Players Suspended? What We Know

Speculation is rampant in LSU interwebz circles that LSU will have multiple players suspended for Saturday’s season opener with BYU.

Sources are keeping specifics extremely quiet, and Ed Orgeron wants it that way, per a comment in today’s SEC coaches teleconference, relayed by Ross Dellenger:

“Every week, we’re going to handle in-house discipline,” he said. “Those things will be decided towards the end of the week. I will not announce before the game any in-house discipline. Every week, it’s going to happen on a weekly basis.”

This is consistent with Orgeron’s policies as an interim coach last year, in which a handful of discipline cases were kept quiet until the player involved was not dressed out in pre-game warmups.

Charles Hannagriff, of 104.5/104.9 ESPN Baton Rouge’s “Sports Today” (full disclosure, a show on which I am an occasional guest) mentioned, vaguely, that a few players would miss the game, mostly backups and reserves. Again, this is not all that unusual as of late, as the classic “team rules violation” suspension can encompass any number of infractions, from drug tests to meeting tardiness to academic merits (missed classes/study hall sessions, etc...), and small infractions can build up over the offseason.

For now, we’ll avoid most of the rampant speculation with regards to names, but note a few things — for starters, we know that Lanard Fournette, Adrian Magee and Donavaughn Campbell have had, or still have, pending legal situations. Missed time would be relatively standard discipline in all three cases. Other players that have been noticeably absent from practice reports over the last month include sophomore receiver Dee Anderson and defensive end Sci Martin. Both players would also fit the reserve caveat mentioned on the radio.

Beyond that, Orgeron’s listed two-deep may contain a few clues, based on some surprising inclusions. I would also note that it’s unlikely that he would include players knowing they would be held out.

Otherwise, we’ll probably find out the list once the Tigers take the field Saturday night.