Players sitting out games in the postseason was one of the bigger storylines of last season and no decision was bigger than that of Leonard Fournette sitting out LSU’s bowl game against Louisville.
The star tailback is on his way to the NFL now and has apparently changed his tune as to the reason behind sitting out the game.
“To be honest, it really wasn’t my decision,” Fournette told NFL Network. “My coach brought me into the office. He told me ‘You have a lot on the line.’ He didn’t want me to play. I cried like a baby. It was hard for me. That was my first time not really traveling with the team and I couldn’t play in a game with my brothers. I’m going to miss them.”
The coach in question likely was Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron, who didn’t seem to need Fournette’s services in the team’s romp over the Cardinals. Still, it’s interesting for Fournette to say it was the coach’s decision to sit out after holding a press conference to announce the decision and citing his health as the biggest reason he missed the bowl and that he would have played if he could have.
Perhaps Orgeron knew something about the ankle injury that Fournette did not or he simply was being really protective of his star player but it seems this story isn’t going to go away with the NFL Combine rapidly approaching.