Tuesdays with Ed: Arkansas

LSU football coach Ed Orgeron had his weekly meeting with Baton Rouge reporters via Zoom.

Before previewing the Arkansas game, Orgeron issued a statement in response to a piece by USA Today about the university’s mishandling of sexual misconduct complaints filed against football players. You can read the piece here.

“Before we start, I’d like to address the USA TODAY article that came out,” Orgeron said. “First I want to say that we need to support and protect victims of violence, sexual abuse of any kind. There’s no place in our society nor on this campus or on our football program for any behavior of this type.”

“When accusations are made, we have a legal and moral obligation to report every allegation to the university’s Title IX office so due process can be implemented. I have in the past, and will continue to take appropriate action and comply with reporting protocols. I have confidence that the university is working to address our policies and processes when allegations arise. That is all I’m going to say at this time.”

There is no way to segue from something as serious as these allegations to something as trivial as a football game, but we will move on.

The first football related question reporters had for Orgeron was the overall health of the roster after LSU’s game against Alabama was postponed due to players quarantining. Orgeron is confident LSU will have enough healthy players to play Saturday in Fayetteville.

“We feel we should get most of our quarantine guys back either today or tomorrow,” Orgeron said. “So we feel like the room’s going to be full today for the first time. We’re actually going to have two quarterbacks practice.”

Orgeron said that while the situation is fluid, he believes most of his players will be back this week. The challenge will be making sure the players who did have to quarantine are in proper physical condition moving forward.

“We’ll have to ease them back in,” Orgeron said. “First of all, they’ve been working out on their own. They were in good shape when they stopped, so they haven’t been out that long. Hopefully the workouts kept up to pace, they can come and practice. I think it will be fine.”

Orgeron only had good things to say about the Razorbacks. Some—including myself—had Arkansas going winless this season, but Sam Pittman has gotten the Hogs to 3-4 and Arkansas is favored over LSU Saturday.

“They’ve got players better. Feleipe (Franks) has made a difference, but they’ve got better players,” Orgeron said. “Kendall Brown has done an outstanding job. They go hurry up. They’re one of the fastest teams we’ve seen on offense. They have faith in their coaching staff. They’re getting love and they feel like they could be a good team. Give them credit.”