Ed Orgeron was back with LSU football for the Tigers’ trip to Kentucky, marking his first road game with the team since a health scare pulled him away in August, according to a program spokesperson.
The former LSU head coach, now a special assistant on coach Lane Kiffin’s staff, had missed the Tigers’ first road trip of the season, a Sept. 19 loss at Ole Miss. His absence began in mid-August, when Kiffin said he sent Orgeron home from a preseason practice because he “wasn’t feeling real well.”
“It was a little bit scary,” Kiffin said on Sept. 14 after Orgeron missed LSU’s first two games.
Orgeron, 65, had already been seen back around the football world last Friday on a recruiting visit in New Orleans. He stopped by the Edna Karr-Brother Martin game as LSU pushed to flip Crusaders senior Easton Royal, the nation’s No. 1 wide receiver, from his commitment to Texas.
His official title is special assistant to recruiting and defense. Before stepping away from the team, he had been working with LSU’s defensive linemen during preseason camp.
Kiffin said on Sept. 14 that Orgeron had returned to the program and was spending most weekdays around the football operations building, though he wasn’t sure when Orgeron would be back on the sideline.
Orgeron watched LSU’s win over McNeese State last Saturday from a suite in Tiger Stadium, the spokesperson said. He is not expected on the sideline for Saturday’s game against Kentucky, which kicks off at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
“He means a lot to me,” Kiffin said. “We’ve just been through a lot.
He probably shouldn’t have joked one day. He said, ‘Hey coach, you know I’m never going to the hospital.
If I die, I’m dying on the field out there.’
“That’s who he is. That’s how he is with everything, and sometimes that’s not always the best thing to follow.”
In Other News...
Lane Kiffin's Daughter Just Gave LSU Fans An Awkward Texas Twist
Lane Kiffins family is already adding a little extra spice to LSUs looming matchup with Texas. Landry Kiffin, the daughter of the Tigers head coach, was headed to Dallas for the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma and showed up in Longhorns gear, then joked on social media that she was scouting the competition before LSUs game with Texas.
The timing makes it an easy topic around Baton Rouge, where the Tigers and Longhorns are set to meet Nov. 14 at Tiger Stadium. For LSU fans, it is the kind of small but combustible detail that turns a regular trip to a rivalry game into another reminder that the Texas prep work is already underway. [Read more 🡒]
LSU Freshman WR Is Forcing A Rethink Before Kentucky
LSUs receiver room already had plenty of moving parts before Corey Barber Jr. made himself harder to ignore. Under coach Lane Kiffin, the Tigers have brought in nine wide receivers through the transfer portal, and that kind of depth usually means every snap has to be earned. But the true freshmans standout showing against McNeese gave LSU something it could not fake in a crowded rotation: a young player forcing his way into the conversation.
Now the focus turns to Kentucky, where Barber and Kansas State transfer Jayce Brown are both in line to battle for playing time. Brown arrived with the kind of rsum that typically buys a longer look, but Barbers emergence has added a new wrinkle to how LSU may handle the position group going forward. For a team already sorting through a loaded receiver mix, the next game will say a lot about how quickly the freshmans rise can turn from a one-game spark into a real role. [Read more 🡒]
Nick Saban Had GameDay Debating One Unexpected Biopic Question
Nick Saban turned a routine College GameDay stop in Tuscaloosa into something a little more unusual when the crew started riffing on a hypothetical biopic about his life. The timing fit the moment: ESPN had just released a six-part documentary on Sabans career, directed by Russell Dinallo and packed with interviews from notable figures, giving the longtime Alabama coach another wave of attention on a show already built around the lead-up to Georgia-Alabama.
The conversation came with the set moved indoors because of weather, and Bryce Young serving as the guest picker, which only added to the feeling that this was one of those GameDay mornings where the football and the offbeat conversation blended together. For LSU fans watching the broader SEC picture, it was another reminder of how Saban still looms over the sport, with even a casual biopic debate becoming part of the buildup to a marquee matchup. [Read more 🡒]