Panthers coaches Jake Peetz and DJ Mangas have both been appointed to lead LSU’s offense, the school announces | GVE

Carolina Panthers coach Jake Peetz has been appointed as LSU’s next attacking coordinator, the university announced on Wednesday.

LSU and Peetz quickly came to an agreement, days after the NFL regular season ended Sunday. Peetz interviewed LSU on Tuesday with offensive assistant DJ Mangas, who also announced to LSU that he had been appointed to the passing game coordinator position.

The 37-year-old Peetz is a Nebraska native, a former longtime snapper and cornerback for the Cornhuskers, who has spent seven seasons as an assistant in the NFL, four in the NCAA, most of which he spent as a quarterback coach. is.

Peetz also spent time successfully building game plans behind the scenes at the university level, twice as an offensive analyst at Alabama in 2013 and 2018.

He began his NFL career in 2008 as a scout for the Jacksonville Jaguars, under then-head coach Jack Del Rio – a partnership with LSU coach Ed Orgeron, whose good friend and former Northwest teammate Bobby Hebert , along with Del Rio along with the 1985-86 New Orleans Saints.

“We are excited about the opportunity Coach O has given us to move our family to Baton Rouge and be part of the LSU football program,” Peetz said in a statement Wednesday. “Dealing with Coach O and (athletic director) Scott Woodward through this process has shown me the commitment to win more national championships, and I’m grateful to be able to participate.”

But it is Peetz and Mangas’ ties to Joe Brady, a former LSU coordinator, that have made Orgeron’s top targets.

Orgeron said on Tuesday in WNXX-FM’s “Off the Bench” that Derek Ponamsky, LSU’s special assistant at Orgeron, had been in contact with Brady during the search in hopes of finding candidates who could repeat the schemes that Brady and the former offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger ran. the Tigers won the fourth national championship of the program.

“Joe, who can offend you?” Orgeron said Ponamsky asked Brady. “And he recommended me two guys, and they’re here with me today.”

Mangas spent one season as an offensive analyst at LSU in 2019 and joined the Tigers staff after spending two seasons as offensive coordinator at William & Mary. He played a wide receiver for the Tribe from 2008 to 11, where he teamed up with Brady, who played from 2009-12.

“Jake and DJ are highly recommended by one of the leading and innovative attacking coaches in the game in Joe Brady,” Orgeron said in a statement Wednesday.

Can Peetz and Mangas commit the offense of Brady? That will be the ultimate question on the side of the ball going into the 2021 season. This is an important year for Orgeron, who is taking the season under the microscope after leading the Tigers to a disappointing 5-5 record in the program’s title defense in 2020.

Most problems stem from a historically poor defense, a unit that gave up the highest per game average in points and yards in school history, and eventually led to LSU parting ways with former defense coordinator Bo Pelini after one season.

Yet the offense of the LSU during the season was often contradictory. It splashed here and there, even before quarterback Myles Brennan, who ended the season, suffered an abdominal injury, four games into the season against Missouri.

The Tigers were 0-for-10 on the third down against Missouri and were replenished in a fourth-and-goal effort that would almost certainly result in the 45-41 loss.

Offensive firepower decreased significantly after Brennan’s injury. LSU scored just 25.1 points per game for the rest of the season, including a dismal four-game series against Auburn, Arkansas, Texas A&M and Alabama, in which the Tigers averaged 13 points per game.

LSU had a third downward conversion rate of 33.8% in those four games, and the offense was often stagnant and ineffective with 17 total three-and-out.

LSU finished the season in 102nd place in the third shutdown (34.62%) and a 52.9% conversion rate in the red zone which was 104th at national level and was a significant drop from the conversion rate in 2019 (78 , 67%).

Third downhill and red zones fall under the responsibility of former game coordinator Scott Linehan, with whom LSU divorced after one season. The 57-year-old Linehan is the rest of his $ 800,000-a-year two-year contract, a buyout of about $ 1 million.

Linehan played the same role as Brady, who won the Broyles Award for the country’s best assistant coach, and it is Brady’s influence on Peetz that Orgeron hopes the Tigers attack will renew this time around.

Ensminger, who has voluntarily retired from field coaching, will still remain in the staff and prepare the game plans as an analyst of the field.

“I believe in Joe and what he did,” Orgeron said. “I believe in Coach Ensminger. I thought those guys worked well together two years ago. I thought we lost a bit of that this year, but that was just because of Joe’s expertise, and I want to point that out. offense. “

Many of LSU’s best attacking players left the team for the NFL draft or by entering the NCAA transfer portal, but Peetz still has a strong core of veterans plus young players who broke out by the end of the season.

Brennan, who is starting his fifth year at LSU, is returning to the starting lineup, though Orgeron said he has not yet fully recovered from his injury.

Ty Davis-Price and John Emery, LSU’s two leading drivers, are both entering their third season on campus. The attack of the Tigers rushing rate dropped significantly from 2019 to 2020 and dropped from 60 to 109 nationally with only 121.7 yards per game.

There is promising young talent in the backfield alongside Davis-Price and Emery. Real freshmen Josh Williams and Tre Bradford have both had conspicuous plays in LSU’s last two games, and the Tigers have drawn two of the country’s Top 10 backs in Armoni Goodwin and Corey Kiner from the 2021 yard class.

LSU enters the off-season without any of its first receivers from last year: Ja’Marr Chase, the 2019 winner of the Biletnikoff Award, selected before the season began; star receiver Terrace Marshall opted for the Texas A&M game; starter Race McMath, who was injured in the Arkansas game, declared for the NFL draft; and star tighthead Arik Gilbert, a former five-star recruiter, was selected after the Alabama game and eventually entered the NCAA transfer portal.

Orgeron said Tuesday that he remained in touch with Gilbert and his family, saying that “we still want him to come back.” LSU still has four scholarships returning, plus Jalen Shead, who recruits three stars, but no one has the ability of Gilbert to deliver explosive plays.

LSU’s broad receiver corps has shown that it can still be strong with its next round of players.

The true rookie Kayshon Boutte is expected to lead a group that includes Jaray Jenkins, Koy Moore and Trey Palmer. The 6-foot, 185-pound Boutte set a Southeastern conference and school record with 308 yards in the final season against Ole Miss, and he recorded 27 catches for 527 yards and four touchdowns in the last three games.

Most importantly, Orgeron has managed to retain offensive lineouts that could depart after the NFL draft. So far, starting center Liam Shanahan, right guard Chasen Hines and left guard Ed Ingram have all declared that they will return to LSU in 2021. Left-back Dare Rosenthal and right-wing tackle Austin Deculus have yet to announce their intentions.

Mangas expressed his belief in the offensive potential of LSU.

“I was lucky enough to be part of the 2019 team and see exactly what this offense and these players are capable of,” said Mangas. “It excites me to see the potential we have for the 2021 breach.”