Former LSU football players explain why Bo Pelini will be great for Tigers

Former Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini will return to Baton Rouge in 2020 as LSU football’s defensive coordinator.

One of the main reasons LSU football had so much success in 2019 was because of Ed Orgeron’s decision to bring Joe Brady on staff as the Tigers’ passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach.

Brady helped take LSU’s offense to the next level.

And now Orgeron is hoping Bo Pelini can do the same for a LSU defense that ranked No. 32 in the nation in 2019.

Pelini’s former players from his first stint in Baton Rouge are confident that the former Youngstown State head coach can be a game changer for LSU in 2020.

Former Tigers safety Curtis Taylor recently told The Advocate that Pelini will be LSU’s “next great recruit”, comparing Pelini’s return to the hiring of Brady.

In that same interview, former LSU linebacker Darry Beckwith, who played under Pelini in 2006 and 2007, said that Pelini “knew how to get the best out of every player”.

Former Tigers quarterback Matt Flynn recalled to The Advocate that Pelini’s pre-game speeches used to be so incredible that LSU’s offense would often listen in on them. Flynn added “I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of the ball on the first play of the game….there will not be any lack of motivation, I’ll tell you that”.

Pelini obviously means a lot to former LSU players, but it’s clear that LSU also means a lot to Pelini.

After Pelini was fired by Nebraska in 2014, he turned down opportunities to go to the NFL to become a defensive coordinator, in order to take a considerably lower paying job as Youngstown State’s head coach. He went somewhere that meant a lot to him. The fact that Pelini is leaving YSU for a spot on Coach O’s staff tells you how much LSU means to him.

It wasn’t easy for the Youngstown native to leave his hometown. But LSU has that kind of pull on folks.

And that’s why Pelini will be back on the sidelines in Baton Rouge next season.