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Former teammate reveals one of Ed Orgeron’s key recruiting tactics

By Zach Ragan

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - DECEMBER 28: Safety Grant Delpit #7 of the LSU Tigers celebrate on the podium after winning the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl 28-63 over the Oklahoma Sooners at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on December 28, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - DECEMBER 28: Safety Grant Delpit #7 of the LSU Tigers celebrate on the podium after winning the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl 28-63 over the Oklahoma Sooners at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on December 28, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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LSU Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron has a reputation for being one of the best recruiters in the nation.

The LSU Tigers are flying high these days.

From playing in the National Championship game, to landing top five recruiting classes, it’s all coming up aces for the Tigers.

LSU’s current success, however, didn’t happen overnight. It’s a result of the work that head coach Ed Orgeron and his staff started putting in back in 2015 and 2016, when Coach O was the defensive line coach, and later the interim head coach at LSU.

Being successful in college football hinges on two things — development and recruiting. You can recruit great players, but if you don’t develop them, you won’t last long as a head coach. Likewise, if you can develop players, but not recruit elite players, then you also won’t last long (at least not in the SEC).

Fortunately for the Tigers, Orgeron can do both. And it’s his recruiting prowess that has LSU in position to go 15-0 in 2019.

ESPN’s David Hale recently wrote an article chronicling the “unbelievable” tales of Coach O. It’s a must read piece for any LSU fan (or college football fan in general).

One of the stories that stood out to me was from Orgeron’s former high school and college teammate, Bobby Herbert, who revealed what he believed is one of Orgeron’s best recruiting tactics.

Herbert told ESPN that Orgeron always knows how to connect with the moms. ESPN noted that Coach O is “a genius at convincing them that he’s the right guy to take care of their boys”.

This seemed to be confirmed by LSU defensive back Grant Delpit. The dynamic safety told ESPN of his in-home visit with Orgeron “the first thing he asked was, ‘Mama, where’s the gumbo?'”

ESPN quoted Coach O as saying “If I’m doing 20 visits, I’m expecting 20 gumbos”.

Hey, if you can win the mom over, there’s a good chance you’ve won the recruiting battle.

Next. Missing on this player still makes Coach O "sick to his stomach". dark

And it’s apparent from the talent that LSU has signed recently that there are plenty of recruiting battles being won in Baton Rouge.

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