Written by Tom Fornelli at CBS Sports.com
Arden Key is back with LSU after taking a leave of absence.
In February, the school announced that Key, the team’s best pass rusher and one of its top players, would miss spring practice and was leaving the team for a while for “personal reasons.” On Sunday night, the school sent out a release saying Key would rejoin the team on Monday in time for summer school. The Tigers also shared that Key was returning from shoulder surgery.
“Arden had shoulder surgery and everything went as planned,” said coach Ed Orgeron in the release. “We are looking forward to having Arden rejoin the team.”
While the return isn’t unexpected — Orgeron has been saying for the last few weeks he expected Key to return soon — it’s still great news for LSU as Key was one of the best defensive players in the SEC last season.
Key set an LSU single-season record with 12 sacks, also finishing the year with 56 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss and three forced fumbles. He was a First Team All-SEC selection, and he’ll likely be an early first-round NFL Draft pick next spring as he’s currently projected to go in the top five.
As for the shoulder surgery, it’s believed Key suffered the injury against Florida on Nov. 19. When he missed LSU’s next game against Texas A&M on Thanksgiving, it was due to a suspension, but Orgeron also said at the time that Key was dealing with the injury.
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