LSU ushering in its future up front

BATON ROUGE, La. -- As Garrett Brumfield prepares to make his 22nd start on Jan. 1, his last as a member of the LSU football team, he can’t help but recall a conversation with a conversation with Jerald Hawkins four years ago, one that admittedly went in one ear and out the other, which is the case with most freshmen.

“It goes by fast,” Brumfield remembers hearing from Hawkins, his mentor, and La’el Collins, who he referred to as a role model.

Now, Brumfield is bracing to take the field for the Tigers for the last time in his first New Year’s Six bowl game in what is an extremely bittersweet moment. The senior left guard did what “most young guys do” -- he didn’t listen to Hawkins. His five-year tenure at LSU has flown right by and is 60 minutes away from the finish line.

Brumfield has been the veteran on the LSU offensive line the past two seasons, never more so than this past year, as the lone senior of the group up front. With that torch comes added responsibility, and at the tail-end of a 13-game season, it has become a priority to pass along as many life lessons over the final 15 bowl game practices as he possibly can. In this case, he’s working feverishly to ensure that the new crop of offensive linemen don’t make the same mistake he did.

“For myself, personally, I tell the guys to take advantage of every opportunity that’s presented to you,” Brumfield said. “When I was young, the old guys told me it goes by fast. As a young freshman, it’s true. They were right. I preach that to those guys and hope they listen. I hope it doesn’t go in one ear and out the other. I want them to make the most of their opportunities.”

Brumfield has inherited the same responsibilities of the great LSU offensive linemen that preceded him -- Collins and Hawkins -- who he said kept him “out of bad situations” and took him under their wings.

By default, freshman guard Chasen Hines has become one of Brumfield’s mentees. Hines had been tabbed to replace an injured Brumfield in the Auburn and Louisiana Tech games and made his first career start in the home victory against Mississippi State on Oct. 20. In all, Hines has appeared in eight games in his first season in Baton Rouge and played in Brumfield’s spot on the left side of the line as his backup and has now carved out a role spelling the senior guard.

“That guy is playing in my spot and I want him to excel, so I give him all the tips, all the pointers I can to set him up to be successful,” Brumfield said of the Marshall, Texas native. “He’s done a great job. He’s done nothing but progress and develop. As a young guy, I see a bright future for him and I think he has a high ceiling.”

Hines is one of the players some veterans along LSU’s offensive line want to see more of in the Fiesta Bowl showdown against UCF. In the most obvious fashion, he represents the future at left guard for the Tigers entering next season.

Lloyd Cushenberry III is wrapping up his first season as the team’s starting center, LSU’s third in as many years after Ethan Pocic and Will Clapp, who are now in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints, respectively. In 2016, Cushenberry redshirted, an expected move for a prospect labeled as a 2-star that was a National Signing Day addition to the Tigers’ signing class.

That year was pivotal to his development, Cushenberry said, and the December bowl practices represent a starting point to begin pushing for playing time next season.

“It was huge for me,” LSU’s center said. “With guys in front of me like Pocic and Clapp, it was good to learn from them. A lot of people have this perspective that redshirting is bad. No one wants to do it, but there’s nothing wrong with it. It was great. It’s great for those guys to sit back and learn. It’s all about how you approach it. You never want to waste a year. I tried to get stronger and learn the game.”

That translated to being in a competition for the starting job in the summer leading into the 2017 season and capturing it this past summer.

Dare Rosenthal and Cameron Wire were both redshirted their first years despite being touted as high-ranking prospects in the Class of 2018. Rosenthal came to LSU as a defensive tackle, but shifted over to the offensive side of the ball in September following the Auburn game. Wire came to LSU with a pre-existing lower body injury and used this past season to recover.

Both have flashed signs of progress. They’ve also made their fair share of “young guy moves,” as Brumfield noted.

“I like those guys. They’re always willing to learn, always doing the best they can,” he said. “They understand they’re young and they do young guy things sometimes, so we’re trying to keep them up to speed. I told them pretty recently to take advantage of your opportunities because the spring between your redshirt year and next year is where you’ll see a huge jump in yourself. That’s where you develop.”

“Leading up to the spring, I told them to hit the ground running,” he added, “because you never know when your name is going to be called.”

Brumfield has peppered in that advice since November, though he claims they continue to make “young guy moves” like spilling drinks and asking to go to the bathroom.

“We laugh about it because we’ve all been there,” Bruiser explains, “but I think those guys definitely have bright futures.”

Wire and Rosenthal are expected to be in the mix to compete for playing time at the two tackle spots and possibly start as early as next season when spring practices get underway. In their way is Saahdiq Charles, who is finishing up his second stint as the Tigers’ left tackle and Joe Burrow’s blind side protector.

An All-SEC Freshman selection a year ago, Charles has started nine games at left tackle in 2018, including seven in a row after early season injuries kept him in and out of the lineup. That follows a freshman campaign in which he saw action at both tackle spots and started the season off as the right guard.

Charles was a versatile piece up front for LSU in 2017 and will make his 17th career start at left tackle against UCF next month. Despite learning on the job, he’s becoming a seasoned piece up front entering his junior season next year.

“A lot of people forget he’s a sophomore in his second year of playing offensive line in the SEC, one of the hardest positions in the hardest conference at the highest level in the hardest sport,” Brumfield remarked. “He’s a guy coming into his own, learning things, little tricks of the trade, and he’s picking them up as he goes along. Somethings you need to figure out yourself and develop your own flavor, your own swag as a player, and I think he’s definitely doing his thing.”

Charles, Cushenberry and Austin Deculus represent the experienced returners up front for the Tigers. Damien Lewis, who transferred to LSU from Northwest Community College last January, is draft-eligible. If he elects to stay put in Baton Rouge, then four of the team’s starting offensive linemen would be back along with Hines, who has thrived in spot duty in place of Brumfield for the majority of the season.

Behind the incumbents are a pair of redshirt freshman tackles in Rosenthal and Wire, who have drawn rave reviews from their teammates and are in line to make leaps in their second years.

More reinforcements are on the way in the former of five highly touted blue-chip prospects expected to sign their national letters of intent on Wednesday, Dec. 19. That group includes 5-star guard Kardell Thomas, 4-star tackles Thomas Perry, Ray Parker and Anthony Bradford, and 3-star center Charles Turner.

Several of the future Tigers linemen are elite national recruits, which is a welcomed sight for those like Cushenberry, who realized the importance of good offensive line play in 2018. When they arrive, “it’s real.”

“Once they get here, you get to know them a little bit. They’re cool guys and I’m looking forward to them getting here,” Cushenberry said. “They need to be ready to work because once you get here, it’s real. We need all the help we can get, and the better we are the better the team is. This team goes as we go.”