LSU Football Coach Ed Orgeron Says "We Need Football" As College Athletics Continues to be Threatened

LSU coach Ed Orgeron hasn't heard much about the potential delay of a college football season in 2020 but his personal opinion hasn't wavered since the shutdown of spring camp back in March.

"This is not my decision, but it’s my own personal opinion, we need to play football," Orgeron said Tuesday on ESPN 104.5 radio show "Off the Bench." "I can’t wait to play football. We need this season, and I think we are going to play.”

That's why he, the LSU coaching staff and the players are approaching the next few weeks not worried about the "outside noise." They're just focused on the things that they can control and the height of that goal is making sure the players are prepared for training camp on Aug. 7.

Monday officially kicked off the first week of the NCAA’s six week preseason plan as coaches are finally allowed to spend a few hours with the players.

Student-athletes may be required to participate in up to eight hours of weight training, conditioning and film review per week (not more than two hours of film review per week) from July 13-23.

LSU can start “football school” on July 24, where the team can go through two weeks of walkthrough practices with a ball. Orgeron said he feels like a kid on Christmas with practice right around the corner. There are a number of players Orgeron is excited to see once practices, even the walkthroughs, start up on next week.

"I can't wait to see Elias Ricks, I'm excited he's going to be full speed, I can't wait to see Arik Gilbert and coach [James] Cregg is very impressed with our young offensive linemen," Orgeron said.

In gearing up for that tough outdoor sled of practices, strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt has pushed the players to the limit, particularly on Friday according to the players.

Orgeron heard about the strenuous workout and called Moffitt "the head coach" in the weight room, saying he's very impressed with the early results out of voluntary workouts.

"Friday was one of those days where you've gotta grind through it," Orgeron said. "From what I heard it was a very tough workout but you've gotta go through those things, fight through those things and Tommy put them through a grueling workout and from what I hear they did fantastic."

It's those tough workouts, those days where everyone is struggling to get through the day where the true leaders of the team emerge. Which player receives the No. 18, going to the player that best exemplifies leadership, has been one of the internal decisions the team still needs to make.

The player who seems to be the overwhelming favorite is safety JaCoby Stevens but Orgeron went into detail about a number of players that have stepped up from a leadership perspective this offseason, including receiver Ja'Marr Chase.

Myles Brennan, Austin Deculus, Dare Rosenthal, Chris Curry, Andre Anthony and Damone Clark are other names Orgeron mentioned as leaders of the team.

"I think you find out a lot about leadership when you go through adversity, when it's tough in camp," Orgeron said. "When everybody's moaning and groaning asking 'why are we practicing so hard?’ Who's going to stand up and say 'no this is the LSU way and this is what we need to do.' That's what I'm looking for."