Ed Orgeron takes Joe Burrow over Reggie Bush, reveals impressive story

In an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show, Ed Orgeron was put into a bind. To illustrate, Patrick asked the former LSU coach the hard-hitting questions, like who would he rather take, Joe Burrow or Reggie Bush?

While Bush may be the most electrifying athlete to grace college football, Orgeron couldn’t go against Burrow.

“You know, I like Reggie. But what Joe Burrow did for us at LSU. He’s the greatest player — in my opinion — in LSU history,” stated Orgeron. “To win the championship, you need a great quarterback. I learned that from Jimmy Johnson. Get a great quarterback, who’s smart and tough, get great defensive lineman.”

The answer was an easy one for Orgeron. As great as Bush was, Burrow changed Orgeron’s life. Now, the former LSU coach will be hoping Burrow can match Bush and gain a Super Bowl ring on Sunday.

Orgeron on Burrow: ‘Joe was the smartest person in the room.’

Reminiscing, Orgeron revealed when he noticed Burrow had the it-factor he was looking for.

“So funny,” recollected Orgeron. “Joe comes down and he tells me, ‘Coach, I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to hear you’re recruiting game. I know you’re a great recruiter — don’t need to hear it. Just want to talk football and eat crawfish.’ I was like, okay. I was kind of frustrated to be honest with you. I couldn’t get my claws on him. Every time I was trying to get them, you know, no no I don’t want to talk. I never had a recruit that didn’t want to talk to the head coach.

“So, we had a football meeting. We had set up some plays that he had ran at Ohio State. Some plays that we were going to run. His Dad was in the meeting. Steve Esminger, who did a great job as offensive coordinator .. Jerry Sullivan. 74 years old. Been in the NFL for years. I’m in there. And all of a sudden, we start watching the film. I start asking Joe questions, and I figured out immediately — Joe was the smartest person in that room. Including me. Including the coaches. And I was happy about that.

“That showed me his football intelligence. What I saw in that meeting, that’s what you see today.”

As you can see, it didn’t take long for Ed Orgeron to recognize he had something special in Joe Burrow. After finding so much success at LSU the quarterback is doing the same at the next level. Orgeron will be rooting as hard as anyone in Cincinnati for the Bengals on Sunday, hoping to see his former star capture Super Bowl 56.