LSU’s fifth-year seniors eye title
They stood on the sideline of the then Louisiana Superdome that night of Jan. 7, 2008, all dressed up for a party they could only watch but not attend.
There were nine of them, now all fifth-year seniors on this current LSU team: Will Blackwell, Joey Crappell, Josh Dworaczyk, Stefoin Francois, T-Bob Hebert, Mitch Joseph, Jarrett Lee, Alex Russian and Ron Brooks.
They, like their teammates who played in that game against Ohio State, left New Orleans to soon be fitted for BCS championship rings.
They also left with a boundless, youthful determination to get back to that game again.
“We talked about it since we were freshmen,” said Dworaczyk, who suffered a preseason knee injury and will likely participate as a player-coach rather than player in next Monday’s BCS National Championship Game against Alabama. “We said, ‘We’ve got to get back here. Next time it’s here (in New Orleans), we’ll be back.
“Now it’s like a dream come true.”
Dreaming is the easy part. Achieving is hard. As players, the nine fifth-year seniors endured a five-loss season in 2008 and a four-loss campaign in 2009, years in which the Tigers seemed far away indeed from another national championship run.
Still, it’s those seasons that have made this older, wiser band of Tigers more appreciative of what it takes to make it to this game.
“The longer I’ve been around here and the more games I’ve played in, the more you notice that it’s hard to get to where we are today,” Brooks said.
“You relish getting to play in the national championship game. You recognize the hard work it takes to get here.”
Hard work and experience are still no guarantees for championship-grade success. Or even for significant playing time.
Going into the season’s ultimate game, only Blackwell and Francois are regular starters, though Crappell is also LSU’s deep snapper. Lee and Hebert were pushed into supporting roles as the season went on, Lee’s playing time becoming increasingly, controversially, limited since the Tigers first played Alabama on Nov. 5.
Despite the twists and turns of their 2011 seasons, the nine fifth-year seniors have remained close as they close in on their ultimate goal, Blackwell said.
“We’ve talked about this a long time,” he said. “One of our dreams is about to become a reality, and hopefully we can take advantage of that.
“There are 120 teams who want to be in that game and two get in. It’s a huge deal, something you’ll never forget the rest of your life. All the work we’ve put in makes it all the more special for us.”
Brooks reminded his teammates of just how special before last month’s Southeastern Conference Championship Game against Georgia.
Each player got three rings from the 2007 championship season — two for winning the BCS (one from the BCS and one from the school) and a third for winning the SEC.
“Ron Brooks brought the SEC championship ring we won in ’07,” linebacker Stefoin Francois said. “He let all of them look at it and said, ‘This is what we’ve come here for and nothing else.”
Francois said Brooks inspired him to bring some of his championship jewelry with him when the team heads to New Orleans on Wednesday for championship game week.
“In New Orleans, I’m going to have on both of my rings,” Francois said, “to show those guys and tell them this is what we want and nothing else.”
Blackwell said his 2007 rings will stay in their boxes. He couldn’t model them for anyone because they no longer fit.
He could have them re-sized, of course, but he has other ideas.
“I could, but I’ve put it off until after this game,” said Blackwell, the only fifth-year senior to be elected one of the five game captains for the BCS showdown. “If we win, I won’t worry about it.”
The fifth-year Tigers speak of their 2007 memories the same way: It was a thrill, but nothing compared to the thrill they seek of actually playing for and making a significant contribution to another national championship team.
For what they’ve had a taste of, for the experiences they’ve had over the last five years, nothing could be better than this one, last victory in what for some of the fifth-year Tigers will be the last football game they ever play.
“Just to be a contributor as well as going out on top in your last game in college, that’s just something you can live out the rest of your life,” Brooks said. “Being a national champion.”