Ed Orgeron on Tuesday previewed what's to come for the Tigers during the 2020 season (which the LSU coach believes will happen despite the coronavirus crisis) on ESPN's 104.5 "Off the Bench."
Orgeron also mentioned watching the NFL Draft this week from his office as opposed to actually attending the event like in year's past. He said he'll have the Zoom app opened and will be doing interviews after LSU players get drafted.
Here's everything Coach O had to say during the radio show:
On OL coach James Cregg: "Yeah, James Cregg. Stud -- no question -- MVP. As you know, Jacob, those guys need special attention, they need special work. The job that he did with our offensive line, that was the MVP of last year because without that, nothing's going to work. But let me say something, he has taken it another step. Dare Rosenthanl, I expect to be back. Chasen Hines is a new center that he's training. The work that he's doing with these guys. Then again, his freshman that are coming in, Marcus Dumervil, Xavier 'Scooter' Hill and Marlon Martinez. Those guys are working their tails off. They send him video every day. Coach Cregg has continued this year. He is a force on our staff. I expect us to have a darn good offensive line. It's going to be new faces, but he's accepted a new challenge and doing a tremendous job for us right now."
On Chasen Hines learning from Lloyd Cushenberry: "Not only sitting behind him on the field, but sitting behind him off the field. To see the leadership and what Lloyd Cushenberry was never on a list, never on a class miss list, was always first in line to do everything. See the leadership that guy exemplified throughout the year was great I think for Chasen and Chasen is trying to follow in his footsteps and hopefully he can."
On finding team leadership: "Dare Rosenthanl on the offensive line, just talking to coach Cregg and the things that he's doing, he's doing a great job there. On defense, Damone Clark; Coach loves Micah Baskerville, Marcel Brooks. Obviously, our corners, Derek Stingley, those guys are going to work their tail off. I think at safety, you've got Jacoby Stevens and I think getting Todd Harris back is going to really, really help us. I'm putting up the depth chart for the new freshmen coming in at every position and I can't wait to get these guys back. I'm excited about this group."
On the RB group: "They're all three different and we're going to use all three of them. The guy that's won everybody's heart is Chris Curry. This guy stayed, stayed, stayed and that's exactly what you need to do at LSU. That's what Derrius Guice did. That's what great running backs did. They wait their chance and here, Chris Curry had his opportunity and now he's one of our top backs. Chris, Tyrion and John, three great backs. Young freshman we recruited. I'm excited about all four of them."
On what Bo Pelini brings to defense: "It's just different. It's a 4-3 defense. As you know, to run the 4-3 defense, it's about energy, it's about attacking, running, getting to the football, causing fumbles, sacks, picks. You know to do that you have to play fast and you have to play hard and you've got to have energy and Bo brings it. Bo brings it, I bring it. It's going to be great."
On what Mickey Joseph brings to team: "Let me tell you, Mickey gets it and he gets it in a way that's, 'Hey, look at me.' Mickey's going to get a job done. I'll give you an example. We have an academic task force. We have 40 players that are monitored and getting called every day with everything they have to do and that's split up into four. Mickey has taken over that academic task force, he goes over everything with those guys on an every day basis. He's coaching them up the way I want it. If there's any problem on the football team, Mickey's going to handle it for me. Mickey did a great job, as you guys know, when he first came in we had to recapture New Orleans. Mickey did a great job. You don't hear anything about recruiting New Orleans now but good things. And again, the room. Joe Brady came in, but Mickey held the room. Mickey did a great job of coaching the room and how the room was because that receiver room can sometimes be a little bit different, but Mickey did a great job controlling the room and he is a great coach for us."
On the WR room: "You know Trey Palmer's going to be a really good player. Jontre Kirklin had a good spring. The guy you've got to look at is Arik Gilbert. I'm considering Arik Gilbert as a wide receiver. I can't wait for him to come back. Then you've got Racey McMath. He's big and he's strong. One of the best special teams players in the country. I think Racey, given his chance, is going to have an excellent year. Then you look at Kayshon Boutte, Koy Moore coming in. We've got a good group there."
More on Arik Gilbert: "Obviously, we can use him at tight end, that's easy, but we can split him out at X, we can put him at the S, we can use him. Scott Linehan was with (Calvin Johnson) Megatron at Detroit. There's the same plays that we can use with Arik with Megatron. I'm not going to say he's going to be Megatron, but he's a good player and we can get some mismatches with this kid. Throw him the football and especially in the redzone, he's going to be a nice target there for Myles Brennan."
On Tyler Shelvin: "Big T has come along. He's matured. He lost weight, not enough yet. I think he's really taken it upon himself to get serious about football last year and really got into the techniques that we were teaching him. Loves playing football. I thought he had a dominant year. I expect him to have another dominant year this year. He's having a good offseason. Can't wait to have him back. Great young man from the state of Louisiana. Great family. I'm just so proud of him."
On calls from NFL coaches: "I get a couple calls. It's not as much as you'd think it'd be. I think throughout the year the scouts have been given complete access. I think they get what they need. I've gotten a couple calls this week, but not much."
Confident on football season happen: "Hell yeah. Yeah. Again, that's out of our hands but I feel confident that we're going to play. I feel confident that at some point or another we're going to start. Hopefully we can get our guys back maybe in June or maybe in July, hopefully that's going to happen. We just have to follow the governors orders when the stay home is going to be lifted. Maybe we can come back to work as a coaching staff. That's going to be up to the AD and the SEC to when we can get our guys back. I think talking to those guys I feel very positive that we're going to get them back this summer at some point to get them into shape and work them out and I feel like we are going to have a season. Now, what's it going to look like in the stadium? I don't know, that's none of my business. Whatever they tell us to do we're going to do the best of our ability."
