Saahdiq Charles to return, but Lloyd Cushenberry 'very questionable'
BATON ROUGE, La. — The wheel of attrition continues to spin along LSU’s offensive line.
Saahdiq Charles, LSU’s bookmark left tackle, is expected to return on Saturday when the No. 5-ranked Tigers travel to the Swamp to face No. 22 Florida. Lloyd Cushenberry, the team’s first-year starter at center, is very questionable after sustaining an injury in the fourth quarter in the 45-16 defeat of Ole Miss over the weekend.
Cole Smith, a true freshman from Pontotoc, Miss., saw spot duty in place of Cushenberry. However, finding a potential Plan B in the middle of the Tigers’ offensive line remains a must leading into the Florida game.
“Lloyd is very questionable for the game,” Coach Ed Orgeron said during his Monday presser. “We’ll know more toward the end of the week.”
Cushenberry is unlikely to practice with the team on Monday, Orgeron hinted, and Smith is first in line to see action in his stead.
However, with Cushenberry’s status unknown heading into Saturday, LSU may be in the business of more mixing and matching with its interior lineman to find another option to plug in at center.
“Cole did well,” the coach said. “I was happy to see him. Hopefully, we give him more experience. I don’t know how much Lloyd is going to practice in the beginning of the week. We need to find a backup center, and right now, we don’t have one.”
Charles, who has missed the past two games, is expected to be get green lighted to return at left tackle. Orgeron said as much on Saturday after the game and reiterated his optimism on Monday before the team returned to practice.
Garrett Brumfield remains out for the Florida showdown, meaning Donavaughn Campbell or freshman Chasen Hines could get the nod at left guard. Adrian Magee, who returned from injury and started in Charles’ place against the Rebels, is also a candidate to shift inside.
“I just need to him in a stance. That’d be good enough for me,” Orgeron joked of Charles. “He could not have played Saturday night. We need to see him go through practice, handling contact the right way. Saahdiq should be OK.”
The Tigers have trotted out five different starting offensive line combinations in as many weeks this season, and could be on the verge of continuing that trend in their road tilt at Florida with Charles likely to return to action and Cushenberry’s status up in the air.
Magee and Campbell drew starts along the left side of the line against Ole Miss and fared well. Badara Traore, who has started at both tackle spots this season, worked in a rotation at left and right tackle for Magee and Austin Deculus, while Hines saw spot duty in place of Campbell throughout the game.
Despite attrition up front, which has become a weekly issue for the team, LSU is slowly getting healthier and forging a deep rotation as the meat of the SEC schedule approaches.
“The offensive line has done a very good job,” Orgeron said. “Coach (James) Cregg deserves the credit for patching up the offensive line.
Attention remains on pass rush against Mullen-coached offense
LSU’s defensive line endured its share of struggles in last year’s loss to a Dan Mullen-coached Mississippi State team in Starkville, Miss. While Mullen has switched SEC programs, his offensive system remains the same, which has posed issues for Orgeron’s defenses in the past.
Feleipe Franks, a one-time LSU verbal commitment in the 2016 class, remains under center for the Gators. Mullen, a notorious quarterback whisperer, has Franks in line for a breakout campaign this season.
Franks’ 12 touchdown passes ranks 14th nationally. He boasts a 12-3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Franks has thrown three touchdown passes multiple times already this season, and at least two touchdowns in six of his last seven contests. If he continues that success through the air against LSU on Saturday, he’ll replace Tim Tebow in the Florida record books for touchdowns in a single-season.
“He’s running the ball a little better, making good decisions,” Orgeron said of Franks. “Dan will give him the throws he can make. He can’t make all the throws right now, but later on in his career, I’m sure he will. Dan is giving him the ones he can mistake.
“Dan is a good quarterbacks coach. He find the skills they can do. He finds plays they can run, identifies those skills and is very good at adapting the offense to what they can do. He has a certain game plan of what he wants the offense to look like and makes changes according to what his quarterback has.”
LSU’s defense held Ole Miss’ high-octane passing attack in check over the weekend, but the pass rush remains a concern.
Sophomore safety Grant Delpit registered the team’s lone sack against the Rebels. While the defense was able to generate a pass rush, the four down-linemen were unable to disrupt the quarterback’s rhythm to Orgeron’s liking.
“We had some good pressure on the quarterback this week,” he said. “We used different blitzes, different personnel groupings. We miscontained. We have new guys doing it, but let the quarterback roll out too many times. That’s one issue. The other issue is our four-man rush is not where we need it to be.”
That time Orgeron interviewed for Mullen at State
In between his stints as Southern California’s interim coach during the 2013 season and joining Les Miles’ staff as a defensive line coach in 2015, Orgeron made his way up to Starkville, Miss., to interview with Mullen for a job on his Mississippi State coaching staff.
Orgeron did not get offered the position.
Instead, Orgeron accepted an assistant coaching position with the Tigers in 2015. The following year, four games into the season, Miles was fired and Orgeron was named the interim head coach. He was promoted to the full-time coach after Thanksgiving, and two years later, his team is 5-0 ranked No. 5 in the country.
It’s funny how things work out.
“Dan is a friend of mine,” Orgeron said. “When I was out for a year, I spent a couple of days with the staff. I was impressed with the way they coached their defense. I interviewed with him, but they did not offer me the job. I’m glad because I ended up at LSU.”
“It all worked out,” he smiled.