SEC Roundtable: Latest News Out of LSU Football, Conference Opponents

Three weeks out from college football returning in the SEC and LSU, along with the rest of the SEC are starting preparations for week one. For the Tigers that means a date with Mississippi State in Tiger Stadium.

The news out of Baton Rouge was varied last week as the Tigers saw two big departures from last year's championship team but also saw some good news to close out the week. Here's some updates across the conference as the 2020 season grows closer.

Alabama

While the number of confirmed coronavirus cases have been on a steady decline in Tuscaloosa, it’s been a different story on campus. The university had another 872 cases last week (Aug. 28-Sept. 3), bringing its total to 2,047 since classes began on Aug. 19. While there’s been a decline in daily averages, the Labor Day weekend numbers will go a long way in determining the school’s approach for the start of the season and October. …

After missing some players last week, the football appears to be cruising along pretty well there have been no major injuries reported, and no one has officially opted out. The team will grind out this week and hold its second fall scrimmage on Saturday.

"I'm excited about the fact that we have a bunch of guys that are committed to playing," Nick Saban said. "I know there's a lot of things going on in the world right now that can affect that as we see on a daily basis in terms of choices and decisions that players make. I think it's important that once you make a commitment to doing something that it creates more value for you if you do it the right way and you focus on what you need to do be the best player that you can be and control the things that you can control. I think that everybody on our team can create value for themselves by playing." —Christopher Walsh, BamaCentral

LSU

There is never a shortage of LSU news as the Tigers lost two of their best players in the span of a 48 hour period. With Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Shelvin now off the roster, the outlook of the 2020 season looks much different for the purple and gold.

One of the big headlines to come out of the week was the invention of a new cooling technology for players’ helmets. This new gadget was created in an attempt to make the players more comfortable when wearing the COVID-19 helmets with a face mask.

A total of 14 committed and uncommitted prospects from the 2021 class visited the campus this weekend to check out Baton Rouge. The visit proved to be vital for top targets Korey Foreman, Maason Smith and Tristan Leigh to name a few. —Glen West, LSU Country

Mississippi State

Quarterback battles often headline training camps when said battles are going on and it’s no different at Mississippi State. The difference is, for the Bulldogs, it’s actually what is likely the contest for the backup signal caller role that is drawing the most attention as the preseason rolls on in Starkville.

MSU head coach Mike Leach hasn’t yet named his starter, but it has long been assumed graduate transfer from Stanford, K.J. Costello, will be QB-1 for the Bulldogs and Leach has now said numerous times that Costello is ahead. From the outside looking in, many might assume that would make sophomore Garrett Shrader – who started four games for State a season ago – the lead candidate to be Costello’s backup. It doesn’t appear that’s the case.

That’s because true freshman Will Rogers has come in and is apparently not playing anything like a true freshman. After the Bulldogs scrimmaged for the first time last Saturday, Leach said Costello and Rogers were the ones who shined at quarterback.

"I thought K.J. had a really good day," Leach said. "I thought Will did an admirable job. A lot of times a freshman goes out there, first scrimmage, and they'll flinch a little, but he came out of it fast and I thought he did some good things. The others I thought were competitive. They can line up and play to a point. But I thought (Costello and Rogers) had the best scrimmage.”

It wasn’t the first time Leach has praised Rogers either. And Rogers has garnered vocal admiration from his teammates as well. It’s not to say Shrader couldn’t ultimately end up being the primary backup. But all indications are Rogers has passed Shrader for at least the time being. –Joel Coleman, Cowbell Corner

Vanderbilt

The Vanderbilt football team suffered another slight setback last week with the announcement that the team had another group of players test positive for the COVID-19 virus. The university does not release numbers on cases either on campus or with the team, though speculation is that there were less than ten positive tests this time around. Still, it is the second such positive testing, thought this one did not derail practice like the last which forced a five-day stoppage of all team-related activities.

As for on the field, head coach Derek Mason seems encouraged by the work and progress his team seems to be showing. Obviously coaches are known for their uncanny ability to say a lot but give little information. Mason is certainly one of those coaches, but his facial expression and demeanor during his most recent Zoom call say he is excited. It all depends of course on how things translate to a real game. Mason and his team still have a lot of issues to fix, position battles-including quarterback- to decide, and improvement to make before they head to Texas to open the season against A&M. - Greg Arias, Commodore Country