Round Draft pick'...he played 12 years, 'well I played 13'...and then he'll be like 'well I won 3 AFC Championships' and I'm like 'well I won one...but I really didn't play cause I was on IR'. Then I went, 'well I just got my first Pro Bowl'...he's like 'alright you beat me'...that's the level of competition."

ON D-LINE OPTIONS:

"I love it, there's nothing wrong with competition, I always encourage my players 'don't be scared of competition, competition brings out the best out of you'...it makes you...it allows you to measure up to who you're going against and who you wanna be....who you wanna claim to be. And so...especially in SEC football: I told my players 'this is unlike any level I've ever experienced' and you're talking to me, no offense to the Pac 10 cause I went to Cal, go Bears...love my Bears but now I'm an SEC coach....it's just different, different dynamic and most of these guys that I'm coaching now have the potential to be in the NFL....and most of the players we're going to be playing against have the potential to be in the NFL. The level...the standard's high, the level is high, the competition is high, so everyday, you have to come in with the mindset to be great."

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NFL & COLLEGE:

"Well obviously, especially as a collegiate coach...especially as a collegiate coach, uh, you're in charge of the education aspect of it. Within the NFL, it's just play ball. Now, obviously you have the off-field distractions, things of that nature, which you can manage. But now, you're more of a mentor. 'Hey, you gotta go to class...if you don't go to class, you're not gonna play.' And every individual on our team is important...so that's the difference. Overall, these are young men that are just...they're the babies we're trying to mould into young men... and it's great, I love the experience."

LINEBACKERS COACH BLAKE BAKER

BLAKE BAKER ON BEING BACK IN LOUISIANA:

"It's been unbelievable, you know when you talk about just having the opportunity to be around family and friends and a lot of familiar faces...and the food unfortunately for my belly, the food is second to none. So, I've really enjoyed it thoroughly.

(asked by T-Bob how it felt to get the call) It was really uh sublime feeling....you know it's something that...I played at Tiger Stadium as a player obviously coached there too, just knowing the history and the tradition of this great university. A lot of people don't know my brother, his top two final schools...he ended up choosing Texas but LSU on his official visit...we were there in '97 at the Florida game. So we go into the locker room afterwards, I talk to Coach Faulk all the time about this, and I said 'how in the hell is this guy not gonna pick LSU'...I still give him crap about that. So, just having the opportunity to be apart of this program and carry on its tradition it's uh...like I said, quite a sublime feeling."

ON CURRENT LBs:

"Right now, you know I think Damone has the most experience. He's a coach's dream. A phenomenal, phenomenal kid...wants to do everything to perfection. He's probably one of the hardest working players I've seen out there on the field on a day to day basis. And I've challenged him for bringing the other guys along. When you look at the rest of the room, not a lot of guys who've played in the room. I know we're going to get 2 or 3 guys in the summer who aren't with us now, but I'm really excited about the group we have now. You look at a Josh White, a uhm Navonteque Strong, Antoine Sampah, there's a lot of guys with a lot of potential."

ON DEFENSIVE STAFF:

"The relationships have been phenomenal. Daronte and I, we really work hand in hand really well together. I told him the first night I had the job, 'I'm coming here to be your sounding board'. We bounce ideas off of each other, Daronte's such a humble guy, fun to work for and I'm really excited about the entire defensive staff in general."

ON INNER-STAFF COMPETITION FOR SPRING:

"There's a little juice, but not a lot of chippiness right now. But it's coming, especially with Mickey, I've got a little history with Mickey Joseph so...I'm gonna let the receivers have it. We worked together at Louisiana Tech and I played with his cousin Derrick at Tulane so we go back a little bit."

ON HAVING SPRING PRACTICE IN 2021 COMPARED TO LAST YEAR:

"It's crucial, you find out so much about your team in the Spring. You find out a lot about your team, but you find out a lot about individuals: how they're going to respond to adversity, how they like to be coached, especially as a new staff. This is really our first time on the grass with these guys..."

ON COACHING LBs:

"The biggest thing I'm trying to get across to the linebackers right now is don't be afraid to make a mistake. Let's cut it loose, let's go full speed, we'll correct it on film and go from there. I think that's kinda where we're at, and I think it's refreshing. As a unit, some of the guys are afraid to screw up."

(T-Bob asks him if he wants to "re-inject aggression into the LB corps)

"That's right, 100% right, and we're gonna make mistakes it's not gonna be perfect, but let's be 100%, two feet in and...be physical...and that's kinda the challenge I have going forward.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE LB POSITION:

"When you talk about recruiting those guys, it's changed. The biggest thing used to be how can they fill an A gap, now it's length, speed, space...so the game's definitely changed."

LSU'S 2021 DEFENSIVE PHILOSOPHY:

"We've talked a lot about it, I think Daronte's done a great job of just understanding that we're going to be really really good at our bread and butter and everything else can wait until summer or fall camp...and let's get good at what we need to be good at and go from there. So, I think we're going to be very patient with our guys as far as our install but let them understand...like I said it's all about playing fast, playing physical, don't be afraid to make mistakes, let's know this defense like the back of our hand before we move forward, so I think that's kinda the mindset going into it."

PASSING GAME COORDINATOR

D.J MANGAS

ON HIS ARRIVAL:

"It's been good (to be back here). Coach O is a routine guy...and I think anybody that's....obviously I was here in 2019, been away for a year, don't know what's changed...anytime you go to a new spot, you try to figure out what's changed so you can adjust and figure out your routine, but it's been...I don't wanna say seamless, but it's been better than anywhere else I've been, just for that reason right there. Guys are working hard, obviously Jake and I worked together....ya know...in Carolina. We've matched pretty well...we matched well in Carolina, and it's matched well so far...so it's been good."

ON BEING HERE IN 2019 HELPING HIM ADJUST:

"Yeah no doubt, it helps. I also try to leave that aside too, not to jump through too many conclusions. Look at these guys kinda clean slate and see how they've evolved and changed over time. Ya know, I had opinions then but I kinda wanna look at it from a different perspective: taking what I know about them but also knowing that I have a whole lot to learn about these guys as well...and there's a whole lotta new faces, too....I mean there's a lotta guys, as you're aware that we lost from the 2019 team between now and then...so it's been good to learn these new guys, a lotta them through the recruiting process I knew them a little bit but....that's been an adjustment for me, especially coming from the NFL and not being a position coach, now I'm working with the receivers on top of being passing game coordinator. So getting to know these guys from a more personal standpoint has been really good."

HOW HE FEELS BEING "THE YOUNG GUN ON STAFF", QUESTION FROM T-BOB:

"I guess it comes to mind...it obviously helps seeing Joe do it, Joe Brady. He's a year younger than me and I saw him do the exact same thing...just watching his approach each and every day. You'll hear him say it: 'just try to be the same person every day and just be you' and over the course of time if you lead by example and you put the work in and the guys see that each and every day, it doesn't matter how old you are. So, I think seeing Joe being able to do it and having that mindset, it's in the back of my head but it's not really something...as you go day to day through the process...it's not something I think about it like that."

ON THE WRs, SPECIFICALLY KAYSHON BOUTTE:

"Ya know that's the beauty about a place like LSU, you reload. And it's a testament to the talent in-state: all the guys you mentioned before are Louisiana guys, all the receivers and then Kayshon, you have several others on the roster that are Louisiana guys...so, I'm looking forward to obviously...and the crazy part with him is he's just scratching the surface. He's still very raw, he's young...I think the sky is the limit for him. And he's had a good...since I've been here going through all the workouts and all that, you wonder if guys who've had a taste of success if they're going to get maybe a little complacent...and I haven't seen that. I don't expect to see that, he's been great so far."

ON THE PGC ROLE:

"It's overseeing the passing game, obviously, it's talking with Jake and getting on the same page with how we see things ya know, from a formation standpoint. Which concepts we like vs certain coverages, so it's overseeing the passing game and Jake has been great to work with, ya know just allowing me to oversee it as much as I have up to this point. And ya know, we see a lot of the same things the same way so that's also made it easier coming from Carolina and the 'Joe Brady Tree' so to speak. That's it in a nutshell, but it's just basically overseeing the passing game and putting our guys in a position to succeed."

WHAT KIND OF IMPACT WILLIAM & MARY HAD:

"It's interesting, just trying to figure out why so there's so many guys out there: Sean McDermott, Mike Tomlin, Joe Brady to mention a few, there's something to it...there's gotta be something to it. I do think...it's a prestigious school, you do have to be pretty smart to go there, but at the same time it's not like it's SEC football. CA football is very good, but guys like me and Joe we weren't nearly talented enough to keep playing, as much as we would've loved to....so, you combine some smarts, hopefully with the work ethic and some of the intangibles that you hopefully possess when you go to William & Mary, you develop over time. I will say Coach Laycock too, 39 years at William & Mary...there's something to that too: there's the foundation, the consistency, you just don't see that nowadays in college football. We were lucky enough to have that time to play for him, to coach for him. So things like that, being around a lot of great people at William & Mary, but I think just having the combination of just being smart and combining that with the work ethic and the love for the game and not being good enough to keep playing and I think that's what you get. I tried to figure it out but Arena ball wasn't cutting it for me, or I wasn't cutting it for them."

ON THE TIGHT END POSITION

(JACOB HESTER REFERENCES THAD MOSS FROM THE 2019 TEAM):

"It's valuable, that's where you create your mismatches. When you have a good receiver...uh receiving corps and you've got so much attention on those guys especially on 3rd down, especially in the red zone, that's where you saw Thad (Moss) show up in some situations. But when you're trying to take the top off the defense and you need a reliable threat underneath, that's where the tight end comes into play. You know, we haven't even had a ball yet...and I've gone back and looked at film and things like that, but Kole Taylor obviously shows a lot of promise.

We still have a lot of work to do there, all the way around, but I think in this offense, in this system, if you can get a guy there...and I think Kole might possess some of those traits, it's huge to take this offense to the next level. And Thad wasn't the biggest guy either, but he had the mentality, the mindset of being physical and I think I see some of that in Kole. He has the mindset and now it's just building frame. So I think for those reasons, just like you said...and you look at the leading receiver in the NFL, who is it? It's not a receiver, it's Travis Kelce, a tight end. So to your point, the game has changed...so the versatility at the position, Thad being able to do what he did and just hopefully us finding that guy and seeing it in Kole and Kole being able to do that as well."

OUTRO

"Appreciate you guys for having me, GEAUX TIGERS!"

transcribed by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN

@LonnPhillips

Copyright 2021 Uninterrupted Writings Inc LLC

SHOUTOUTS: ALL THE COACHES, THANK YOU! T-BOB & JACOB THANK YOU! And for all the LSU fans who unfollow me for an opinion one day and then follow me back the next day, that's fine...but I'm never going to report or write about things on here just because they make me comfortable or make me feel good. Title IX isn't something I want to talk about, but I have to because LSU protected rapists...don't blame me for the ridiculous, spineless antics of LSU's higher-ups.