LSU is down more than 30 players from its 2019 national champion squad. The Tigers also lost multiple key assistants, including Dave Aranda and Joe Brady. While those departures have some people doubting LSU in 2020, FOX Sports analyst Reggie Bush believes Ed Orgeron’s team will be a contender again this season.

“I still like LSU a lot because they’re the defending champ,” Bush recently said on FOX’s “Big Noon Kickoff,” per 247Sports. “When you’re the defending champ, that next season, you play with different energy and different passion. This is the first one they’ve won in a long time, and the players know that. They’ll be eager to live up to what they did last year. They’ll want to try and repeat what they did last year. Obviously that’s easier said than done. When you look at the amount of people they lost — players and also Joe Brady — that’s a lot of pieces they lose.

Bush believes the most important piece is back for 2020.

“I say this with an asterisk, because I know how tough it will be for this team this year, but they do have the captain of their ship — Ed Orgeron — who will have you ready to run through a brick wall with his pregame speeches and just the way he prepares you for football games,” Bush added. “He’s still the captain of that ship. As long as they still have Coach O, I believe in him, because I know his DNA and what he brings to the table.

“But it will be tough for them and tough for everyone this year. I know they lost Joe Brady, but Alabama lost Tua [Tagovailoa]. Other teams lost good players, which happens every year. It’s part of college football.”

While the Tigers did have over 30 players depart, the 2020 recruiting class of 24 players (including transfers) was ranked No. 4 in the nation on the 247Sports Composite. Five-star freshman tight end Arik Gilbert and North Dakota State transfer defender Jabril Cox have already turned heads in fall camp practices.