Everything Ed Orgeron said on SEC teleconference about Mississippi State

It's kickoff week for the SEC so media across the country called in to join the first SEC coaches teleconference Wednesday morning.

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron was the first coach on the call. Here's a full transcript of what Orgeron had to say about his Week 1 opponent in Mississippi State and Mike Leach.

What's something you've learned from watching or talking to colleagues who have played these last few weeks?

"You can see that the level of play is not what it would normally be at this time of the year; maybe it's the preseason games or (season) being later, stuff like that. I thought the competition was fierce. I worry about the football team with not a lot of people in the stadium. I think we got to create our own energy and focus. The first game you worry about ball security, tackling, substitutions and getting everything right. I think those concerns are still there whether there's a crowd or not. Those are the couple of things I picked up."

Do you think the play in the SEC will suffer a bit because of delayed season or will it help?

"I think the preparation has prevented a lot of injuries here. We have less injuries here; less concussions. We're healthier than we've been coming out of camp. I do believe you'll see most teams getting better throughout the year. You make most of your improvements between the first and seconds games, so I think you'll see teams getting better throughout the year. I think the level of play in the SEC is always going to be good and now we're playing 10 games so it should get better throughout the year."

How many defenses does Bo Pelini know in his head and how much will we see Saturday?

"He knows a lot. Bo is very creative but he's also a fundamental guy and an effort guy. There's a lot of stuff he can do and when you get to camp you want to put in most of your defenses, but I think he has a rolodex where he's going to call his stuff according to the offense that we see. With the air raid he may use something that he doesn't use against another offense, so I think you're not going to see everything. He's going to bring the stuff that he needs and he does a great job calling and making adjustments during the game. I believe in what he's doing."

Any updates on COVID or anything?

"No, not today. Definitely nothing new to report."

How anxious are you to see Racey McMath step to the forefront this year?

"I love Racey. He's a hard-worker; it's his time. He's had an excellent camp. He's a great special teams player. I think he's one of the best special teams players in the SEC, but I want him to be one of the best receivers. He's a tremendous young man, a tremendous leader and I'm looking forward to him having a great season. I believe in him."

What has Jontre Kirklin meant to you in terms of team chemistry and camaraderie?

"Jontre is like one of my sons. Great young man, great family from right there at Lutcher High School. He can do a lot of things for us and has had a good camp. He's a team guy, he's unselfish. What it takes for the football team. He's a winner."

Is anyone standing out on the 2nd team OL?

"Charles Turner has come around. Charles has done a very good job for us. I believe in him. We have some young guys, Marlon Martinez, (Marcus) Dumervil, they coming along. They not ready yet, but I think they're going to have to be put in the fire at some point or another. Cam Wire is another guy that has done very good and can play either tackle. So I think you looking at Charles Turner and Cam Wire as the first guys to go in. James (Cregg) will rotate them around. Charles can play tackle or center and Cam can play guard or tackle. I think those are the first two guys that would go in for substitution or if an injury would go down."

Is there a common trait you look for in graduate transfers?

"Yeah, No. 1 is character; getting an extensive background. Position of need and then I trust our coaches. I think our coaches do a great job of evaluation and a great job of researching. Our personnel department always has guys available to us and we just go over that; position of need and can they play with us. I'll give you an example: Liam Shanahan. I think James Cregg gets to work at 3:30 in the morning and I walk by at about 6 in the morning and he says, 'Coach, I need you to watch this young man.' I watched it and said, 'You think he can play for us?' And he said yeah and now he's going to start for us. I trust my coaches. They do a great job evaluation and they know what they need at their positions."

When you were building the program, was graduate transfers something you wanted to bring in?

"We wanted to bring in the best players to LSU as possible, whether it's a graduate transfer or not. As you take over the program and look over the roster you want to build the roster the way you think it should be and obviously there had to be some adjustments. We made the adjustments. If you look at Joe Burrow, Jabril Cox, Liam Shanahan, Cole Tracy -- we've done phenomenal with graduate transfers."

How big of a challenge is it preparing for this new Mississippi State offense, something you haven't seen yet?

"First of all, you have to study (Mike Leach's) stuff. Every coach has some patterns or different formations. What he likes to do, what he likes to call. Sort of like his DNA. We've been watching a lot of Washington State film obviously, but watching Mississippi State film for personnel. It kind of gets confusing for the kids about watching Washington State play Mississippi State, but that's part of the first game. Then you have to watch that San Diego State defense that's going to play with Mississippi State personnel. You have to mix and match. Just like any first game there will be adjustments. I trust our coaches. We'll make adjustments. There will be new plays, new defenses, new formations. We just have to make adjustments."