LSU Coach Ed Orgeron Offers Thoughts on 2021 Spring Game
Before the start of spring, LSU coach Ed Orgeron sat down with his players and coaching staff and asked for one thing. He wanted 15 days of focus, hard work and improvement from everyone in the program.
It was a productive end to the 2021 spring session as Orgeron was able to learn plenty about his team with fans and media alike getting a first look at the new offense and defense. The Tigers were limited in what they showed or what they could do but Orgeron feels it was a good day overall for the Tigers, particularly the defense that showed great improvement from just a few months ago.
"It was a good job on defense. I think if you look at our secondary, probably the most improved area on our football team. Daronte Jones and Corey Raymond have done a tremendous job," Orgeron said. "Those guys are playing solid football. Today, we played one, maybe two coverages. They didn't blitz. Thought the front played well. The linebackers attack went well.
"The offense, they showed a better production than they showed today. I'm just going to give it to our defense today. We didn't run a lot of our stuff, but overall, great spring."
The defense was indeed the standout of both teams as the White and Purple rosters combined for eight sacks and 14 tackles for a loss to go along with five interceptions. Limiting the explosive plays was one of the goals that Orgeron and the defensive staff wanted to show heading into the afternoon and while the offense converted on a few plays down field, it was a much cleaner game than expected.
Some of that had to do with the offense not showing very much in terms of scheme and the limited running back options also gave the defensive players an advantage to some degree. The play of the defensive line is what really stood out as the starters and second unit were both able to apply consistent pressure on the offensive line.
"We are more of an attacking defensive line. We've got some depth there. We think that we've got four or five guys that can rotate in there and play very well," Orgeron said. "It was good to see J-Roy [Jaquelin Roy] have a good day today. Maason Smith was limited a little bit. He had a minor injury. Those guys are really good football players, probably NFL players, both of them."
In terms of the offense, the goal was to not show very much but also see if the explosive plays could still be found. Max Johnson and Myles Brennan both had bright moments and big plays down field but there was certainly not much shown down in the redzone. In terms of the quarterbacks specifically, Orgeron said the next step is finding the top two guys and giving them the majority of the reps, a decision that's likely to take place this fall.
Orgeron said that over the course of the coming months the offense will start becoming a little more nuanced but overall, thought it had also shown a little bit more throughout the course of the spring than it did during the spring game.
"I wanted to see some explosive plays, we wanted to see some production. I think we got stalled a little bit on first down. I think we didn't do a good enough job on first down. We got behind the chains a little bit," Orgeron said. "Our protection wasn't as good as we wanted to and our run game. Short passing game has to improve. We got in empty a lot, which was good. We're going to get in empty. We didn't show everything. I think when you put John Emery in there. When you put the guys that are going to be in there, we're going to have a very good offense."
