Mr. CFB: No. 7 LSU
In the college game, great teams lose great players. But consider what 15-0 LSU lost from the national champions of 2019:
**--The Heisman Trophy winner (Joe Burrow).
**--The Broyles Award winner for best assistant coach (Joe Brady).
**--The Biletnikoff Award winner for best wide receiver (Ja’Marr Chase announced on Monday that he would opt out of the 2020 season).
**--Defensive tackle Tyler Shelvin, who decided in late August that he would opt out for his junior season.
**--Four of the five starters that won the Joe Moore Award, which goes to the nation’s best offensive line.
**---The Thorpe Award for the nation’s best defensive back (Grant Delpit).
**--A total of 14 players to the NFL Draft, which included nine underclassmen.
**--Defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, now the head coach at Baylor.
It’s hard to imagine losing all of talent and still winning the SEC West over Alabama.
But Ed Orgeron and his staff have recruited well so there will be things to build upon.
Of course, it all starts at quarterback, where Burrow set a standard that will probably never be equaled.
A lot of people wanted Myles Brennan coming out of high school and now he finally gets a chance to show what he can do.
Brennan got some bad news earlier this week when Ja’Marr Chase, the Biletnikoff winner who was set to return for his junior season, announced that he was opting out in order to start getting ready for the NFL Draft. That just means that Terrace Marshall, 6-4 and very athletic, becomes the go-to guy.
Scott Lineham, a former head coach of the St. Louis Rams, is replacing Joe Brady as the passing game coordinator.
Despite the loss of ultra-effective Clyde Edwards-Helaire, there is still plenty of talent at running back
Chris Curry had 90 yards in the national semifinals against Oklahoma. John Emery was rated as the No. 1 running back in the country coming out of high school last year.
Bo Pelini returns to LSU for his second tour of duty as defensive coordinator. On paper only four starters return but there is still a lot of talent on that side of the ball.
LSU gets Alabama at home (Nov. 14) but must go on the road to play Vanderbilt, Florida, Auburn, Arkansas and Texas A&M.
There are probably too many holes to fill for LSU to win the division but it’s going to be fun watching Coach O and the Tigers give it a try.