LSU Football Coach Ed Orgeron Says "Buckle Up Big Boy" as Team Prepares for SEC-Only Season
It's set to be another newsy week out of the SEC as the conference is expected to release the altered 10-game, all-conference schedule at some point as well as any potential revisions to the start of fall camp.
During his weekly appearance on ESPN 104.5 radio show Off the Bench, coach Ed Orgeron said that while nothing is official, everything he's hearing from the conference is that the team will be allowed to start fall camp on Aug. 9.
Because there are still seven weeks until the season is set to kickoff, Orgeron said there will be more off days in an attempt to keep the players fresh, treating the preseason more like how the team would practice ahead of a bowl game.
"They're going to tell us how many days we'll be allowed to practice before the first game and then we're going to have a lot of days off with the season still being seven weeks away," Orgeron said. "We have to save our team. I can't wait to get our guys back, our coaches are on vacation this week but I think the team will have to report on Sunday."
In regards to the schedule, Orgeron doesn't have any insight into who the team might play but that it will find out soon enough. With there being an extra few weeks before the start of the season, it will allow the coaching staff to make preparations and devise gameplans for those additional two teams. Orgeron said the challenge will be fierce in the new look season.
"Buckle up big boy," Orgeron said when asked about the schedule. "What else can you say? What a challenge, the best conference in the world. You play eight conference games and now you're gonna play 10. To get to the top, you've got to be the very best which means you have to beat the very best."
LSU just finished up football school, which was essentially a two-week period of walkthrough practices where the team got to run through the various schemes and situations on both sides of the ball.
Orgeron was left impressed by the development of the offense, particularly the young offensive linemen and freshman running back Kevontre Bradford. Bradford's name has popped up on more than one occasion as the speedster out of Texas has received his fair share of praise over the past few weeks.
While the team was only able to do so much in walkthroughs, Orgeron said the other trait he learned is just how athletic this team will be in 2020, particularly on defense. Jabril Cox, Antoine Sampah, Josh White, Cordale Flott and Jordan Toles were just a few of the players that Orgeron said fans will be surprised by how fast they are.
"We're big and fast and run to the ball," Orgeron said. "We've got a lot of speed on this defense, a lot of speed on the edge, some great defensive ends that can run."
Part of the gameplanning within each program is trying to make sure the players are as safe as possible when they take the field. That extends to the equipment, where helmets are covered in a plastic face mask for protection.
The new design has been met with mixed reviews from the players, as one of the running videos on social media Monday was right tackle Austin Deculus saying it's like trying to breathe "in a ziploc bag." Orgeron responded to the new helmets, saying there will be an adjustment period with them.
"We all played football, if I had something on where I couldn't breathe, I wouldn't be comfortable," Orgeron said. "I think it's just going to be an adjustment period, work through it and we're going to have some different choices."
