LSU's Ed Orgeron Says Doctors 'Saved My Life' While Reflecting on Health Issue, 'I Was About to Die'

LSU assistant Ed Orgeron provided an update on Thursday after he was hospitalized due to an undisclosed medical scare.

"I was about to die and they saved my life," he said on social media. "First of all I'm very happy to be here. All the people that helped me live that night, I was about to die that night and they saved my life and I'm very, very grateful for that. Not only that night, but all through my recovery these guys have been great. You know, we talk about family? One team, one heartbeat? Our Lady of the Lake got the best family of doctors I've ever seen in my life."

Orgeron, 65, joined Lane Kiffin's staff at LSU in May as a special assistant to recruiting and defense. He previously served as the head coach at Ole Miss (2005-07), at USC in an interim role (2013) and at LSU (2016-21), posting a 67-47 career record and a national championship with the Tigers in the 2019 season.

But Orgeron was away from the program earlier in the season due to an undisclosed medical concern. He returned to the sidelines in mid-October.

"Mississippi State [on Oct. 17] was the first one where he was technically back at the game," Kiffin previously told reporters. "He's met with some recruits before the previous week, but it was the first time back walking out in Tiger Stadium. It was awesome. He came to me after and said how appreciative he was that I brought him back and how special that was for him. He never knew whether he would walk out there again, you know, and hadn't been back here in the years in between. And so, to kind of mend that, I love that I was able to be a part of that."

LSU (6-2) was ranked No. 14 in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season and has a brutal stretch upcoming, with a pair of home games against No. 5 Alabama and No. 7 Texas in the next two weeks before a road tilt against No. 13 Tennessee on Nov. 21. They'll close the regular season at Arkansas one week later.