The injuries on the offensive line continue to pile up for the LSU football team, though head coach Ed Orgeron is confident that a group of starters will be inching back towards being fully healthy over the next week. At this past weekend’s scrimmage, there was just one starter in his expected spot on the offensive line, with Garrett Brumfield seeing his reps come at left guard. Meanwhile,Lloyd Cushenberry slid over from right guard - where he is battlingDonavaughn Campbell for the starting job - to take snaps at center. Starting center Will Clapp was held out with a minor injury, and the same went for left tackle K.J. Malone and right tackle Toby Weathersby. In their place: three true freshmen. Saahdiq Charles saw reps at left tackle, Edward Ingram took reps at right guard and Austin Deculus took starting reps at right tackle. As the Tigers worked through practice No. 10 on Wednesday in Baton Rouge, the look - at least when it came to absences - remained largely the same. During Wednesday evening’s meeting with the local media, Orgeron said Campbell has missed a string of recent practices after a collision with Texas Tech transfer defensive end Breiden Fehoko. Orgeron added that Campbell should return to the field in the next few days. Orgeron said Clapp and Weathersby are still being held out with “regular camp injuries”, which has dropped LSU’s “healthy” scholarship offensive linemen total to eight, a eye-catchingly low number for an SEC team working towards week one of the regular season. Orgeron did confirm that Malone, who missed the scrimmage, was back on the field Wednesday at left tackle. Orgeron said Ingram was back at right guard and Deculus at right tackle, with Brumfield and Cushenberry in at left guard and center, respectively. Once completely healthy, it’s likely that four starting spots are locked up with Malone at left tackle and Weathersby at right tackle, then Brumfield at left guard and Clapp at center. Orgeron has mentioned the possibility of moving Clapp to guard and playing Cushenberry at center, but said they prefer to keep a veteran - meaning Clapp - in that position this season. That leaves the right guard position as the open spot up for grabs, with Cushenberry and Campbell considered the early front runners to land the job. Could someone please pump some sunshine? Absolutely anything will do. It can only get better.
Hopefully the freshman getting reps will payoff during the season. O-line injuries are a given during the season so these guys will be up to speed for plug and play. How long has it been since we played with a healthy o-line?
You know how some coaches have that golden horseshoe up their ass or just certain people in general. I'm thinking Oeaux has the opposite of that. Hopefully he can overcome it.
Canada's passing philosophy is to keep it pretty simple, which hopefully helps. I imagine all the motion stuff might require a bit more from the line than we've needed in the past. These new guys don't have to unlearn though.
