Ed Orgeron hasn’t been on the LSU sidelines since mid-August, missing the first two games of the season. Fans were getting worried, and on Monday, LSU head coach Lane Kiffin admitted he was, too. Addressing the former national champion coach’s ongoing absence, Kiffin didn’t hide how unnerving the situation felt behind closed doors.

“He’s doing better,” Kiffin said, according to an X post by Jacques Doucet of WAFB. “It was a little bit scary. I’m not going to get into any details with that. But he’s doing better. He’s still not all the way back. He just means a lot to me; we’ve just been through a lot.”

Coach O is legendary in SEC football for his intense, old-school mentality. Kiffin recalled a past joke that suddenly felt a bit too real. “His passion… probably shouldn’t have joked one day, you know. He said, ‘Hey, coach. You know I’m never going to the hospital, man. If I die, I’m dying out on that field out there.’ That’s who he is; that’s how he is with everything. Sometimes that’s not always the best thing to follow.”

This health scare hit close to home because Orgeron has always pushed his body to the absolute limit. During his head coaching days, he was famous for drinking over a dozen Red Bulls daily just to power through 18-hour workdays. That relentless, ignore-the-pain mindset is pure Coach O, but it also explains why Kiffin had to step in and send him home when he looked sick.

Orgeron left practice in mid-August as he “wasn’t feeling real well,” and Kiffin sent him home to recover, according to the LSU head coach on August 17. Though the real reason behind his continued absence is unknown, with Kiffin being tight-lipped about Ed, the health concerns appear to be serious enough, as the head coach addressed it in a concerned tone on September 14.

The stubborn streak and the passion Kiffin mentioned about Orgeron are exactly why the program wanted him back. Kiffin brought him back in May as a special assistant to recruiting and defense, leaning on the relationship the two have built over more than two decades, dating back to their days on Pete Carroll’s staff at USC.

Losing Coach O isn’t just about missing a friendly face, since it hurts LSU where it matters most. He is the guy who brings crazy energy to defensive line drills and opens doors with every top high school recruit in Louisiana. Although LSU’s off to a flying 2-0 start, without Orgeron on the field, the defense loses its biggest hype man and their main local recruiting mastermind right when the season is heating up.

Kiffin believes that Orgeron’s value to LSU is not limited to his title or paycheck. During their time together at USC, when Orgeron was the recruiting coordinator, Kiffin was impressed with his energy and drive for whatever job he had at hand.

“To have him back is even better than I thought,” Kiffin said during his appearance on In The Bayou with Tyrann Mathieu podcast on July 17. “He, as you know, coached with me. Then, as a head coach at Tennessee, I hired him. I took him from the Saints, actually. And then at USC, which he was amazing. We signed No. 1 recruiting classes and all these great players and everything. He was always the best recruiter I’ve ever been around.”

The timing of his health concern makes his absence even more noticeable, as LSU is heading into its biggest test of the season. With College Game Day in town and a hostile crowd waiting for Kiffin, LSU travels to Oxford on September 19 to face Ole Miss, setting up a matchup against Kiffin’s former team.

The hope around Baton Rouge is that Orgeron gets back to the program when he is healthy. Kiffin has made it clear how much his presence means to him personally and to the program, as Orgeron brings the competitive spirit and energy to the field that has always been a part of him.