The million-dollar question in Baton Rouge following Ja’Marr Chase’s decision to opt-out following a few weeks into LSU’s current training camp? Why now?

Why didn’t Chase make this decision earlier? And are the rumors true, did former LSU Tiger Ryan Clark influence Chase’s decision?

Well, Ja’Marr’s father, Jimmy Chase, recently joined Baton Rouge-based ESPN 104.5 FM radio show “Off The Bench” to answer those questions.

“We weren’t influenced by an agent, we don’t have an agent. If you listen to what I’ve been saying the whole time, this has been a fluid process,” Chase said on Wednesday. “Ja’Marr and I have been processing this thing since the beginning (inaudible) — and everyone wants to know why we waited for now to do it. When is the best time to do it, you know?

“The boy wants to play football but he’s torn between playing football and not playing football. The problem is, getting from understanding he can play or may not play, to making a decision to play or not play. In between that is when days get confusing.”

When it comes to the Ryan Clark rumors, Chase has no idea how that got started but denied them and even took the suggestion as a slight that he and his son couldn’t come to this decision on their own.

“The other thing is, Ryan Clark, I don’t know how he come up. We haven’t talked to Ryan Clark in forever,” Chase continued. “I feel sorry for Ryan Clark for getting hit with this but Ryan Clark has nothing to do with it. We made the decision on our information.

“To say that or an agent influenced us, to say we’re not competent enough to make decisions on our own. I process everything.”

So what changed from the start of camp to now?

“I’ll say it like this, T-Bob. Common sense. Common sense,” Chase repeated. “You got the COVID going on, you got long-term effects of COVID, you have generational change in money out there, you have the injury bug, you have questions about the season. There’s too many questions and too many unanswered things going on. To put yourself in that situation may not be the ideal thing. That’s what’s so hard.”

Clearly, this decision was not made without heavy consideration from the Chase family. But in the end, while it may hurt LSU this season, it’s hard to argue against the Chase family’s decision.