LSU tends to go as Derek Stingley Jr. goes. Hope is he goes off in 2021

As Derek Stingley Jr. goes, so go the LSU Tigers.

At least that’s the way things have worked out the past couple of years.

Stingley and LSU made history together during his first season in 2019.

They experienced individual and team disappointment in his second season.

Now both seem poised for a significant bounce-back in his third season in 2021.

Stingley became the first Tiger to start every game of his true freshman season and the cornerback earned consensus All-America honors as LSU won the 2019 CFP championship.

But he struggled through injuries as a sophomore and LSU slipped to 5-5 in the wake of losing nearly all of its starters from the championship team.

As the Tigers continue preseason camp, Stingley is healthy and they return essentially the same number of starters from last year’s team as they lost from the 2019 team a year ago.

Stingley’s stock is rising and so is LSU’s. The Tigers will open the season ranked No. 16 in the AP poll.

Stingley is generally considered the top cover cornerback in college football and a likely top 10 pick in the NFL Draft whenever he chooses to turn pro. He is healthy, ready to continue his role as an elite return specialist and add perhaps 6 to 10 offensive snaps to his workload.

He is one of the primary reasons LSU has been a consensus preseason top 20 pick.

“Derek is one of the top corners in America and has become a tremendous leader for us,” coach Ed Orgeron said.

Stingley seemingly was born to play football at LSU.

He was born and raised in Baton Rouge, becoming a phenom as a youngster and receiving a scholarship offer from the Tigers when he was a high-school freshman at the Dunham School.

Stingley evolved into a consensus 5-star recruit, accepted LSU’s offer and his college career started as well as it could have.

He enrolled in school early in 2019 to get a head-start on his eagerly anticipated career.

He led the SEC in interceptions with 6 – including 2 in an SEC Championship Game victory over Georgia – while helping the Tigers to a 15-0 record and their national championship.

But Stingley’s second season wasn’t nearly as charmed as his first.

The Tigers were doomed to a significant fall-off after an unprecedented series of graduations, early departures and opt-outs among major contributors to the championship.

Stingley was clearly the top returning player, but he was taken acutely ill on the eve of the season-opener and he was hospitalized as LSU gave up the most passing yards in one SEC game in history during an upset loss to Mississippi State.

That set the tone for Stingley and the Tigers’ season.

Stingley returned quickly but suffered an ankle injury and wound up missing 3 full games and playing injured in the rest. He didn’t make a single interception and the Tigers finished 5-5.

LSU self-imposed a bowl ban to try and mitigate likely NCAA sanctions and focused on a turnaround in 2021.

Things started looking up right away as virtually all the key Tigers who could return did, a top-5 recruiting class came on board and Stingley returned to health.

He was chosen to wear the coveted jersey No. 7 (from No. 24), which annually is bestowed on the Tigers’ most dynamic player, in what could be his final season.

Stingley is adding to a legacy that includes previous custodians of the No. 7 jersey such as cornerback Patrick Peterson, defensive back Tyrann Mathieu and running back Leonard Fournette. He said he has spoken to “a couple of the previous 7s,” including Mathieu about how to be a leader.

“I’m a quiet guy,” Stingley said, “so he told me, ‘You don’t always have to go out there and scream and yell and be this rah-rah guy. When you speak, people are going to listen.’

“It’s something I’ve always seen as a kid, the hype around it, and what everybody did with the number. That’s what I look forward to doing. I really want to leave a mark.”

Stingley’s attempt to maintain the standard of play of previous No. 7s has merged with his attempt to lead the Tigers’ mission to return the program to its pre-2020 level.

Orgeron cited Stingley’s status as a Baton Rouge native as well as his “tremendous character and a desire to make all of those around him better” as factors in his selection.

LSU is hopeful of having a full season with a healthy Stingley and fellow corner Eli Ricks forming perhaps the best cornerback tandem in the country. As a true freshman last season, Ricks made 4 interceptions and returned 2 for touchdowns.

The Tigers are confident that the entire defense will benefit from a fresh start under new defensive coordinator Daronte Jones, who came from the NFL to replace Bo Pelini after one season in which the defense never fully comprehended Pelini’s complex scheme.

“Some of it was simple. Some of it was too complicated,” Orgeron said. “We’re going to simplify stuff. We want our guys to play, keep the ball in front of us, and make plays.”

Stingley, 6-1, 195 pounds, is the Tigers’ best playmaker and one of the best in the country. Scouts have marveled at his combination of size, speed, fluidity, instincts and closing burst. He has shown adequate if not exceptional physicality.

Jones doubles as secondary coach and Stingley and his defensive teammates have taken to Jones’ coaching style.

“He brings a lot of stuff from the NFL, and whenever he introduces something new to us, he breaks it down on an NFL level, and he shows how they did it when he was at the Vikings,” Stingley said. “He shows clips from that, or he shows clips from the Bengals and stuff like that. When we see that, we’re like, ‘OK, we can do it.’ They’re making it look simple, so we can go out there and do it, too.”

Orgeron conceded that the 2020 Tigers defense had “too many explosive plays, too many missed assignments, too many busts, too many receivers running down the field free.”

That’s a lot of “too manys” from a defense that had too little of Stingley.

Stingley is on five preseason watch lists – for the Jim Thorpe Award (best defensive back), the Bronko Nagurski Award (best defensive player), the Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year), the Walter Camp Award (the nation’s most outstanding player) and the Paul Hornung Award (most versatile player).

It wouldn’t be surprising if the Tigers install an offensive package that includes Stingley, though they might not unveil such a weapon early in the season.

If Stingley, who has averaged 11.3 yards per punt return, gets his hands on the ball on offense, that certainly would enhance his candidacy for the Hornung and Camp awards as well as potentially becoming a candidate for the Heisman Trophy.

“It’s cool to hear that stuff,” Stingley said, “but I like to focus on the team and what we can do as a group.

“We want to be one of the top teams, like we usually are every year. That’s what we’re coming back for this year.”

Les East

Les East is a New Orleans-based football writer who covers LSU for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow him on Twitter @Les_East.