12/14/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil Da Boot Sports! Burreaux should win Heisman by a Landslide NEW YORK: Tonight we will all get to see the live presentation of the 2019 Heisman Trophy at 7pm CT on ESPN. Everyone who bleeds purple & gold will be glued in front of a television, with high expectations that our LSU quarterback, Joe Burrow will be only the second Tiger in LSU history to win the prestige award, since Billy Cannon in 1959. The Heisman trophy was first presented by the Downtown Athletic Club of New York in 1935 and was originally named the DAC Trophy. The trophy was to be awarded every year to the most Outstanding College Football Player. John Heisman was a very successful football player & coach. He had a head coaching record of 186-70-18. In 1917, his Georgia Tech team was recognized as national champions. Heisman also coached basketball, became a sportswriter, and actor. He was very instrumental in several changes to the game of football. He helped to invent and legalize the forward pass. He was the first to pull guards on running plays. He invented the center snap, the "Hut" or "Hike" shouted by the quarterback, and the hidden ball trick. He is also credited with the idea of listing the down and distance on the score board. Heisman was named the "Pioneer of Southern Football" by sportswriter Fuzzy Woodruff, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954. He entered with the label of a master innovator of the brand of football of his day. Two months after his death in 1936, the members of the Downtown Athletic Club renamed the DAC, the Heisman Trophy. The four finalist for this years 85th Heisman are, Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts, Ohio State defensive end Chase Young, and of course our LSU quarterback Joe Burrow. Joe is the apparent front runner. Many feel he may win the award by the largest margin ever. "In my opinion, he should win it." LSU coach Ed Orgeron said, reported by ESPN. "In my opinion, he's going to win it. The best thing about Joe is he's a team player. All he wants to do is win this game. Individual awards are not high on his list. That's what makes him such a great team player." Joe Burrow has passed for 4,715 yards & 48 touchdowns. He has completed 78% of his passes and has helped guide a LSU offense that averages right at 48 points a game. This week, Burrow received a letter from the Cannon family, reported by The Advocate. A letter that Joe Burrow has decided to keep private between them both. At LSU, Billy Cannon was twice named an All-American, helped the Tigers win the national Championship in 1958, and won the Heisman in 1959. He will always be remembered for his punt return against Ole Miss on Halloween night in 1959. A play that most label as, the greatest play in LSU history. Mr. Cannon past away on May 20th, 2018. I really think he would have enjoyed watching Joe Burrow play. Thursday night at the Home Depot College Football Awards, Hershal Walker called Joe, "One of the best quarterbacks I've ever seen, and that is no lie." Walker also added, "I told him, Don't lose the attitude. I love the spunk he has because that's what you need. Because your teammates follow that. I told him he's an incredible, incredible player." So many records have fallen this season, however, Burrow isn't finish yet. He potentially has two games left to add to his totals and has only one major goal left. That goal is to help lead LSU to a National Championship. 12/14/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil Da Boot Sports! HEISMAN Joe : HE IS 'the' MAN! The winner of the 2019 Heisman Trophy is, Joe Burrow from LSU.... As everyone expected, Mr. Joe Burrow won the award that goes to the Nation's Most Outstanding Football Player, and he won it decisively. Burrow won by the largest margin in the history of Heisman voting. He received 95% of possible first place votes. "First thing I want to say is..... I want to thank my O-Line first." fighting back tears as he named each one individually, as well as thanking his receivers. "Those guys have been unbelievable. All of my teammates who have supported me, welcomed me with open arms from Ohio. Coming down to the bayou and welcome me as a brother. Its been so awesome. I want to thank the Heisman people for a great weekend and for allowing me to be here, and as well as my family." He turns to the past Heisman winners behind him on stage and adds that it is such a honor to be up there with them. "I try to leave a legacy of hard work, preparation, and loyalty, and dedication everywhere ever I go. I'm surrounded by such good people that make that so easy." Burrow continue to pause several times in what was a very emotional speech. "Louisiana, the entire state. Like I said earlier, just a kid from Ohio coming down, chasing a dream. The entire state has welcomed me and my family with open arms and has invited us in to be native Louisianians. I've learned to love crawfish and gumbo. During crawfish season, Coach O would make sure that we would have pounds and pounds and pounds of crawfish in that year." He would then add fighting back tears. "Coach O,............. you have no idea what you mean to my family...... I didn't play for three years. You took a chance on me....Not knowing if I could play or not....... I'm forever grateful for you.. Can you imagine a guy like Coach O, giving me the keys to this football program?...........It just means so much to me and my family. And that LSU, I hope they give him a life time contract, because he sure deserves it... " Just as he has done all season long, Joe Burrow continued to set another record tonight as he takes home one of college football's most prestigious awards. What a fantastic week and season it has been for the LSU football program, its players, coaches, and fans. As many of us know, it's not over with yet. Congratulations Joe Burreaux! 12-14-19 By: Terrill J. Weil Da Boot Sports! 12/12/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil Da Boot Sports! Tigers win several awards Our LSU Fighting Tigers continued to dominate college football on Thursday night. This time in the awards arena, at the Home Depot College Football Awards in Atlanta. The first of the major hardware collected by the Bayou Bengals on the night went to Joe Burrow, as he was the winner The Davey O'Brien Award (Best Quarterback). This was one of three awards earned by Burrow on Thursday. He also took, The Maxwell Award (Player of the Year), and the Walter Camp Award (AP Player of the Year). Many people believe that Burrow is a lock to win the Heisman Trophy this Saturday in New York. Next up for the Tigers was Grant Delpit, who was awarded the Jim Thorpe Award (Best Defensive Back). "DBU," Delpit replied, "We let our play do the talking.", when asked about it by ESPN's Chris Fowler. "I wanted to win this award for the guys who came through LSU and didn't get a chance to win it." Delpit said, reported by Cody Worsham. "I'm glad to bring it back to the boot,... It's a true honor and blessing to win this award. We're not done yet. We've got bigger dreams." Head Coach Ed Orgeron was honored next with the Home Depot Award (Coach of the Year). Coach O has lead his team to a 13-0 record, the SEC Championship, the #1 ranking, and their first ever appearance in the CFP Playoffs. The Tigers are 13-0 for only the second time in school history. The last time LSU won this award was back in 2011 with Les Miles. Ja'Marr Chase won the Biletnikoff Award (Top Receiver). Chase leads the country in both yards (1,498) and touchdowns (18). His 18 touchdowns set a record for the most in a season for the Tigers and ties the SEC record. Winning this award was on Ja'Marr's personal goals list at the beginning of the year. He is the second LSU receiver to win it, joining Josh Reed (2001). The Walker Camp Football Foundation also released its 2019 All-American teams. LSU has three players on the first team. Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, & Grant Delpit. Derek Stingley Jr. (second team), was the only freshman to make the 51 All-American list. Other Tigers to win awards thus far:: Joe Brady won the Broyles Award (Best Assistant Coach) Freshmen, Derek Stingley Jr. & Cade York both made the All-SEC Freshman Team. Joe Burrow won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (Outstanding Senior quarterback) 12/9/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil Da Boot Sports! LSU - 37, Georgia - 10 THE MODERATOR: We're now ready with the SEC champion LSU Tigers. We have Coach Orgeron, Joe Burrow, and Derek Stingley. We'll ask Coach to make an opening comment, and then we'll take questions for the Coach and the two players. ED ORGERON: So proud of our football team. These guys are committed to excellence and great leadership. The two men beside me are excellent players, great team players. This is a great win. I'm so proud of our defense tonight. The way they came to play, I thought overall it was our best effort of the season. I wasn't surprised. Preparation, I thought these guys were phenomenal. They had a look in their eye today of focus and winning and determination. This is a winning football team. This is a win for the whole organization, for the state of Louisiana, and for LSU and everybody that played in the purple and gold. But tonight wasn't our final destination. We know that. We don't know where we're going to go. We don't know who we're going to play. Wherever they tell us to go, whoever they tell us to play, we'll be ready to go. Q. Ed, (indiscernible) the No. 1 seed with the committee? ED ORGERON: I don't know that. I think we're a darn good football team. We don't know. I've told the team it doesn't matter. It don't matter where they rank us, where they tell us to go. We've got to win the next game. That's all that matters. Q. Derek, your first interception, the game was still in balance at that time, and they're threatening. Talk about that play and how you guys played overall on defense tonight. DEREK STINGLEY: On defense, it was amazing, but this is what we've been working for since the summer. We knew that, if everybody worked together, then nobody could really compete with us. Q. Joe, on the pass to Justin, how much of that was planned? How much of that was improvised? Take us through that play. JOE BURROW: It was all improvised. Justin ran a six-yard hitch route and saw me scrambling and took off deep. We got a great feel for each other. I knew exactly where he was going to be when I got out of there. Q. Just the scrambles in general tonight, was that a big part of the game plan going in? And on that first touchdown, has it seemed like you never had so long a time to throw in your time at quarterback? JOE BURROW: Yeah, so they came out on defense with kind of what Auburn played against us a little bit, and we didn't expect that against Georgia at all. So we kind of had to feel our way out a little bit. They were rushing three. So my O-line did a great job of giving me time in that three-man rush, and our receivers found a way to get open. Q. Coach, the media are always looking for Heisman moments. I think third and 17 at Texas is one for Burrow, but that toss for Jefferson, where does that kind of rank in your mind? ED ORGERON: In my opinion, he's the best player in the country. In my opinion, he should win it. In my opinion, he's going to win it. The best thing about Joe is he's a team player. All he wants to do is win this game. Individual awards are not high on his list. That's what makes him such a great team player. Q. Derek, what do the defensive performances against A&M and in this game kind of say about you guys as a unit? DEREK STINGLEY: This game kind of proved the point because a lot of people, they didn't really respect us, but we came out and played and showed everybody what we're made of. Q. Joe, just as kind of a followup to that, what does this game mean to you? You've had a lot of victories before, but how important was this one? JOE BURROW: LSU hadn't won since 2011. It's such a great victory for the state and for the university. This is what we've been working for a long time. Q. Ed, you come off the field and give Derek a hug. What did you want to convey to him in that moment? ED ORGERON: I'm proud of him. I see Derek work -- you go in the off-season, and you can go in the indoor arena every Saturday and Sunday, and he and his daddy are working every Saturday and Sunday. He's a tireless worker. Derek is a humble young man. He came ready to go when we had him. His dad did a good job of coaching him. He's one of the finest corners I've ever been around, and he's a competitor. I'll tell you, these two guys are team players. Team comes first with them. JOE BURROW: In case anybody forgets, Derek is a freshman, in case anybody forgets that. I forget it a lot. Q. Derek, I didn't ever ask you. How has this year played out from your standpoint? Is this what you expected, to come in and be viewed as one of the best cornerbacks in the country as a freshman? DEREK STINGLEY: For one, the only reason I'm in this position is because of everyone else on the defense. We all work together. We make sure everybody's on the same page. As long as that happens, everybody is looking good together. I knew that was going to happen, and I'm just blessed to be in this spot. Q. Joe, how much fun is it for you in a game like that where things don't go perfect and you have to make plays and things break down and all of a sudden turn to like a 10-year-old again on a playground making plays? How much fun was that for you? JOE BURROW: They did a great job of disguising their blitzes. They had a new package for us this week that I didn't see on film. That's why I was having to make those scrambles. I told the O-line before the game, this one's going to be a lot of fun. I can just feel it. That's exactly what it was. Q. Derek, you're getting a lot of hype as the nation's top cornerback. What was it like learning to play against these type of quarterbacks in the SEC and going against a quarterback like Joe in practice? How does that make you better? DEREK STINGLEY: Joe taught me a lot about having to go play by play because in high school I was always able to make the play, but when I came and he was pinpoint accuracy, there was just times that I was on the receiver but I just couldn't do anything about it. That just taught me a lot about the game because it's going to happen. Once I got over that, like play-by-play mentality, then I knew that I'd be all right. Q. Joe, one of your friends, former Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith said in a recent interview that you were really chomping at the bit to play Ohio State this year. Would you care to speak on that? JOE BURROW: Look, we'll play anybody anywhere. I said in the post-game, you can take us to Canada, and we'll play on a gravel lot. It doesn't matter where or who we play. Q. Joe, this offensive line was much maligned last year. That first drive that you guys had, it seemed like you had about ten seconds to throw on that touchdown to Ja'Marr Chase. First guy I saw you point to was left tackle St. Charles. Can you speak to this group and how you felt they performed today against Georgia? JOE BURROW: They're unreal. They've been unreal all year. They're one of the most improved groups I've ever been around. They took that criticism from last year to heart, and like I said, they were three-man rushing us in the first half, and I told them, hey, I'm going to have to sit back there and find some open guys because I don't have eight people in coverage. They gave me as much time as I wanted back there. I think they're the best group in the country. Q. Joe, what is it -- I guess, how big is it for the offense for Terrace to have a game like he had today? And what do you tell him as a quarterback after a drop like he had and then you came back to him a few times later? JOE BURROW: I told him after that drop, look, I'm coming back to you. They're playing Ja'Marr and Justin, and I'm going to have to come back to you. He only had one drop all year, and so I trust that guy with every ball, with every 50-50 ball. That's what makes this offense so great. We have five guys that can hurt you, and you're going to have to pick your poison. If you want to take away Ja'Marr and Justin, you're going to have to deal with Thad, Clyde, and Terrace. Q. Ed, you've coached a lot of places, time zones, whatever, a lot of different seasons. I guess they're all different. What words do you find to describe the fall of 2019? ED ORGERON: Very proud of our football team. You know, in the spring I could see them coming together. They were starting in first season with the spread offense and having Joe run it, then having Joe Brady here and to see the evolution of the spread offense, which our fans have been wanting for a long time. Then to get the No. 1 player in the country sitting right here and top recruits. We're finally gelling on defense the last couple of games. Coach Aranda challenged the defense. There was a lot of pride on the defense. I knew they were going to play their best ball, and I said it. I'm very proud of our coaching staff. I think we have the best assistant coaches in America. You look at a guy like Tommy Moffitt, who gives it his all 24/7, Jack Marucci. We have all the support from Scott Woodward, who came in and gave us every bit of support. Anything that we needed that he could do, he did for us. It's just a good time at LSU, and everybody is pulling the same side of the rope. Q. Derek, I'm wondering, it's a tough learning curve for any freshman in the SEC, but was there a game that kind of made you better, whether it was adversity, whether it was going in (indiscernible) or somebody else that maybe taught you something about yourself? DEREK STINGLEY: Really every game that was played taught me something new. Like every week throughout practice, like after watching film, I would either change up technique or change up my eyes, like every game taught me something. There wasn't a specific game that taught me more than something else. Q. Joe, you mentioned that you saw them drop eight in coverage at times. Had other people tried to play you that way earlier this year? The fact that you guys were able to counter it and had answers for it, does it kind of make you think that you guys might be unstoppable right now on offense? JOE BURROW: Every single week, you watch film all week, and it started back when we played Texas. We watch film, and we go in and see something they haven't done all year. It happens time and time again every single week. I tell my coaches, why do we even watch film anymore? We see something new. We might as well go out there cold turkey. So I think we have a great coaching staff, and they make the adjustments that have enabled us to be successful. Q. This is for Coach Orgeron. Joe seems like quite a mild-mannered guy. How does he become such a leader on the field? Talk to us about that. ED ORGERON: He leads by example. I remember his first day coming here, we were running 110s. I don't know how many there were, 16, and he won every one. The next day he did it again, and the next day he did it again. He kept his mouth shut and worked hard, and eventually he took over this football team. This is his team, and the reason it's his team, it's because he earned their respect. I've got to give it to Joe. Joe's quiet, doesn't say much. He leads by his actions. But every once in a while, he'll say something when things aren't going right, and that's the mark of a true leader. But he does it on the field. He backs it up. The whole team, everybody in the organization believes in Joe. Q. Ed, what goes through your mind when you see Joe throw a ball, get it batted back to him, and he takes off running with it? ED ORGERON: Run, Joe, run! (Laughter) Q. Ed, just to follow up on what I asked Joe, he has not had a bad game the whole season, and just kind of seeing all the different defenses he's seen, do you think there is a way that, if somebody could play him, that it would be difficult for him? Or is he just so naturally gifted at reading the game, that he could adjust on the fly? ED ORGERON: You know, I think, as we go into the playoffs, the competition is going to be stiffer, obviously. We'll find out. I think it's a combination of his athletic ability. It's a combination of the talent that we have on offense, and, again, I think there's some fantastic play calling going on. Then again, Joe makes some plays on his own. He can extend plays with his feet. He has a great connection with his receivers. Those guys caught 10,000 balls on their own this summer. They had player only practices. None of that stuff surprises me. These guys have a will to win. Q. Joe, you talked earlier about you can forget that Derek's a freshman. I'm wondering, sometimes when you get a top-rated recruit like that, they come in with attitude and think they're going to do what they did in high school, but obviously he didn't take that approach to start off the year. What did you see from him when he first came in that kind of told you he was going to be like that? JOE BURROW: Derek is as humble as a guy as I've seen. Like you said, No. 1 recruit, sometimes they come in, and they're all cocky and loud, and Derek didn't say a word for three months. At practice, I would go out of my way to throw Derek's way to see if he was as good as everyone said he was. I can tell you, yes, he is. Yes, he is. Q. Both your highest ranked wins at the time this year were essentially road environments, and I don't mean that to knock the LSU fans, but they were in Georgia's backyard. Just winning those two games on the road, essentially, what do you feel that shows you about the makeup of your team to win in that environment? ED ORGERON: We're battle tested. We block out the noise. These guys are focused. I think they feed off the energy in the stadium, whether it's LSU Tiger Stadium or someone else, we feed off the energy. We enjoy going into someone else's stadium. We enjoy the challenge. I think our players enjoy it. We don't talk about it much, but I think we enjoy the challenge. Q. Ed, you said many times it's not about you, but you have to take some satisfaction delivering a championship to a state that you know so well, it's where you're from, and you know what football means in Louisiana. ED ORGERON: I'm just happy for the people. I know what it means to them to see all the fans cheering, to see all the Georgia fans out there, and we owned this stadium today. It was a good feeling. I'm just happy for the players. I'm happy for the state of Louisiana and happy for LSU. This is what I'm supposed to. I'm supposed to recruit great players and win big-time games. Q. This question is honestly for any of you guys, but I'm wondering, over the course of this season, how would you assess how your team has grown and come together? It's never easy to win a conference, and it's never easy to get to the playoffs, but you guys have done both of those undefeated. How would you say you've grown from day one to now? JOE BURROW: I think it really started last year. We had a lot of people coming back. We lost three starters, I think, and we were young on offense last year. I think towards the end of the year you saw us kind of starting to gel. You know, when I first got here, I felt like it was kind of -- you had the offense, and you had the defense, and now you have LSU. That really started middle of last year. They started really gelling as a team, and this is as close as I've ever been to anybody. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. Thank you guys. ED ORGERON: Go Tigers! 12/9/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil Da Boot Sports! Tigers #1, will play OU in Peach Bowl The final College Football Playoff poll was released this morning and is now set. Both games will take place on December 28th. Our LSU Fighting Tigers will play #4 Oklahoma in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. While #2 Ohio State will take on #3 Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl. "Our goal was to go to the SEC championship and win it; that was one of our goals," LSU coach Ed Orgeron told ESPN on Sunday. "... But we're not done yet. That wasn't our final destination. I'm very proud of our offense, I'm very proud of our defense and all our coaches, but we still have some work to do." Being the top-ranked team again might not faze Orgeron, who said he didn't care about being No. 1 or No. 2. "It didn't matter to us," Orgeron said of his Tigers' ranking. "Anytime, anywhere, anybody -- we're ready to play. We're gonna be playing Oklahoma, a great football team. "Wherever they tell us to play, we're gonna show up and we're gonna be ready." The Tigers impressed the CFP Committee enough with their 37-10 blowout victory over Georgia to reclaim the top spot in the final poll. LSU opens up as a 9.5 point favorite over the Sooners, which is not much of a surprise, considering the contest will be played in Atlanta & should have the atmosphere of a home game for the Tigers. A big surprise is Clemson opening as a 2.5 point favorite over the #2 ranked Buckeyes. The National Championship game will be played on Monday, January 13th in the Mercedes Benz Super Dome. Here is a interesting piece of trivia. The three teams in the playoffs with the Tigers have all been on the losing end of LSU's three national championship game victories. LSU defeated Clemson in New Orleans for the Title in 1958, 7-0. The 2003 Nick Saban lead squad took down Oklahoma in the Super Dome, 21-14 to win the crystal ball. Then in 2007, the Tigers crushed Ohio State, 38-24, also in the Dome. 12/9/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil Da Boot Sports! Tigers #1, will play OU in Peach Bowl The final College Football Playoff poll was released this morning and is now set. Both games will take place on December 28th. Our LSU Fighting Tigers will play #4 Oklahoma in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. While #2 Ohio State will take on #3 Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl. "Our goal was to go to the SEC championship and win it; that was one of our goals," LSU coach Ed Orgeron told ESPN on Sunday. "... But we're not done yet. That wasn't our final destination. I'm very proud of our offense, I'm very proud of our defense and all our coaches, but we still have some work to do." Being the top-ranked team again might not faze Orgeron, who said he didn't care about being No. 1 or No. 2. "It didn't matter to us," Orgeron said of his Tigers' ranking. "Anytime, anywhere, anybody -- we're ready to play. We're gonna be playing Oklahoma, a great football team. "Wherever they tell us to play, we're gonna show up and we're gonna be ready." The Tigers impressed the CFP Committee enough with their 37-10 blowout victory over Georgia to reclaim the top spot in the final poll. LSU opens up as a 9.5 point favorite over the Sooners, which is not much of a surprise, considering the contest will be played in Atlanta & should have the atmosphere of a home game for the Tigers. A big surprise is Clemson opening as a 2.5 point favorite over the #2 ranked Buckeyes. The National Championship game will be played on Monday, January 13th in the Mercedes Benz Super Dome. Here is a interesting piece of trivia. The three teams in the playoffs with the Tigers have all been on the losing end of LSU's three national championship game victories. LSU defeated Clemson in New Orleans for the Title in 1958, 7-0. The 2003 Nick Saban lead squad took down Oklahoma in the Super Dome, 21-14 to win the crystal ball. Then in 2007, the Tigers crushed Ohio State, 38-24, also in the Dome. 12/7/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil Da Boot Sports! ATLANTA, GA: Georgia received the opening kickoff as LSU won the toss and deferred. The Tigers defense picked up where they left off last week, shutting down the Bulldogs after five plays forcing a punt. Joe Burrow and the offense took over and as usual, went the length of the field for the first touchdown of the game. On 2nd & 10 from the Georgia 23 yard line, Burrow dropped back to throw. After having all day long to sit back and wait, he found JaMarr Chase in the far corner of the end zone for the score. With the PAT, LSU had a early 7-0 lead. Both teams then traded possessions, before Georgia drove into LSU territory. When the drive stalled, Blankenship attempted a 52 yard field goal that he missed, pushing it to the left. The Tigers took advantage of the Bulldog's missed scoring opportunity, as they went 65 yards in 5 plays, scoring on a 7 yard touchdown pass from Joe Burrow to Terrace Marshall Jr. to extend their lead to 14-0 as the 1st quarter came to a close. The second quarter began with Georgia putting together a nice drive, deep into LSU territory, settling for three points as Blankenship split the uprights from 39 yards out. The Bulldogs were on the board, 14-3 with 11:58 to go in the first half. The Tigers had a rare three and out possession, when Terrace Marshall drop a pass from Joe Burrow on 3rd & 6 that would have extended the drive. Georgia took over at their own 20. After gaining a 1st down, the Bulldogs had it 2nd & 8 at their own 43 yard line. Grant Delpit came free on a blitz, sacking Jake Fromm, sending him to the bench as he was shook up on the play. The drive ended on the next play, forcing a Bulldog punt. From their own 20 yard line, the Tigers offense began a nice drive, highlighted by a 13 yard run by Joe Burrow to pick up a key 1st down. The Georgia defense stiffened and forced the Tigers to attempt a 41 yard field goal. Cade York's try for the three was good, and with 2:22 to go in the 1st half, LSU had a 17-3 lead. Georgia then would be the first team to commit a turnover in the ball games as Joe Bromm was intercepted by Derek Stingley Jr. at the LSU 13 yard line. From there LSU managed the clock well and moved the ball 57 yards in 10 plays, before Cade York missed a 48 yard field goal attempt. The half ended with an empty Bulldog possession. At the half, the score stood at 17-3 Tigers. 30 Minutes left to battle for the 2019 SEC Championship. The Tigers looked to make a statement with the first drive of the second half. Eating up 6:36 off the clock, LSU drove 65 yards in 15 plays, and Cade York punched through a 28 yard field goal to increase the Tigers' lead to 20-3. The Tigers inched a little closer to winning the SEC Title as Georgia blew another scoring opportunity. The Bulldogs went 56 yards in 12 plays, but Blankenship missed a 37 yard field goal. On the next play, 1st & 10 from their own 20 yard line, Joe Burrow added several more votes to his Heisman Trophy campaign as he avoided a heated rush, rolled right and made a fantastic throw down field to a wide open Justin Jefferson, who after making a nifty move or two, out ran the Bulldog secondary to the Georgia nine yard line. The play covered 71 yards. Three plays later, Burrow hit Marshall for a 4 yard touchdown. 27-3! The Tigers kicked off to the Bulldogs and on the next play, LSU drove another nail into Georgia's coffin. On 1st & 10, Derek Stingley Jr. stepped in front of Jake Fromm's pass. He returned the interception 14 yards to the Bulldogs' 13 yard line. It took Burrow three plays to add to his record setting touchdown total as he hit Justin Jefferson in the end zone for the score, with 45 seconds left in the 3rd quarter. The quarter ended with LSU in total control, 34-3. Georgia lead off the final quarter with a nice scoring drive, going 75 yards in 13 plays. The touchdown coming on a 2 yard touchdown pass from Jake Fromm to George Pickens. LSU added another three points from Cade York, as they ran another 3 minutes plus off the clock, inching so ever closer to their Championship Celebration! With 5:30 to go in the game, the Tigers began a clock eating drive as all of the red in the Mercedes Benz Stadium quickly disappeared, leaving only purple & gold colors in the stands. As LSU ran out the final seconds, confetti began to fall and the celebration began. These LSU Fighting Tigers dominated the #4 team in the nation in their own backyard. A dominating performance that the playoff committee can't ignore. Will LSU take back over the #1 spot tomorrow? In my opinion, they deserve it. They have an offense that no one can stop. A defense peaking and proving the experts who criticize them wrong. Played one of the toughest schedules in the nation. A hungry, hard working group of young men, lead by Ed Orgeron. The head coach who most Tiger fans didn't want LSU to hired. These Fighting Tigers are 13-0 and are not finished yet. They are the 2019 SEC Champions!! Joe Burrow took Game MVP Honors as he finished the game with, 28/38, 349 yards passing, & 4 touchdowns. Clyde Edwards-Helaire ran hard in the 2nd half and finished with 58 yards on 15 carries picking up some big first downs late to help run the game clock down. He also added 61 yards receiving. Justin Jefferson had 7 grabs for 117 yards & a touchdown reception. Terrace Marshall has a solid night with 5 catches, 89 yards, & two touchdowns. The Tigers' offense finished with 481 total yards, (132 on the ground/349 through the air). The defense played lights out, as they harassed Jake Fromm all game long and shut down Georgia's explosive ground game. Derek Stingley Jr. had two interceptions, and the Tigers had three sacks. Patrick Queen, K'Lavon Chaisson, & Grant Delpit each with one a piece. Tune in tomorrow on ESPN, 11am central time to watch the final College Football Selection Show, as we find out who the Tigers will play & where on Decemebr 28th. 12/6/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil Da Boot Sports! BELOW IS FROM THE SEC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME COACHES' PRESS CONFERENCE::: Southeastern Conference Football Championship Game: Georgia vs LSU Friday December 6, 2019 Ed Orgeron LSU Tigers THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by the head coach of the SEC Western Division Champion LSU Tigers, Coach Ed Orgeron. Again, we'll ask Coach to make an opening statement. ED ORGERON: What a great event. This is the standard of performance that you must achieve when you come to LSU. Obviously, it's a big game. A lot of respect for Kirby. I think he's an outstanding coach. He has an outstanding football team. This is going to be a big challenge for our team tomorrow, but we're ready to go. It will be a great atmosphere for the LSU Tigers. Q. Coach, I was thinking last time LSU was in Atlanta, it was SEC Media Day 2018. You were picked fifth in the West, a lot of 6-6 predictions. Since then you've been 22-3 and two great seasons, this one a really good season. Just speak of what you accomplished since then and proving your doubters wrong. ED ORGERON: Again, it's not about me. It's about being at LSU. It's about getting the right pieces together, continue to recruit well, get great coaches. I think I have the best assistant coaching staff that I've been around. We wanted to go to the spread, but you know what, we got the right quarterback in Joe Burrow, then Joe Brady comes along, and everything fell into place. Q. Coach, how do you guys particularly plan on stopping the three-four defense that Georgia runs? ED ORGERON: Well, obviously, we've got to play offense, and we've got to win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football. They're very athletic. They get 11 hats to the football. Just like other games, we're going to have to figure out what they're doing. Sometimes they do what we've seen on film, sometimes they do something completely new. As coaches, we'll figure it out, and it's going to be a great battle. Q. Coach, you said this year that Clyde Edwards-Helaire is probably as good a running back as any in the country, and I think Joe Burrow said it Monday on the teleconference too. What makes him such a special back? ED ORGERON: His heart. When Clyde walks in the room, Clyde is 6'4", 270. I think that's just the air about himself, his confidence. I do believe he's gotten better as the year's gone by. He's able to catch the ball out of the backfield. He's an all-purpose back. He can make you miss, run around you, very fast. I just think his heart and his courage says a lot about the young man. Q. Ed, what is similar or different about this Georgia defense and some of the other elite groups you guys have played against this year? ED ORGERON: Great defensive line. First of all, a great coach. Kirby is a great defensive coach. They play very solid fundamental football. They're hard to run the football because their guys get so fast to the football. They break tackles in space, and they put tremendous pressure on the passer. We're going to have to protect Joe to get the ball downfield. Q. So as you look at D'Andre Swift and his talents that he possesses, are they things that are similar to Edwards-Helaire? ED ORGERON: I think they're generally similar. He runs the outside zone about as good as anybody in the country. The guy is obviously fast. I do believe that their scheme is different, so he probably has the same talents, the same skills, but their scheme is a little bit different than ours. He's a more downhill runner. He'll start to run downhill, put his foot in the grass and run over you or run around you. So I think the scheme makes him a little different player, but honestly, I think they possess similar skills. Q. Coach, Georgia plays a neutral site game every year with Florida. Are we reading too much into it that that gives them the advantage? ED ORGERON: No, I don't believe so. I do believe we'll have a great crowd. I do believe our guys are treating this as an away game. I believe we have crowd noise all week. I think, when you see tomorrow, it will be electric on both sides. I talked to Commissioner Sankey, and he told me it's the loudest game he's ever been in because there's always cheering on both sides. So I think it's great. Q. Coach, what does it mean for you to be here in Atlanta representing your home state of Louisiana? ED ORGERON: I love it. I grew up watching LSU. When I got hired, I said I knew this was the standard, and we wanted to get there. It took us three years to get here. I do believe that you can see the process down the road. There was a couple of good decisions, a couple of decisions that wasn't so good, but thankfully they gave me the time to get it right, and I feel like we're on the right track right now. Hopefully, this is just the beginning. Obviously, we have a great quarterback in Joe Burrow. We have to find a great quarterback for the future. I do believe I have the right coaching staff in place. I think most of the pieces are in place to have a successful run. Q. I hope I don't misquote you from a few years ago, when you knew you weren't going to get the job at USC, you told your wife, it's the worst day of my life. Now that you know where you're at in your career, could you even have imagined this was possible being on that plane? ED ORGERON: I'm glad you mentioned it. She did, she said God has a better plan, and I looked at her and said, it had better be good, and she was right. (Laughter). Everything happened for a reason. I'm thankful for the interim job I got at USC. It made me a better coach. I'm thankful for the chance of the interim job at LSU. I got a chance to prove that I could be the head coach at LSU. Now everything had to fall in the right place. I know I wasn't the first choice or maybe the second choice, but it doesn't matter how you get here in life. It matters, when you're here, do something with it. Q. How is your team's preparation impacted by the fact that you don't fully know how healthy D'Andre Swift is going to be for this game with a shoulder injury? ED ORGERON: Just like other great players we play, I'm assuming that this guy is a great competitor, and I'm assuming that he's going to play. We haven't even blinked. Obviously, we're looking at second team back, the third team back. They've got about five tailbacks there that could be first round draft choices. They've done a tremendous job of recruiting. So we've prepared for everything, but I'm almost sure he's going to play, and he's going to play well. Q. Ed, this pass heavy offense, how much of it was a reaction to the talent you all recruited, and how much of it was this is the direction that college football is going? ED ORGERON: Combination, combination of both. Obviously, we have three great receivers, in my opinion, and even more than that, some younger guys. But it all started with getting Joe Burrow, getting that quarterback who can run the spread office. Steve Ensminger has been phenomenal. I think he's the unsung hero of the whole deal. He was open to going to the spread offense, open to hiring a young guy in Joe Brady. We have a lot of respect for Joe. We did some research on him. And everything has just fallen into place. It took a lot of guys working together. Put your ego aside, and let's do what's best for LSU, and it got done. Q. Georgia's top wide receiver George Pickens is out for the first half this Saturday. Do you think that has an effect on you all? Is that a relief for you all missing a key asset on their offense? ED ORGERON: First of all, I recruited George, and I know his mama. I'm so glad that he's such a great player. I really liked him. I thought he'd be an outstanding player. Obviously, Georgia has had No. 1 recruiting classes. They have guys behind them. You know, we use the term next man up. Put 11 men on the field, and we fight like Tigers. I'm sure they're going to have the same plan. Q. You guys practiced early yesterday, got here yesterday. How have you prepared them mentally for this moment so far? ED ORGERON: I believe it's working out well. We did as much work as we could do over in Baton Rouge. Usually we travel on Friday, but I had to be here today, and I was not going to let the team travel today and me not be with them. So one team, one heartbeat. We travel together. Our guys got to the hotel last night, and we had a tremendous meal. We had smothered pork chops, fried chicken, collard greens. The guys loved it. Just like one big family eating together. They went to bed at 11:00 and didn't have to wake up until noon today. So I'm sure they rested. We're going to have the same routine we have in Baton Rouge. We're going to have a heartbeat meeting at 3:00. We're going to have our meetings, do our walk-through at Mercedes Benz Stadium, and have our meetings tonight. Q. This is the third year in a row Georgia has been here. How much of an advantage is it for them, and what does it say about Kirby Smart's program? ED ORGERON: I have a lot of respect for Kirby. I recruited against him. I've known him for a long time. I enjoyed watching him play. He was a tough football player. When we do go to coaches meetings, he's very cordial to me. We talk, we laugh, we joke. So he's done a tremendous job. Georgia is a great program and a great state to recruit. It's indicative of his coaching and recruiting, his third time being here. Is it going to be an advantage? I'm sure it's going to give them some confidence, but you know what, as a football team, it's never about the other team. It's always going to be about playing to LSU standard of performance regardless of where we play and who we play. Q. Coach, I'm sure you know fans have talked more about beating Alabama than winning an SEC Championship in previous years, but now that your team has done that, beaten Auburn and Florida in these tough games, how much do you sense they're ready to finish the job in terms of winning this conference? ED ORGERON: This team is focused. This team has goals. We never talked about anything else. Obviously, beating Alabama was huge, going undefeated 12-0, but to win the SEC Championship is a goal of this football team. They're very focused. They've worked very hard for this. Q. This game has long been a showcase for the conference of Heisman contenders. How have you been helping Joe work through any of the individual pressure he might be feeling given all the buzz around him? ED ORGERON: Joe and I are very close. I don't have to say much to Joe. I want to give you an example. Derek Ponamsky, who does a tremendous job for us, told me last night that Joe's mama and daddy was calling him, and he wouldn't answer the phone. I wanted to know what's going on. Well, Joe's phone broke, and the mom and dad said, we're going to get you one. He said, I don't need a phone. I got a game to play this week. So that goes to show you the focus and the leadership of that young man and what he's done. So I think he's fine. He wants to win. That's his biggest attribute. Q. Coach, I spoke to Jacoby Stevens earlier in the week about you kind of being a players' coach. How important is it to you as a head coach to instill an energy level to your football team? ED ORGERON: Well, you know, I think everybody has their strengths and weaknesses. I coach from within, the staff. I don't coach from above. It's never going to be about me. I want to give them all the energy I have, and I'm an energetic coach. So I think that in recruiting I develop relationships with these young men, and we talk about things in my office that we're going to get done, and we follow through. Let me say something about Jacoby. He's an outstanding young man. He's an outstanding football player, and I'm very proud of his leadership. Q. It takes elite recruiting to get to this game. When you look across Georgia's roster, is there one area -- I know you're a defensive line guy and you see Georgia's O-line, is there one area that just jumps out at you that says there's where all the players are at? ED ORGERON: The offensive line. There's five guys that are going to play in the NFL. Thomas is going to be -- I was talking to a scout the other day. Thomas is going to be a top five pick. Those guys are big, and they're huge, and they're road raiders, and they're very athletic, and they're very well coached. So the line of scrimmage in the SEC is different than other conferences. I think that's where you start. Now you add the speed, you add the intelligence, and you add the tenacity they have on defense, it makes them a great team. Q. Ed, when you look at Georgia, just the overall physicality, just what kind of jumps out at you? Kind of where do they stack up this year? ED ORGERON: This is the most physical team we've played. I think this is the most complete team on both line of scrimmages, on offensive line and defensive line. They like to hit. They play fast. Their running back hits the hole to make you miss. Quarterback makes some great decisions. But it all starts with their defense. They're only giving up ten points per game. They're very stingy. Q. Coach, you're a defensive coach. Obviously, there's always a sentiment that a great defense will beat a great offense, or pitching, a pitcher can beat great hitting. Is that oversimplifying it? And how do you -- a lot of people are going to look at it as Georgia's defense versus your offense. ED ORGERON: I look at it opposite. We've got to play great on defense. We've got to play great on defense to win. I feel like the offense is going to do well. Now, how many points are they going to score on the play? I don't know. I don't know that, against a great defense. We have to stop their offense in order to win the football game. Q. Kirby talked about the offense you guys have. It's not exactly complicated schematically, it's just the chess pieces you have. How would you evaluate the chess pieces you have on offense? ED ORGERON: I feel like it all starts with the offensive line. Like I said before, Lloyd Cushenberry has been the leader there. James Cregg has been the MVP. We've played with second team tackles, first team tackles, and guys rotating in and out. They're going to have to protect. This is a good blitzing team. This is a good four-man rush team. So I think that's where it starts. When you look at Joe Brady and Steve Ensminger, the plays that they call, getting them in the right defenses against the right coverages, and then the playmaking ability of our skill players, receivers and running backs are some of the best in the country. Q. Kind of a followup. Being from Louisiana, how much of an advantage is it for you in recruiting when you go into homes there in Louisiana where there's a lot of talent and you can kind of relate? ED ORGERON: I think it's a huge advantage. I enjoy recruiting in Louisiana. I'm going to be in 18 to 22 homes next week, so that means about 18 to 22 gumbos. It's going to be great. It's kind of a party when I get there. It's kind of a festivity. I have to go recruit and talk to the mom and dad and bring everybody. When I go now, it's the aunts and uncles and grandmas. We have a party. We eat. We laugh. We joke together. It's just like being a part of a big family. Q. You're talking about, over the course of the season, about moving to the spread and felt it was the way to go. It was a gamble. Is there ever times where you might -- because you're changing the culture of your offense. Was there ever a time when you were wondering if this was going to work? ED ORGERON: You know, after the spring, I felt good about where we were going, and Steve and I and Joe have always had constant communication about what we want to run, how we want it to look like. I'll tell you this now, Joe Brady has brought a lot of confidence, and his ability to install this spread offense with Steve Ensminger. We don't have any 12 personnel. We don't have a fullback, 21 personnel. In some ways, it was hard to let go. The thing I didn't want to let go was the physicality of LSU. I still wanted to run the football and be physical, and they've done that. So I can't complain about anything the offense has done. I think those guys have been phenomenal. Q. Coach, Kirby was talking about the leadership quality that Jake Fromm has. He shoulders a lot of blame, and yet he can still give out credit. It's kind of selfless leadership, selfless servantship type deal. Can you compare and contrast? Because it sounds a lot like Joe Burrow. ED ORGERON: Let me give you an example. We had some recruits in spring, on the spring visit. I don't recall what day it was. It was a Saturday. They asked me, they said, Coach, can the recruits go watch the players practice? They're not practicing today. Oh, yes, they are. They had a player only practice on Saturday morning in the spring, and he had many of those practices, along with other leaders on the team. These guys are very committed. Joe is a solid leader. Joe won't scream. Joe won't holler. He does things by example. If things are not right, he'll step up and challenge guys. He's a fierce competitor. He is very focused. He's mature ahead of his years. He brings a lot to our football team. Q. Coach, you talked about the offensive line a lot. With Lloyd Cushenberry being right there in the middle, do you think, if the offensive line protects Joe and opens up some running lanes for Clyde, do you think that's the key to victory? ED ORGERON: No question. LSU has to block their front, and their linebackers are very fast. We can't have negative plays, sacks, fumbles, things like that, and those guys are very capable of doing that. We're plus 6 in the turnover ratio. We want to be plus 3 every game. That's going to be a big game for us taking care of the football and getting the football back to our offense. 12/2/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil Da Boot Sports! Joe Burrow, JaCoby Stevens, & Clyde Edwards-Helaire take questions **The following is from a Media Teleconference for the SEC Championship Game on Monday, Dec. 2nd, 2019, that I attended** THE MODERATOR: We begin with Joe Burrow. Joe, while we are waiting on questions, please take a moment to comment on the LSU team entering the SEC Championship game JOE BURROW: We're fired up to be here. LSU hasn't been there since 2011, so this is one of the goals we had for the season. So we're fired up to play. Q. Joe, you had a pretty good year last year throwing the ball and running. Do you find this change in the offensive concept this year to the more spread has obviously developed your game even more? What would you say about all that? JOE BURROW: I think the concepts and things we're doing this year really kind of utilize all the weapons we have on offense more so than last year. We're doing some of the same things we did last year, but obviously everyone has seen that it's quite different. We're really just utilizing the weapons we have on the outside and getting people in space and trying to make defenses make one-on-one plays. Q. What have you seen from the Georgia defense, particularly in the linebacker corps, like Monty Rice and all them, including what you saw from them last year? JOE BURROW: They're one of the top two or three defenses in the country, giving up like nine or ten points a game, something crazy like that. They're just a super solid defense all around. DBs are really good. They play sound in their scheme. You can tell they're coached very well. So it's going to be a tall task for us. Q. I wanted to ask you kind of what your first memories of kind of getting together with Joe Brady and talking to him about his ideas for the offense and what your take-away was. Did you think it was going to be a game changer? JOE BURROW: Yeah, so actually, one of my best friends from Ohio State, J.T. Barrett, was on the Saints practice squad last year with Coach Joe. So the first kind of thing I heard about him was from J.T. J.T. called me and told me I was going to love this guy. We were going to be best friends. That's exactly what it's turned out to be. It's been great for us. Q. And did you envision, when you were like a high school quarterback in Athens, Ohio, that you would be leading a big time program on this stage with this kind of opportunity in front of you still in the next weeks ahead? JOE BURROW: When I envision myself, I envision myself on a stage like this. I don't know if I envision myself in Louisiana at LSU, but I've always -- this is what I've always dreamed of. It's never been my dream to play in the NFL. I wanted to play in games like this, SEC, Big Ten Championship games, and national title games. Q. Joe, what would you say about the offensive line, the way it's protected you this year as many times as you've thrown the ball. Really been playing with those guys up front all season long? JOE BURROW: Yeah, they're one of the most improved groups I've ever been around. Last year they felt they took a lot of criticism from a lot of different areas, and they worked so hard this off-season to get where we needed them to be. They've been one of the best offensive units in the country for us. Q. As Coach Orgeron said last night, your passing game has opened up the running game, and the running game with Clyde has opened up the passing game for you. Is that a case of two areas just really complementing each other well all year? JOE BURROW: Yes, absolutely. We started off the season, and we weren't running the ball very well, and then about Game 4 or 5, we started really rolling on the ground. I think the difference between us this year and last year is we're kind of throwing the ball to open up the run, and Clyde and those O-linemen are taking advantage. Clyde, I think, is the best back in the country, and that's the biggest difference in this year and last year. Q. How big was that Georgia game last year for you guys in terms of instilling confidence in you guys to go and win a big game against an opponent like that? JOE BURROW: It was huge for us. We were coming off of our first loss of the year at Florida, and we were going into that game like, shoot, we've got to play Georgia again this week. It's not the easiest task. So we knew we had to win that game if we wanted to have a special season for the rest of the year. It just turned out that way. The crowd was great. They played a huge part. We're kind of going into enemy territory with this week, so it's going to -- they're going to want revenge on us, so we're going to have to be on our game for sure. Q. Then with Clyde Edwards-Helaire, what has allowed him to be as successful as he has been, especially over the second half of the season? JOE BURROW: I think he's excelled in the passing game. You have to put a linebacker on him because he'll run the ball so well. I don't think there's a linebacker in the country that can cover him. So they really have to pick their poison. They want to stop Clyde in the run game or the pass game. He's so versatile in that aspect. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Q. We're here with Jacoby Stevens. Please take a moment to comment on the LSU team entering the SEC Championship game. JACOBY STEVENS: We're very proud that we won the SEC West. It's an accomplishment for the team. We know what a great deal this is and a great accomplishment for the program heading into the Championship. We have to press on as a team. We know that we want to do more and keep pushing and keep pressing on. I know for Coach Orgeron we have to press on. I feel like this year we turned a lot of heads. We proved a lot of doubters wrong. Offensive-wise, they took care of business all year. They've been doing things that we knew that they can do with all the time they have on this side of the ball. And defensive-wise, we've been trying to play our part and contribute to this roll that we have going. We're just trying to do our best defensive-wise, even though we had a couple of games that we were playing out of character, and we had a couple games where we played LSU defense of old. We need to find and be more consistent on that balance and find what's working and keep going with it. Q. Jacoby, when you look at the Georgia offense, particularly Jake Fromm and D'Andre Swift, the running back is pretty much like Clyde, got over 1,200 yards rushing this year. What do you see in this offense as you all look at them on film? JACOBY STEVENS: When I'm looking at Georgia's offense on film, they're talented. They have basically a pro type quarterback in the backfield. He's very mature in his decision-making. He can make throws that a lot of quarterbacks in college football can't make. I think what makes them elite and brings them -- makes their offense to another level is the running back corps out there that's led by D'Andre. So D'Andre is a really good back. He can cut, stop on a dime. His dead leg is something to be reckoned with. But it doesn't just stop with him. They've got three other backs, three young backs that are really good. I'm sorry. They have two younger backs and one senior back that's really good, and it's their rotation is what's scary for us. Q. What did you guys do against Texas A&M that was so effective defensively? And a lot of people ask, where has that been all year? JACOBY STEVENS: We know that's what we've struggled with all year long. When we do a self assessment, we know that pass rushing is one of the things we struggle with. We just, as a team and as a defense, we got together and figured out -- we just talked to each other on how we can get better and what do each position group need for us to get better at our weaknesses. This week the leaders of that D-line and the front seven just stepped up, man. They affected the quarterback. They had a goal going into the game to get, I'm pretty sure, three or four-plus more sacks. I'm pretty sure they ended the game with five. That's a talented group up there, and hopefully it's a hot streak, they're catching a hot streak. And it's just about the feeling out process. You know we're playing good teams. We had a harsh schedule this year, and we played a really good offensive line. You've got to put that into play too. I think that the defensive line and the front seven really stepped it up this week and really affected the quarterback, which in turn made my job and the DBs' job, the secondary's job very easy. Q. And Coach O said last night you all always try to block out the noise, but you all couldn't help being motivated by some of the outside conversation that you all have heard this year. Even the chairman of the playoff committee moved you all down this year and said it's because of the defensive piece. How much of that has been motivating to hear all of the outside conversation about how LSU is so good except for their defense? JACOBY STEVENS: It's hard to block out the noise when you look -- you know, you're looking, and next thing you know you're looking, and you're the No. 2 team in the nation from recently being No. 1. And you hear all along the offense is great but the defense is not. As a competitor, you take that as motivation. You want to change that narrative, and I feel like we did that against Texas A&M. People can kind of realize what 60 minutes of LSU standard performance football is, and I feel like we still haven't played our best ball yet. We have some mistakes that we made defensive-wise on the field that we need to clean up, and we're going to do that today on Tell the Truth Monday, but that definitely motivated us as a defense, and we're going to accept the challenge, and we're going to take it on. Q. Jacoby, you came pretty close to choosing the Bulldogs when you were a recruit, and it meant you got to know guys like Richard LeCounte and the Georgia staff fairly well. When you made that choice, did you get the feeling that you might wind up in a high stakes game like this one this week with Georgia? Does that add anything extra to this matchup? JACOBY STEVENS: Definitely. I mean, just looking at the class that they had, of course, you knew, I'm pretty sure I told you about this, the recruiting, the group texts we had, all the commits we had was crazy. I knew, when choosing LSU, that Georgia was going to be good for now and for a long time from now. Coach Smart, he's a heck of a coach. It isn't surprising that we're playing them in a big game like this because of the talent that they recruited and the coaches that they have. I expected to play those guys in a big game like we did last year and now the SEC Championship. I expected nothing less from those guys. Q. What did you take away from the time you got to know Coach Smart and the staff while you were a recruit? JACOBY STEVENS: While I was recruiting there, I loved Coach Smart, and at the time, he was the defensive coordinator there, Coach Tucker, and I enjoyed talking to him all the time. They were great people. They made me feel at home when I went to go visit there. There was a reason why Georgia was one of my schools that I really looked into and felt like I could fit there. But they're great coaches, and there's a reason why they attract top talent in the nation. Q. How dedicated are you guys to stopping the run from Georgia? They're a really physical team up front. How dedicated will you guys be to stacking the box? JACOBY STEVENS: Right now we're going to get our game plan today on how we're going to try to limit what Georgia wants to do. They have an incredible offensive line, a really big offensive line, and a really good set of running backs. You see that a lot in the SEC. Georgia's seen that when they play teams in the SEC, and we've seen that when we play teams in the same conference. That's what you get when you're in a conference like this. We have one of the best defensive coordinators in the nation. Today we're going to focus on our corrections from the A&M game because it is a copycat league, and we're going to press on to Georgia and figure out how we can stop and limit Georgia to what they want to do, which is one of their strengths is their running game. Q. And the second question, how is it like to play for a high energy guy like Ed Orgeron? JACOBY STEVENS: Man, it's amazing. I always say and tell guys, when you see Coach O before we run out before the games in the locker room, you'd swear Coach O is about to put on his pads and his helmet and get ready to play. Coach O is a high energy guy. He loves the game. He's very passionate about the game. He's a true competitor. When you put well rounded people and competitors such as myself and other people on this team and our leaders like Coach O, it's going to be a great environment and an environment that is healthy that can bring in victories. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE MODERATOR: We'll conclude today's call with LSU's Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Clyde, while we wait on questions, please take a moment to comment on the LSU team entering the SEC Championship game. CLYDE EDWARDS-HELAIRE: First off, I want to say this is a brotherhood. We expected to be in this situation. We are humbled to be in this situation, and we are ready to continue the things that we've been doing so far. The boys are ready. We're going to prepare this week and on to the SEC Championship. Q. Clyde, Coach Orgeron said last night in his teleconference that Georgia is the best defense you've faced all year, and what they've given up against the run is not very much, and also points against is only about ten points a game. What kind of challenge is that for your offense, and what do you need to do to have success against this Georgia defense? CLYDE EDWARDS-HELAIRE: This week we're just going to have to watch the film we need to watch, execute, and let Coach Joe and Coach Ensminger figure out the details of the offensive game plan. Georgia is a great rushing defense and a great overall defense. It was the same situation as last year. They were the No. 2 rushing defense in the country, and we prepared that way with this, with our game plan, and we're going to figure the things out that we need to figure out in order to move the ball, and hopefully towards the end of this week we have everything figured out as far as the game plan and what's our strategy going into this week. Q. And I believe you had 146 yards against Georgia in Baton Rouge last season. What do you think you've improved in your game over the last past season? CLYDE EDWARDS-HELAIRE: I would say I became more patient. I would say I became more of a smart runner, being able to read the things that I need to see on the defense and not just run. I'm able to know exactly where most run plays are going to run in and know the strengths and weaknesses of each player on the defense from the film study that I do throughout the week. It also helps having Joe on my left and my right in the backfield to let me know certain situations and what's going on in the run game. Q. You all had these player only practices every Saturday in the summer. How did those come together without coaches being there to direct you all through drills? They were obviously pretty influential on your season. CLYDE EDWARDS-HELAIRE: Yeah, so we did those player only practices, and for the most part, they were throughout the week with the team. Then on Saturdays, any group can come in together. Early in the morning, the offense might come in or a group of receivers or all the quarterbacks or all the running backs. It just depends on the configuration of what we had planned for that week. We'll have a group message for that week, and everybody understands who needs to come in, the things that we're going to accomplish, and the things that we need to get improved, and everything was step by step. Joe was, for the most part, the coordinator of it for the offense for us. Anything that he wanted to get done, any route, anything that he saw in the playbook that he felt we needed to work on and run, we did. We got all those things accomplished. Anything from pass play in the backfield to routes out of the backfield to routes outside was my biggest thing and also running routes with receivers, picking at them, trying to get insight on how they run routes, which benefited me this year. Overall, it helped, and it's paying off. Q. Do you have any fond memories of those times? Adrian Magee told us a story about bringing his dog and chasing Badara Traore. Do you have any memories of that kind of thing? CLYDE EDWARDS-HELAIRE: Yeah. I would say one time I brought my dog, and I had my dog pretty much running routes with me. He was just behind me the whole time. It was -- it's nice to have fun, but we went in and did the work that we needed to do. It just goes to show you that any distraction that we could have brought in, we were still going to get the work necessary that we needed to get done. Afterwards, we all just kind of chilled two hours afterward just talking, talking about the things we wanted to accomplish this season, playing with my dog. Everybody is just running around having a good time, just kind of embracing it all and understanding we had something special and we knew we had something special, and being able to execute the things we needed to do. Some things that might take people hours, we were able to accomplish in 30, 45 minutes and get everything executed and down the exact way that we want it. Afterwards, just to bond with those guys that's still on the field now, it shows a lot. It shows that we created a bond early on, and it only gets stronger week to week. Q. What player stood out to you the most from last year's game? Maybe a linebacker on the defensive line from Georgia. CLYDE EDWARDS-HELAIRE: I mean, just thinking -- we play so many games after that, and I try to flush everything afterwards. I would say last year, I think it's Roquan, the linebacker. I'm not sure his name. I don't want to say it wrong. He was a great athlete. I needed to see where he was pretty much every play I was in. Last year I wasn't the starter. I prepared like a starter, but last year I wasn't a starter, so it wasn't my job to just know everything about him, but I went in knowing I needed to know where he was on the field at all times. That was the biggest thing for me when I got in. As far as guys on defense, he's the guy that stood out. Q. I'm just interested, last year and previously LSU ran a lot more heavier offensive sets, a lot of 12 personnel. Nowadays you guys are a lot more spread out. As a running back in a system like that with a lot more space out there on the edges, does it make your job as a tailback that much easier? And obviously, you've had much more success this season. CLYDE EDWARDS-HELAIRE: I would say it makes everybody -- it makes the defense become accountable for everyone. I wouldn't say that it makes my job easier. I still, for the most part, we still are running the things that we ran. It's just the RPO offense that pretty much gives Joe the option to pull the ball, and it gives us pretty much that double read. If it's going to benefit Joe to pull the ball, he does. If it's going to benefit us keeping the ball and me making a play and let the Oline do their thing up front, then that's what we go towards. That's pretty much what a lot of offenses are going to nowadays. I would say colleges around have adjusted to the all pro offense, and a lot of defensive coordinators are finding ways to stop the things that they need to stop or make whatever defenses that they need to set up or whatever they need to do in order to stop it. So I would say every game you go into, I'm not thinking it's easier now than it was before because you never know. It's the game of football. You never know what you're getting into when you go in. You can only study the things that you saw before on film or what they did all before the week of. Some defenses go with, we call it the flavor of the week. They might just show things on film before that they never ran, and then this week might be the week they feel their defense can stop the offense we have going. It's all based off adjustments during the game, and that's pretty much what the game is all about -- who can make the best adjustments and execute the adjustments when the coaches want the adjustments. That's the game of football. Q. Clyde, I know it's still early in the process here and you guys are still getting into your evaluation process of Georgia, but how confident are you that your offensive line can win at the point of attack against the SEC's top rush defense in Georgia? CLYDE EDWARDS-HELAIRE: I'm very confident. The O-line steps up. Whenever they get called out, our people feel like they want to step up. They always do. That's the way it's been for us for the past six, seven weeks. It's always been can the offensive line hold up? And they have. So as far as the questions about the offensive line, those guys work hard day in and day out. They execute. This year we had numerous rotations on the offensive line, and it hasn't been a dropoff yet. Those guys, they prepare, and they execute, and they do the things they need to do in order to get the job done on Saturday. 12/1/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil Da Boot Sports! **The following is from a Media Teleconference for the SEC Championship Game on Sunday, Dec. 1st, 2019, that I attended** ED ORGERON: Well, obviously, it was a great win against Texas A&M to finish the season with a 12-0 win. We're very proud of that. A lot of respect for Kirby and what he's done in Georgia. Very talented football team, a winning program. It's going to be one heck of a challenge. We're going to have an excellent week of practice, and we look forward to this great matchup. Q. Now that you're here for this championship game here, from day to day, you've talked about it week to week, how have you organized your time the way you guys work to go into a postseason like this where you have multiple games perhaps ahead? ED ORGERON: We feel like we've scaled back on practice the last couple weeks. We feel that we have a very good formula where we can get our work in and also keep our guys fresh. There will not be a lot of hitting during the week, but there will be some full-speed work, but there's not a lot of taking them to the ground or contact. We feel like we're able to play very fast with the way we're practicing. Q. Is there -- do you sense the magnitude of this with your players? I mean, I know it's something that you try not to bring up, but playing at all at this moment? ED ORGERON: Yeah, they're going to be excited about it, but this is a mature team. Obviously, it's an honor to be in the game, to play for the SEC Championship, that's what you want when you come to school here. So it's going to be a great game. It will be a great atmosphere. So our guys understand the magnitude of it, but I really have confidence in this team's mental approach that it's the next game up. Q. Coach, I know you had a good running game last season, but is Joe Burrow's passing and the prolific offense you had this year, does that help the running game even more with Clyde Edwards-Helaire and the rest of the running backs? ED ORGERON: Sure, it's just a matter of a numbers game. They commit too many people to the run, the pass is open, then we open it up with a lot of passes, it opens up the run game, you know, there's a gap short or -- you know, that's part of the spread offense. Also, I think Clyde has emerged to be one of the top backs in the country. He's making people miss. He has a great offensive weapon. We use him out of the backfield. He's become a great weapon. Q. How much did you challenge your defense before the A&M game last week, and how do you think they responded? ED ORGERON: I think that it wasn't more or less a direct challenge, it was more or less a fixing of things that were broke, and I thought that Dave Aranda did a great job of fouling up pressures. We put more pressure on the quarterback than we had all year. We had six sacks. I thought our covers were spot on. It was a great atmosphere. Our players wanted this game very badly, and it showed. Q. How much -- when you look at what you guys have done on the offensive side of the football, how much was it helpful for you to give them a little rest in the second half of that game? ED ORGERON: I think it's critical. I think it's critical that through the stretch here, especially our receivers who run a bunch of routes every day in practice, Joe to get a little rest. His arm was a little tired. Clyde to get a little rest. I think it's going to help down the stretch. Q. Being a defensive line guy, I can't help but want to get a thought or two on Tyler Clark, No. 52 on that defensive line for Georgia. What have you seen out of him this year, Coach? ED ORGERON: Quick, dominant. I've watched a lot of their tape because, obviously, I studied the offensive lines that we're going to go against. I think that they're very well coached. I think Tyler Clark is probably one of the best defensive linemen we've played all year. This is the best defense we've played all year. It starts with their defensive line. They're very well coached. They're agile. They move. They can take on blocks, slant, pass rush well. They do it all. Q. If I can focus on your team now, I realize we're a day ahead, but Tell the Truth Monday tomorrow. What are some truths about this team and what they've told you about themselves this year to you, Coach. ED ORGERON: Character, leadership, poise. They're very focused. Obviously very talented. I think we have some outstanding assistant coaches. One team, one heartbeat. We're playing for each other, those type of things that we preach. Q. Coach, early on in your tenure, you had that famous press conference where your answer was "We're coming." What made you confident in saying that at the time that made you believe that where you're at today was possible? ED ORGERON: You know, I thought after that game that we had matched the physicality of Alabama. I felt that we were two or three players away from being right there, and, obviously, they were the benchmark, and everything that we had to do on a daily basis was to compete with them. I think we're competing with them in recruiting. Obviously, we beat them on the field. I do respect their program and the job Coach Saban has done. It's just the benchmark to compete with. Q. I mean, all coaches face criticism and people who are going to say that they're not so-and-so or whoever, but is there kind of a part of you, though, that where you guys are, you kind of want to say: Well, look at us now, look at me now? ED ORGERON: Not at all. I'll never be about that. Q. So, clearly, you guys you want to spread everybody out one-on-one with the DBs. When you look at Georgia, can you give an honest assessment when you look at quarterbacks? They seem to be pretty good man to man. What do you think about that matchup specifically? Can you compare it to any of the other teams you played this season? ED ORGERON: It's early. Obviously, we graded the film of Texas A&M. We had recruits in. We just got a scouting report on Georgia, so our guys are breaking it down. But we do have a preliminary scouting report. Kirby's done a phenomenal job. This is the best defense we faced all year. They'll pressure. They'll play man. They'll play zone. I think it's overall comprehensive with the pass rush that they have and their abilities to cover one-on-one. I think that's what makes it outstanding. Q. Can you compare them to anybody else you've played? ED ORGERON: I think similar defense, the best defense we've played so far is Auburn, and just some of the little bit I watched, they're very similar. A little bit different in a couple of spots, but very similar. Q. Hey, Ed, you guys obviously got -- built off what you did last year, got off to a good start, got on the national radar pretty quick. But here you are last night saying you played your most complete game of the year. What did you guys do last night that maybe you weren't even doing a month ago that you liked? ED ORGERON: Defense, we had six sacks. 160 yards of total offense at Texas A&M, a team that we struggled with last year. We had been struggling with giving up a lot of yards of points on defense. So I thought overall, for most of the season, our offense has been playing phenomenal, and then our defense has finally played the way I think they're capable of. So I was proud of that. We had two 50-yard field goals by a freshman kicker. So I thought overall it was probably our most complete game. Q. And I know you kind of touched on it earlier about some tweaks that have been made on the defensive side of the ball, but your defensive players have been hearing things all year that haven't been very complimentary. Even last week, you get moved down, and the chairman says it's the defensive piece. Of course, that's after a game, I guess you all were up 56-6 on Arkansas and put the subs in and gave up a couple fourth quarter. Have you noticed some inward motivation from your guys that they're getting tired of hearing this kind of national discussion about LSU being good except on defense? ED ORGERON: You know, we have a saying here. We talk about blocking out the noise. So it's very important, as you do know, with all the information that's out there, but I do believe, without us mentioning it, there's internal motivation, and they want to definitely prove they can be an outstanding defense. I do believe our best defensive games are yet to come. Q. A couple of things. One, kind of the thought going into this is that Georgia obviously has to win to get into the playoff, but most people seem to think that LSU is probably in whether you win or lose on Saturday. Do you worry about that taking any of the edge off of your guys, or do you feel that's at least a fair assessment of where things are? ED ORGERON: No, that never entered our minds. Again, I told the team that we've got to finish the season. We've got to finish the SEC Championship, and then let's see where we're ranked. And then wherever we're ranked, we've got to go play, and we've got to win anyway. That's why it's called the playoffs. You've got to win. None of that stuff matters right now. We've got to win this football game. This is a big football game for our team, and that's all we're thinking about. Q. One more thing. Does playing in Atlanta give Georgia any edge, this being so close to home for them? ED ORGERON: I'm sure there will be a big crowd there, but LSU is going to travel well. They're going to be loud and proud. I expect it to be a great crowd for both sides. It will be a tremendous SEC matchup. Q. Coach, I was just wondering how much some of the bigger games you've played, whether it's going on the road to Alabama or going on the road to Texas, how much you think that's helped prepare the team for this type of an environment. ED ORGERON: I think it's going to help with the crowd noise. We practiced crowd noise. We're going to practice crowd noise this week, going out there and make the plays we've made in a hostile environment, we're going to need them again. Q. And, Coach, I know you throughout the season have shown that you're willing to change the schedule to kind of give yourself an advantage. Do you foresee anything or any schedule change dealing with the SEC Championship game, I guess, festivities? ED ORGERON: We're going to have a great week of practice. We have scaled down practice a little bit the last couple of weeks, and we're going to continue to scale it down. Our guys are going to be fresh. We're going to leave on Thursday night instead of Friday and practice in the Dome on Friday and have a regular business trip. Q. Ed, I guess I've heard you describe Joe Brady as a game changer on your staff. I want you to describe why it is that you say that. ED ORGERON: First of all, he's very intelligent, and his presentation is phenomenal. He's done a tremendous job of coaching our wide receivers. He and Steve Ensminger get along fine, great. He has implemented the spread offense, something that we wanted to learn. He's brought the Saints' passing game to us, Penn State's RPOs. The guy's a phenomenal coach, phenomenal young man. He's in the box with Steve. Steve calls most of the plays, but Joe's there to make suggestions. Joe may call some plays. He's meant a lot to our football team. He's helped us transition into the spread offense. He's been a game changer. Q. I want to ask you also, does Georgia's experience in the SEC Championship Game three years in a row now, do you think that will benefit them at all with some of the guys that have played on this stage? ED ORGERON: Sure, it gives them some confidence, obviously. I think those guys have been there before, so I'm sure they think that gives them some confidence. But, you know, we have a mature team, and these guys are going to be focused in on what we can control. I think they'll be fine. Q. Coach, I heard you say that your best defensive football is ahead of you. What have you seen from Jake Fromm this year? Obviously, he's completed less than 50 percent of his passes the last four games. And how similar is their offense to the one you guys beat down there in Baton Rouge last year? ED ORGERON: Again, I have to tell you truly we've been focused on Texas A&M. I just received the scouting report on their defense. We're fixing to do a scouting report on their offense. I watched two games. Obviously, we have a lot of respect for their talent. I know they have a couple of receivers out, big, strong offensive linemen, outstanding back, can go pro style and can go spread, very multiple. I have a lot of respect for Jake. I think he's an excellent quarterback and an excellent leader. That's all I can tell you for right now. Q. When you were on staffs that were playing for championships and the like as an assistant coach and you were up for jobs, what is your policy to assistants that might be getting interest now -- I'm not only talking about Brady -- as your postseason goes on. ED ORGERON: Obviously, when you have great assistants, people are going to come after, and obviously, we're going to do everything we can to fight for the guys that we want to stay. Now, if a guy has a head job that's something that we can't match, that's something he really wants, we have to let him go. But for Joe, we're going to fight to keep him here as much as we can. We've had some preliminary conversations with him, and everything seems positive right now. Q. You mentioned that you've gotten the defensive scouting report for Georgia already. I'm just curious as to where have you seen Georgia improve or change the most defensively this year compared to 2018 from the tape you've watched of this season? ED ORGERON: I think their defensive line is phenomenal. That Clark is something else. Number 13, their freshman, Ojulari, is a great rusher off the edge. I think they run, they're big, they're physical. They're well coached. Kirby is an outstanding defensive coach. They have an outstanding staff. I think the thing I'm most impressed about Georgia's defense is how they get all 11 hats to the football. They do a tremendous job of tackling in the open field and hustling to the ball. Q. And then, Coach, Kirby has mentioned a little bit this year, all year, that one metric he's employed is wreaking havoc defensively. Is that something that you guys have looked at as well on your staff? ED ORGERON: Yeah, no question. Obviously, we had six sacks last week. You have to attack these spread offenses. If you sit back, they can shred you apart. So you can see the tackles for loss, the stunts that they're doing, the blitzing that they're doing, and that's all to create negative plays, which helps you win games. Q. Kirby Smart said a few minutes ago that this game is a classic matchup because both these teams have been battle tested throughout the year. How have you witnessed that yourself through this season, and what have you seen from them, and how much do you think that plays into this one? ED ORGERON: Look at the schedule we play. Look at the teams we beat. Outstanding Auburn team. Outstanding Florida team. Great athletes all over the place. They lost to South Carolina, they bounced back. They didn't blink. There's a lot that -- they faced some adversity. They climbed the hill back. They're back in the championship game. So it says a lot about their character and their leadership and their coaching staff. Q. Coach, you mentioned, you kind of touched on there, they've got a couple of receivers. Pickens will be out the first half. Cager is apparently done for the year. And Swift got a shoulder banged up against Georgia Tech the other day. Is that any edge for you guys with some of their -- some questions about guys missing and maybe injury statuses of a couple of their big offensive guys? ED ORGERON: You know, obviously, in a big game like this, people miraculously get well towards the end of the week. So we expect their best players to play. A team like Georgia, they've recruited well. I'm sure they have some young guys. We have the same thing. We call it "next man up" theory. I'm sure they have the "next man up" theory, and they're going to play just as well as the starters. So I don't think that's going to be any benefit to us at all. Q. Hey, Coach, where do you feel like you are depth-wise? Because it's usually a backup that sometimes makes that big play in a championship game that is a difference maker. ED ORGERON: You know, I think that it's really helped that we had to sit Grant Delpit out. So we've got some depth at safety now. A little depth, not a lot. We have more depth on the offensive linemen, the offensive line that we have. We feel like we have depth at every position. So we feel like we're in good shape to make a run. Q. You mentioned Grant Delpit. Tell me where you think he is right now. I know it's Sunday, Coach, but his progression this week to get him ready for Saturday. ED ORGERON: I talked to the trainer. He's a little sore. But I thought he's played very well. I think he should be as close to full speed this Saturday as he's ever been. Q. Hey, Coach, just want to do the "go back in time" question here. Obviously, Joe Burrow has become what he has, but can you take us back to the initial visit with him, what were your first impressions of him, and where he's come from then? ED ORGERON: My biggest impressions of Joe, first of all, he didn't want a lot of recruiting jargon. He came here. It was a business trip. We had a football meeting, and it was about, I guess, a three- or four-hour meeting, and there was five people in that meeting, including me, and Joe was the smartest guy in there. I was very impressed with that and his knowledge of football, the way he could verbalize what he saw on the film, what he wanted to get done, what type of plan that we had for him, the things that he liked, the things that he didn't. I thought it was a tremendous meeting. Q. And a follow-up to that, when you're going through practices with him -- because, correct me if I'm wrong, he wasn't there for the spring, but when you're going through the August, fall camp practices, are you kind of thinking to yourself, like, how is this guy here and not competing up at Ohio State for that job? ED ORGERON: You know what, it didn't start off that fast, to be honest with you. Now, he came in -- when he came in, we were running 110s, and he beat everybody on the 110s. He competed, and he kept his mouth shut, and eventually he started winning the team over. But to be honest with you, in fall camp, it wasn't a no brainer. He was competing with some other guys. The competition was very close. He was learning a new offense. So I think it wasn't until about mid-year that we really saw the difference in Joe Burrow, and then at the end, the Texas A&M game, when he ran the football a lot, and then his Bowl game was his best game. So I think it was an eventual process that he took this team over. Q. Coach, I know your goal Saturday evening is to have one more point than Georgia. I'm wondering, just with style of play, if you had to draw it up, would it be a higher scoring game that you guys have played quite a bit of this year? ED ORGERON: You know, you never can tell. Like you said, to win the game. We don't play for like style and points and stuff like that. We just want to win, man. We want to play well to win. I have a lot of respect for Georgia. Just want to win the game any way we can. Q. I did have a follow-up about Kirby Smart and what he does disguise-wise on the defensive side of the football. How hard is it to read what Kirby is doing on the defensive side of the football, Coach? ED ORGERON: Again, we just started, but I think, if you stay in traditional formations -- you know, everybody has traditional disguises, and he's very good at it, but we also have some formations where it's hard to disguise. I know we'll have a plan. I know our guys are able to have a plan against anything anybody can give us. We've shown that all year, and I feel confident we can do it again. Q. Coach, if I could take you back to when Les Miles hired you at LSU, of going back to those conversations after USC, think you took a year off. Tell me about the process of getting hired there as the defensive line coach under Les Miles. ED ORGERON: I was very grateful. I've had a great relationship with Coach Miles throughout the years. I respected him, and he respected me. There's an opportunity for me to come aboard. I respected it. I loved being the defensive line coach here, and I liked working with Coach Miles. He's been very good to me. |
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