Ed Orgeron: Arden Key might not be ready for LSU summer camp

Yes, its time for SEC Media Days, the annual July gathering of a couple of thousand writers and their ilk from radio, TV and Internet to greet the conferences coaches and players and preview the season, which kicks off in 52 days when Arkansas hosts Florida A&M for the SECs first action.

Coach O’s three-year stint at Ole Miss from 2005-07 was a total disaster.

The 2017 football season can not come fast enough for LSU and head coach Ed Orgeron.

The Volunteers don’t have quite the same hype as a year ago, when they were picked to win the SEC East.

For 24 of his 25 years as an assistant, Orgeron has coached the defensive line. And I still need to prove that. “The main thing that guy taught me was to grow up fast”.

Orgeron had numerous conversations with his two mentors – Jimmy Johnson and Pete Carroll. “He said, ‘Coach, I can’t go, I can’t play,'” Orgeron said Monday at the SEC Media Days, via NFL.com. I can’t worry about looking about somebody else. “I would do the same thing for my teammate”, Guice said.

“He looks good”, Orgeron said. “But, we have done it”. Orgeron also went 6-2 as an interim basis at Southern California.

LSU opens the season against BYU. We beat Louisville in the Citrus Bowl. “I wish I could play defense right now”.

“I was born in Louisiana, and (the expectations) are very high”, he said.

Les Miles was sacked last September as the Tigers program had dipped. LSU won the game 28-3; the headlines on the next day’s newspaper solidified his desire to be an LSU Tiger.

Like the rest of his peers in the SEC West, Orgeron wants to see his team gain ground on three-time SEC champion and three-time College Football Playoff participant Alabama.

That is exactly what Alabama football did against LSU and Derrick Guice in 2016. Comparing former coach Les Miles to current coach Ed Orgeron was another. They do a great job of evaluation. Alabama is the benchmark.

But the schedule change meant that this year’s game is in Gainesville.

When Florida and LSU were unable to come to an agreement on re-scheduling the game, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey stepped in and ordered the two teams to play in Baton Rouge, with Florida getting two home games against the Tigers in a row.

The Gators won the East the last two years but were hardly overwhelming during the regular season. He deleted “interim” from Orgeron’s title last November. “When we take our team on the road, to go into a hostile environment, we accept that challenge”. We went 6-2. We played pretty good a year ago.

Orgeron spent a large amount of time going through the personnel on this year’s squad.

Once again, Orgeron stressed that the quarterback job is not decided.

“I’ve been part of some wild finishes, some overtime games”, Chark said.

-Tennessee has to replace dual-threat QB Joshua Dobbs, who accounted for 85 career touchdowns. There is still a quarterback competition going into fall camp.

Still, the ever-present mind games an extended losing streak can play on a program certainly can have its effect.

Orgeron opted to take wide receiver D.J. Chark and running back Derrius Guice to represent the Tigers’ offense – something completely fine with Etling – but there were several questions about Etling’s back and his return to the field. He was away from the team and then he had surgery.