LSU Football: Ed Orgeron keeps key recruiting promise

LSU football head coach Ed Orgeron kept a key promise he made during the recruiting process.

When Maurice Hampton signed with LSU football, Ed Orgeron promised the four-star recruit from Memphis that he could play baseball in the spring and skip spring practice.

And Coach O is keeping that promise.

On Wednesday, during a press conference previewing spring football, Orgeron announced that Hampton wouldn’t participate in practice this spring because of baseball.

Hampton, an outfielder for the Tigers, was drafted in the 23rd round of the 2019 MLB draft. He would’ve been a much higher selection, but he fell due to signability concerns.

As a true freshman in 2019, Hampton played in 13 games for LSU’s football team, compiling 10 tackles and one pass defensed. The young defensive back had six tackles in LSU’s win against Arkansas in late November. He also played in the Tigers’ College Football Playoff semifinal win against Oklahoma.

It might not seem like a big deal that Coach O is keeping his promise to Hampton, but it absolutely is a big deal.

There’s a lot of lying and deceit that happens in college football recruiting. There are a ton of promises on the recruiting trail that are made by coaches and later broken.

Coach O, however, is proving to recruits that they can trust his word. They see how Orgeron keeps major promises (and allowing a four-star player to miss spring practice is certainly a major promise). Recruits notice these kind of things.

There’s a chance that Coach O’s promise to Hampton could help LSU land elite recruits down the road.