LSU OG has tough decision
Josh Dworaczyk may have a difficult decision to make.
His recovery from an August anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury has progressed faster than expected, so fast that the big offensive guard could probably join his LSU teammates as they begin practice today in preparation for their Jan. 9 showdown with Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game.
Or he can bide his time, betting on his health and a favorable ruling from the NCAA to give him a rare but frequently granted sixth season of eligibility next fall.
How would you chose? On one hand, there’s the opportunity to play even a small role in the ultimate game for any college football player. Or the chance to return for an entire season to play for and help lead a team that may well open the 2012 season at No. 1 in the polls.
Dworazcyk started his LSU career amid somewhat similar circumstances.
As a freshman in 2007, a variety of injuries conspired to force him to redshirt. It was as a player/spectator that he stood on the sideline in New Orleans, the site of this season’s championship game, and watched his teammates beat Ohio State for the national title.
Dworazcyk got a ring, and a powerful life lesson at age 18.
“There are no guarantees,” Dworaczyk said. “Looking back at my freshman year when we won the national championship I was thinking, ‘We’re going to be here every year.’
“It doesn’t work out that way.”
Still, gambling on the prospect of having a full season as a player in 2012 currently sits atop the leaderboard in Dworazczyk’s mind, holding off for now at least the impulse to go out in January in a blaze of BCS glory.
“If it came down to it and I had to play I would,” said Dworaczyk, widely regarded going into this season as LSU’s best offensive lineman and starting left guard. “If there was a possibility of me having to play for us to win, I’d sacrifice another year. But as far as everything else goes, I’m really primed to come back for another year.
“Coming back would be the ultimate dream.”
Ultimately, for a career Dworaczyk hopes will eventually take him to the NFL, he believes it’s the best decision for him to make.
“I’d have the ability to go through another offseason and be 23 and really start to finally grow into my body,” said Dworaczyk, whose body already checks in at 6-foot-6, 295 pounds. “It would be another year with (strength) coach (Tommy) Moffitt and the training staff and the Tigers.”
Academically, Dworaczyk could also reap the benefits of another year in college. He already graduated in general studies in May, and is now on track for a second degree in sports administration.
The pull to play in the BCS championship game might be stronger if Dworaczyk’s injury had kept him from playing an active role in LSU’s 13-0 season so far.
When offensive line coach Greg Studrawa was named offensive coordinator after Steve Kragthorpe was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, it meant “Coach Stud” got kicked upstairs. Dworaczyk stepped in to fill Studrawa’s void in the trenches as a player/coach.
“Me and Coach Stud always talk before games on what we’re focusing on as an offensive line,” Dworaczyk said. “When guys come off the field after a drive we make our corrections.
“Coach Stud being the offensive coordinator has him caught up in a lot of things. It’s put a lot on me to be on the sideline. Coach Stud might ask, ‘Who let this guy in the backfield?’ and it’s my job to say, ‘It was such and such, I’ve got this, we can correct this.’ ”
Dworaczyk usually stops short of chewing out his fellow players if they mess up, though.
“Every once in awhile I have to get on somebody, but I try to keep it low key,” he said. “When it comes to a real chewing, I put the headset on their heads and let them talk to Coach Stud.”
His job this season has helped Dworaczyk cope with not playing as nothing else could. If LSU does win another BCS title and he doesn’t play, Dworaczyk will wear his second championship ring with pride knowing the part he played in helping the Tigers get there.
“If I hadn’t been coaching I’d have some bitterness wishing I could be part of it more,” Dworaczyk said. “But because I’ve been able to be with those guys, if I make one correction in a game and I see (roommate and fellow guard) Will Blackwell do what I told him to do, and he does it right and we score a touchdown or kneel the ball to win a game, that’s all I need to be able to wear that ring proudly the rest of my life.”
And be content in the decision, should it come, to go out and try to help LSU win another championship next season.