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LSU head football coach Ed Orgeron said Thursday he’s not going to publicly announce any discipline, including suspensions, given to Tigers players during the 2017 season in order to maintain a “competitive advantage” over the team’s opponents.
The second-year coach said the program’s rules remain in place and promised to punish players who break those standards, but he confirmed the information won’t be made available.
“Here’s the deal. I didn’t want to announce any suspension—if they are. I didn’t want to give BYU a competitive advantage. That’s just the reason why,” Orgeron told reporters. “You know what, we all make mistakes. I think everyone in here has made mistakes before and we had people forgive us. It’s something that they have to learn a lesson from and hopefully they don’t do it again. We do have team rules and if they break it, there will be discipline, I promise you that.”
Ross Dellenger of The Advocate noted three LSU players—Adrian Magee and Donavaughn Campbell and running back Lanard Fournette, the brother of former Tigers standout Leonard Fournette—have been arrested during the past year and could be subject to discipline.
LSU, which posted a 6-2 record under Orgeron after he replaced Les Miles last season, is set to open the new season Saturday night at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans against BYU.
OddsShark lists the 13th-ranked Tigers at 15-point favorites in their season opener. But the head coach doesn’t want his players looking past the Cougars, per Nick Suss of SEC Country.
“Obviously, we always want to end up with a great season here at LSU,” Orgeron said. “We always want to be in the national championship hunt. But that’s not what we focus on at LSU. We talk about the process. We’ve got to focus on the first step. That’s all we’re focused on right now.”
It’s not uncommon for a high number of players to miss the first game of the college football regular season due to disciplinary matters. Florida has already suspended 10 student-athletes ahead of the Gators’ clash with Michigan at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday.
While Orgeron confirmed suspended players won’t travel to New Orleans for the BYU game, per Suss, it’s unknown whether the complete list will be known based on the coach’s efforts at in-house rulings.
