A year ago as a senior playing for Ruston High, CJ Willis was sliding back into second base trying to avoid being picked off when his shoulder popped out of place.

The diagnosis was a torn labrum that required an eight-to-nine month recovery process. It limited his participation in LSU's fall practice last September when he arrived in Baton Rouge . Willis said the pain in his shoulder has flared up every once in a while, but is dealing with it as best he can.

Willis was described in the preseason as a Swiss Army-knife player who could play all over the field, taking reps in the outfield, first base and catcher. The freshman has honed in on first base, where there is still an open competition between him and fellow freshman Cade Beloso, who started the season red-hot at the plate but has cooled in SEC play.

The freshman came in behind the eight-ball in the spring and lost a starting job in the infield to a variation of Drew Bianco and Beloso. On Thursday night with the Tigers trailing Mississippi State 6-3 with a runner on third base, Willis’ moment finally arrived.

In a two-strike count, Willis drove a RBI single to the left field gap for his long-awaited breakout moment. The at-bat gave LSU coach Paul Mainieri confidence he needed to insert Willis into the starting lineup for the final two games and he delivered with a 3-for-8 weekend with five RBI and two walks.

“I pretty much stay the same person and nothing really changes for me,” Willis said. “It felt good to get a couple of at-bats and just get timing down and get everything flowing. I’ve been feeling more comfortable at the plate recently and I was able to relax, loosen everything up and just let the game go."

Willis, by his own omission, had struggled in batting practice to put good swings on the ball. But Mainieri said something clicked the last three days of BP before the trip to Starkville.

“CJ has had a great attitude from the entire start of the season even though he hasn’t been playing,” Mainieri said. “The last three days of batting practice, he was swinging the bat the way he was prior to the season. I think he got a little discouraged when the season began and he wasn’t having great batting practice.”

Mainieri said the wrist injury to Daniel Cabrera, that will keep him out for two midweek games, will allow Willis the opportunity to start two more games before deciding who gets the nod on Friday for game one against No. 14 Texas A&M in Alex Box Stadium.

“I watch him in the dugout and he’s right up there on the fence rooting on his teammates and when you see that as a coach, you’re impressed by that and want to give a player like that an opportunity,” Mainieri said.

Willis’ case is not completely different from another veteran on the team who as freshman was inserted into the outfield after the LSU offense had been lagging.

Fifteen games into LSU's 2017 season in which the Tigers eventually lost in thenCollege World Series finals series to Florida, current LSU junior Zach Watson remembers vividly being asked to move to left field next to then- sophomore center fielder Antoine Duplantis and then-junior right fielder Greg Deichmann.

Watson was given a spot start in the second game of a series against Wichita State and proceeded to go 3-for-4 with four RBI and a home run. The then-freshman would not relinquish control of the starting job, batting a team high .317 with nine home runs and 37 RBI in 57 starts as a freshman.

“I knew it was going to be hard, it was going to be a challenge and I was going to fail at times but I just knew I had to keep my head up,” Watson said. “I feel like he (Willis) is going to go through the same things but I think he’ll continue to improve with the bat and hopefully continue to make a big impact on this team.”

Watson said he thinks Willis has figured out he doesn’t have to pull the ball to be effective and that he has a lot of natural power in his swing. Opening the field to where he can hit to the opposite side of the field and up the middle is what Watson did.

“The last three days he was hitting the ball out of the park,” Watson said. “He’s got a lot of juice the opposite way and dead center so I think it’s helping him stay through the ball and not pulling the ball as much to right field. I really think a big season will come from him and he’ll do some great things for us.”