LSU Football: The expected return date for cornerback Derek Stingley Jr

LSU football has been without star cornerback Derek Stingley Jr during the early portion of fall camp.

Stingley has been out with what’s been described by Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron as a “minor injury”.

It’s unclear what injury Stingley is dealing with, but it’s been enough to keep the stud defensive back out of practice.

So when will the Louisiana native return to practice?

According to 247Sports‘ Shea Dixon, Stingley should return to practice sometime next week. That will give Stingley a final week of fall practice, plus a week of game prep for UCLA, before the start of the 2021 season.

Should LSU Football fans be concerned about Derek Stingley’s injury

It’s hard to say whether or not Tigers fans should be concerned about Stingley’s injury, considering we aren’t exactly sure what injury is hampering the star cornerback.

For what it’s worth, Orgeron doesn’t seem too concerned about the injury. This could be a situation where LSU simply wants to be extremely careful with Stingley — there’s no reason to rush the best defensive back in the nation back too soon and risk further injury.

At the same time, it’s never ideal for a program to hear that one of its best players is dealing with an injury and isn’t practicing. Hopefully, this isn’t an injury that lingers throughout the season. That’s the last thing LSU needs to deal with in 2021.

If the Tigers are going to compete for the SEC West division title this season, they’ll need Stingley to be 100 percent.

Stingley’s absence during fall camp has put a hold on the “Stingley on offense experiment”. While we could still see Stingley on offense at some point this season, it seems likely that Orgeron will want Stingley focusing on defense (especially with a new defensive coordinator) once he’s finally able to return to the practice field.