Ed Orgeron interviewed Marcus Freeman and Zach Arnett as potential candidates to fill the defensive coordinator voids at LSU and neither worked out. Now, Orgeron has his sights set on another candidate that he is much more familiar with: Ryan Nielsen, the defensive line coach for the New Orleans Saints.

NFL Network reporter Jane Slater reported Monday afternoon that the Tigers were "working on finalizing a deal" with Nielsen, who met with Sean Payton and told him he plans to accept the job. However, there was a dispute about whether the "language of Nielsen’s contract will support the move to the college ranks," per Slater.

On Tuesday morning, Orgeron confirmed Nielsen is a top target for the job, but that the deal was not done yet.

“We’re still working on it. He’s a primary candidate, obviously," Orgeron told T-Bob Hebert on 104.5's "Off the Bench" radio show. "Ryan’s a bright, young, energetic coach. Comes to us highly recommended, but there’s still some things to work out to see if he can come to LSU and those things are not final yet."

Orgeron and Nielsen's relationship go all the way back to Los Angeles when Orgeron coached Nielsen at USC. Plus, one of Nielsen's first coaching jobs was at Ole Miss when Orgeron was the head coach of the Rebels.

“I coached Ryan in in college at USC; outstanding player and outstanding young man. He decided to coach and started volunteer coaching at USC with me and Coach Carroll then went to Idaho then came to (Ole Miss) and became my full-time defensive line coach then took off. At North Carolina State he had four guys that he recruited that were drafted and I think a couple of them were first round picks. He’s done a tremendous job with the Saints. He comes to us with rave reviews but once again the deal is not done yet.”

Nielsen just completed his fourth season as New Orleans' defensive line coach. He has a history of developing players on the professional and college levels and brings abundant experience to the position. Since 2017, six different defensive linemen have produced multi-sack games and the New Orleans defense has gone the last 43 regular season and postseason games without allowing a 100-yard rusher.

Nielsen coached at Northern Illinois from 2011-12 and was the co-defensive coordinator in 2012. Also, from 2008-09, he was the defensive coordinator and coached the defensive line and linebackers at Central Connecticut State.

You can listen to the full interview HERE.