BATON ROUGE, La. — Joe Burrow’s reckless scrambling has jumped to the forefront rather quickly. Multiple times in No. 12 LSU’s 31-0 defeat of Southeastern, the quarterback making his first stadium in Tiger Stadium raced for first downs — and then some — only to collide with defenders to the chagrin of a crowd full of faithfuls.
Maybe it’s in his DNA.
After all, his older brothers, Jamie and Dan Burrow, played linebacker and safety, respectively, for Nebraska. For Coach Ed Orgeron, he has the mentality of a fullback. Burrow admits that sliding has never been crossed his mind — until now. Orgeron and offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger, as well as a few of the LSU’s team leaders, have or intend on speaking to the quarterback ahead of the Auburn game about protection. No, nothing to do with the offensive line or having more time in the pocket, but avoiding major collisions when Burrow elects to tuck the rock and run.
It has been an eye-opening few days for Burrow, who has finally come to grips with the fact that sliding may ultimately be something he has to try. Though if that’s the case, Burrow is sure he’ll do it his own way.
“That’s never really been who I am as a football player. I try to keep the mentality of a hard-nosed player. That’s really it. I never practiced sliding, but I have to practice taking hits off (me) now. That’s never really been part of my game in the past,” Burrow said. “I don’t know if I’m going to do the whole Tom Brady baseball slide, but I have to try and take some hits off myself. I’m not going to lower my head into four or five people every possession. I have to try and take some hits off myself this week.”
“I didn’t get any yards by doing that,” he continued. “I could’ve gotten down much earlier on those.”
It’s Auburn week, a chance for the LSU football team to rectify a 31-point shutout over an FCS foe that wound up stirring up criticism for a lack of offensive creativity. Burrow is off to a 2-0 start as the Tigers’ starting quarterback and his propensity to fight for extra yards is indicative of the way he leads by example for his teammates.
In June when Burrow arrived in Baton Rouge, he began taking command of the team by hosting Saturday afternoon throwing sessions with his wide receivers. Day 1 of fall camp, he began calling audibles at the line of scrimmage, which turned out to be a catalyst in the Tigers’ upset of then-No. 8 Miami in the opener. Sliding is another instance of Burrow’s team-first approach, and while he has shown it in spades, he has already won over the locker room.
“The athlete in me respects him for not sliding,” tight end Foster Moreau said. “The football player in me respects him for not sliding. The teammate and the leader in me wants him to slide because we need him and he does a really good job for us under the helm, so we’ll see. I don’t think he’s going to start sliding unless directed by Coach O, but we’ll see.”
“It shows you the type of heart he’s got,” added linebacker Devin White. “If I was a quarterback, I wouldn’t slide either. I’m going to talk to him about sliding. Maybe Coach O will let me hit him a few times. We got to get him to slide because we need him for the rest of the season because it’s going to be a long season.
“He’s really all in. He wants to do win and do everything to get every yard and every inch. You can’t complain about a quarterback who does that for his team. I applaud him, but we’ve got to be smart about it.”
Burrow may be all in, but sliding and pile-driving a safety for the first down on third-and-9 is only half the battle of taking down No. 7 Auburn.
That’s letting your play speak, but to take down a conference foe in their own building, that’ll take confidence, Burrow suggested. The kind of confidence LSU exhibited before it’s opener at AT&T Stadium was enough to overpower another top-10 team in Miami on a national stage. The lack of it left plenty to be desired in what should have been a more lopsided result against Southeastern.
Instead of focusing on sliding this week at practice, Burrow’s attention is fixated elsewhere.
“It was big coming out of the Miami game and we came in a little cozy (against Southeastern). We thought we’d roll in, but that’s the case in college,” he said. “A lot of teams are really good and Southeastern came to play. The experience of struggling Saturday and being able to respond — we’ll see how we do Saturday. I would say it’s important to portray confidence in the game plan and in my teammate this week, so we have confidence going into Saturday. If we go in timid or soft, we’re going to get rolled in … Auburn Stadium.”
Burrow’s confidence — and sliding — will both be tested — but more likely in Jordan-Hare.
