BATON ROUGE, La. — “BURREAUX” reads more like “LEGEND” in southeast Louisiana.
LSU quarterback Joe Burrow jogged out the tunnel from the locker room on Senior Night carrying a flower on the way to hug his mother, Robin. He embraced his family around the 25-yard line, blew a double-handed kiss to the crowd and then captured the hearts of every LSU fan one more time.
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The quarterback turned around, raised his arms above his head and pointed with both thumbs to his nameplate on the back of his jersey.
“BURREAUX.”
The LSU quarterback unveiled his comic book persona for the very first time before his final game in Tiger Stadium on Saturday night. Fitting for the kid at heart who often sports T-shirts of Marvel Universe or X-Men characters.
Joe Burreaux, the Bayou Country superhero. Cape and all.
Burrow said he decided to become “BURREAUX” at some point earlier this week without asking LSU coach Ed Orgeron first. Would Orgeron have minded if “Burrow” played as “BURREAUX” on the back of his jersey during LSU’s 50-7 demolition of Texas A&M on Saturday?
“He can do what he wants!” Orgeron said.
The Clark Kent version of Burrow re-entered the playing field a few minutes later for the start of the Tigers’ grudge match with Texas A&M wearing his glasses, I mean his “Burrow” jersey. Then he displayed everything that transformed him into “BURREAUX” by putting up 352 yards and three touchdowns.
Toughness.
Burrow rolled right and took off from the pocket, heading toward the sideline. The Aggies’ Justin Madubuike raked Burrow down from behind drawing a flag for a horse-collar penalty. Burrow calmly rose to his feet showing no pain. Burrow’s mentality is to show no pain, saying more than once that it shows your teammates and your opponent you’re just not that into the game.
Far from it for Burrow.
Next, poise.
Burrow again scrambled to his right in what could have been a broken play. He signaled to Ja’Marr Chase to move up the sideline. Burrow delivered a strike as Chase showed off his silky hands and feet for a 30-yard gain.
Top it off, precision.
With LSU already up 14-0, Burrow stood tall in a clean pocket waiting for Chase, who finished with 197 yards and two scores on seven receptions, to cruise by the Texas A&M defense. Chase gained a step, then two. By then, Burrow already let the ball fly perfectly through the Baton Rouge night to Chase, resulting in a 78-yard scoring strike.
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Burrow will exit Baton Rouge in the same stratosphere in LSU lore as Billy Cannon, Pete Maravich and Shaquille O’Neal. Outside of maybe Maravich, no one arrived to LSU as a legend. Those athletes eventually became one.
For example, Burrow stepped foot on LSU’s campus 18 months ago admittedly only knowing the names of about 10 of his new teammates. Initially, he stayed quiet, trying to blend in as a graduate transfer from Ohio State entering a tricky situation with three other passers vying for the starting job. And who was the new face in the quarterback room? Burrow? Burrows? Borrow?
Everyone accustomed to watching LSU quarterback play for much of the past decade probably figured Burrow would be another one of those fill-ins until the program finally secured a blue-chipper. If Burrow was any good, he would have played for Ohio State, right?
Include me in the bunch.
I recall Burrow’s first start against Miami at Jerry World in Arlington, Texas. What did I highlight most from his first start? An audible … into a running play. Sure Nick Brossette scampered for a 50-yard score. But that shows how low the bar was for Burrow coming in.
You heard this from Burrow leading up to last year’s Auburn game: “I’d say we’re having some growing pains right now. I think we are really talented on offense, and when we get it fixed we have a chance to be really good.”
Even after LSU’s last-second win at Auburn, Burrow harped on how he sat in the locker room angry for missing throws. The one throw he didn’t miss in the second half of that win came on fourth-and-7 in the final drive. “That’s kind of how I’ve been my whole life,” Burrow said after that game. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going. I think of myself as a tough guy.”
Burrow’s team success hit an apex during LSU’s convincing win over then-No. 2 Georgia, still he teetered in the passing game, culminating in a thumping by No. 1 Alabama. His numbers began improving through the final four games, including an outstanding performance in the Tigers’ Fiesta Bowl win over Central Florida.
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But no one really knew what to think of Burrow heading into 2019.
He opened plenty of eyes, and likely drew plenty of snickers by saying this at the Manning Passing Academy:
“I think 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 per game. I think we have that capability. I think if we do what we need to do in fall camp and continue that through fall camp, I think we’ll have one of the best offenses in the country.”
Burrow produced eye-popping moments on a weekly basis this season, regardless of the opponent. Texas. Florida. Auburn. Alabama (carried off the field on his teammates’ shoulders). Texas A&M. No matter.
The unexpected phenomenon combined with the historic output will make Burrow the shoo-in for the Heisman Trophy. (A “Joe for Heisman” chant broke out from the crowd in the third quarter as LSU players raised their arms encouraging the cry.) He’s the quarterback who brought LSU’s offense into the 21st century. He’s the quarterback who pushed the Tigers to a No. 1 ranking for the first time since the 2011 season.
When asked after the A&M win if he ever imagined transferring to LSU would turn out like this, Burrow said, “Bluntly, no. It’s surpassed all of my expectations.”
Orgeron allowed for one more moment of recognition for Burrow with the LSU faithful. Burrow took one snap of the Tigers’ first fourth-quarter drive before Orgeron called a timeout. Orgeron pointed to Burrow to come to the sideline, and Burrow knew why at that point. The quarterback took off his helmet, waved to the Tiger Stadium crowd and blew one more kiss.
“People in Louisiana have heart. And when they love you, they love you,” Orgeron said Saturday night. “They love Joe, and Joe loves them.”
Burrow also hit the SEC history books in Saturday night’s third quarter, passing Tim Couch for most passing yards in a season in conference history. Burrow ended this regular season with 4,366 yards and tied the SEC single-season passing TD mark with 44. Couch went No. 1 overall in the 1999 NFL Draft. If the Bengals maintain their current laughable play, Cincinnati could easily bring the Athens, Ohio, native back to the Midwest as the 2020 draft’s top selection.
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This brought me back to Burrow’s thoughts from the Manning Passing Academy six months ago about paying attention to his draft stock, especially with quarterbacks such as Oregon’s Justin Herbert and Georgia’s Jake Fromm within earshot that midday.
Burrow looked at me as if not many people have ever asked him about draft stock saying, “Honestly, the team goal will help you get there. People that are only focused on going to the NFL are the ones that end up losing their stock because they end up forgetting about their team. You see guys win the national championship and throw for a lot of yards making their teammates better.”
Who’s to question Burrow ever again?
A young man, no myth, only legend.
(Photo: Stephen Lew / USA Today)
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