In one year, Joe Burrow has transformed into Joe Burreaux, Tigers' warrior

THIBODAUX – The past year has flown by in a blink for Joe Burrow.

Last May, the Ohio State graduate transfer quarterback declared his intentions to enroll at LSU.

By the opening game of the 2018 season, he won the starting job.

In January, he was named the Fiesta Bowl Offensive Player of the Game after passing for 394 yards and four TDs in the Tigers’ 40-32 win over Central Florida that concluded a 10-3 season.

Now, here on this muggy Friday afternoon as a counselor at the Manning Passing Academy staged at Nicholls State University, he’s mentally exhaling. He’s taking stock of the past and future but is especially loving the now.

“You have to take a step and realize who you’re with,” Burrow said. “You’re with Archie Manning, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, some of the top (college) quarterbacks and a bunch of NFL guys. It’s an honor to come here. It’s kind of surreal.”

Just like a year ago when Burrow came out of nowhere to save LSU’s dire quarterback situation that looked bleak after spring practice concluded.

Moving to a city he had never visited, playing with faces he didn’t know and learning a system that was foreign to how he previously played, Burrow threw for 2,894 yards, 16 TDs and five interceptions, and ran for 399 yards and seven TDs.

“Last year at this point, I knew the names of probably 10 people on the team,” Burrow said. “I barely knew where I lived. I was getting used to living in Louisiana, getting used to the culture, getting used to the players and coaches in the offense.”

And after a lifetime of taking snaps in a shotgun formation, he suddenly had to get under center.

Yes, that growling middle linebacker didn’t seem as menacing when Burrow was standing back five to seven yards taking snaps.

“My footwork wasn’t great,” Burrow said of his initial struggles last season. “I’d never been under center, so I’d never done that footwork play-action, turn your back, seven-step drop. I literally had never done that in my life. I had to learn that in about a month and a half.”

He also had to adapt to the Louisiana heat.

“I lost weight throughout the year because I didn’t know it was going to be 90 degrees until December,” Burrow said with a laugh. “I’m used to October it’s 40 or 50 degrees. I had to really eat a lot to maintain my weight and I lost like 15 pounds during the year."

Yet as Burrow’s learning curve rapidly expanded, LSU offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger called his number more and more.

The Tigers closed the season averaging 535.3 yards in their final three games, including a season-high 555 yards in Fiesta Bowl when an Ensminger-wrinkle began leading the LSU in its future offensive direction.

“We went into the bowl game with a lot more five-man protection and getting the ball (faster) out of his (Burrow’s) hands than we did all year,” Ensminger said. “I think it helped him, it helped our offensive line.

“This season, we’re going to get the ball out of his hands and they (the defense) won’t know whether we’re chipping this side or chipping that side.”

The January addition of new passing game coordinator Joe Brady – “A lot of his stuff is what I’ve done since high school,” Burrow said – has taken Burrow’s leadership and confidence to new levels.

“Obviously, my mentality is completely different (than last summer),” Burrow said. “Competing my tail off to win a job really helped my development, but I’m not trying to win the job this year.

“I’m going in being a leader and focusing on getting everyone better every day. A quarterback focused on making his teammates look better in turn will make him look better.”

Burrow quickly won his teammates’ respect last year with his willingness to play physical (running over tacklers instead of sliding to avoid contact), much to the chagrin of Ensminger and head coach Ed Orgeron who wanted to preserve Burrow as LSU’s only healthy quarterback.

“If you’re not willing to get down and dirty like your O-line, how can you expect a guy to play for you?” Burrow said. “That’s (running the ball) just part of being a football player. I don’t look at myself as a quarterback too much. I’m just a football player. I’ll take a hit.”

Burrow’s surprising physicality and durability – he ran 128 times last season – will be a bonus in the vastly expanded Tigers’ run-pass-option packages that’s part of an offense he calls “explosive.”

“We have matchups all over the field we can take advantage of, fast players everywhere, talented players in space,” Burrow said. “We’re going to score a lot of points and I don’t think a lot of people are used to LSU scoring 40, 50, 60 points a game.

“We have that capability if we do what we need to do up to fall camp. Then in fall camp, playing against the best defense in the country getting our tempo and rhythm down is going to be big for us.

“If we do all that, we can be one of the best offenses in the country.”