LSU Football: Why hiring Brad Davis was a smart move by Ed Orgeron

LSU football parted ways with offensive line coach James Cregg last week.

Cregg had served as the Tigers’ offensive line coach since 2018.

The former Colorado State offensive lineman previously worked with LSU head coach Ed Orgeron at USC (2010-2013) and Tennessee (2009).

While there’s been no official reason offered for the decision to part ways with Cregg, there’s been plenty of speculation surrounding the move.

LSU football tabs Brad Davis to replace James Cregg

Orgeron moved swiftly to replace Cregg, hiring Brad Davis away from the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Davis, who played college football at Oklahoma, is a Baton Rouge native who has also coached at Missouri, Florida, North Carolina, and Texas A&M.

Hiring Davis was a smart move by Orgeron simply because Davis is from Baron Rouge.

But that’s not the only reason it was a smart move.

One of the main reasons Davis was hired is because he’s a solid recruiter. A lot of times when a new position coach is hired, they have to build new relationships with the players that his new employer is recruiting.

In this situation, that shouldn’t be an issue. That’s because Davis has already been recruiting most of the offensive linemen that LSU is recruiting.

Five-star offensive lineman Kelvin Banks, one of the Tigers’ top 2022 recruiting targets, took a visit to LSU this weekend. He didn’t get to speak to Davis, but he told 247Sports that he has an existing relationship with the new Tigers offensive line coach.

“He’s a cool person,” said Banks to 247Sports. “In the past when he was recruiting me, he was a real nice guy. He’s cool, he cracks jokes when it’s time to go and everything. He’s a real cool guy.”

“He always talks about my athleticism when I’m pulling so he talks about that a lot,” added Banks.

Hiring Davis gives LSU an experienced position coach who knows Louisiana and already has strong recruiting ties to the offensive linemen the Tigers are hoping to land during the next couple of recruiting cycles.

As usual, this was a brilliant move by Coach O.