LSU Football Looking to Add Another Cornerback Before the Season?

LSU has one scholarship left in the 2020 recruiting cycle and coach Ed Orgeron said on Tuesday the team is doing its due diligence on potentially adding another cornerback to the roster before the season.

After the recent departure of safety Kary Vincent, who carved out a role as the starting nickel corner during the 2019 season, Orgeron said the team is researching its various options.

"If there is a corner or maybe a nickel corner that's out there, that's available, we may take them," Orgeron said. "We could use them right now because we're a little short. We feel good that when it comes to gametime that we're going to have some corners that will be ready to play."

Orgeron said that the secondary has a few minor hamstring injuries that are being dealt with as well so the addition of an extra body would help the team's depth.

LSU has an open scholarship after not quite filling out the 2020 recruiting class to its fullest and can go in a number of different directions with its open spot. The most likely scenario is for the team to dip its head back into the transfer market.

With the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences electing to push fall sports to the spring a few weeks back, could there be opportunity for a top player looking to play the 2020 season to fulfill that hope with the Tigers?

LSU has done a nice job in the transfer portal, evident of signing offensive lineman Liam Shanahan and linebacker Jabril Cox this offseason. Both have asserted themselves as starters and Orgeron said on Tuesday's Off the Bench that he walked off the practice field a few days ago and thought Jabril Cox looked like the best player on the field.

The other less likely scenario is to bring in a recruit in the 2021 class who wants to reclassify to 2020 and play for the purple and gold. Those cases are quite rare as the only one this year has been Florida's Kamar Wilcoxson, who signed with the Gators just a few days ago.

That's not to say that Orgeron isn't happy with what the team currently has at cornerback. Once again, sophomore Cordale Flott received rave reviews from Orgeron during his Tuesday press conference.

The sophomore is expected to start either opposite Derek Stingley on the outside or potentially move to Vincent's spot as the slot cornerback.

"We're really pleased with Cordale Flott," Orgeron said. "I think he's solidified himself as a starter either in the nickel package or the base package where you play corner. He's the guy that has shown the most throughout camp."

Freshman Elias Ricks, who was the No. 1 corner in the country out of IMG Academy, enrolled as an early enrollee but was limited in the spring due to a nagging shoulder injury. Orgeron said since fall camp started, Ricks has shown a lot of improvements and the team is happy with his development.

"You can see him getting better and better with every practice," Orgeron said.