Joe Burrow, When Everything Started To Click At LSU

[LSUDad]

Joe Burrow discusses when everything clicked for him at LSU

Nick Schultz•about 23 hours

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Before he led LSU to a national title in 2019, Joe Burrow had to adjust after starting his college career at Ohio State. However, after he got settled, things fell into place.

Burrow, speaking on the Full Send Podcast this week, said his first year with the Tigers was all about adjusting back to starters’ reps. He played three years at Ohio State, but only threw 11 passes as a redshirt sophomore in 2017. It took him some time to ramp back up before throwing 379 passes with LSU in 2018.

That year was just a stepping stone, though. His 2019 season went down in history as he threw for 5,671 yards and 60 touchdowns as LSU won the national championship. The numbers show Burrow found a new gear between the 2018 and 2019 campaigns.

“I had a really good spring ball after my first year there,” Burrow said. “The first year, I was trying to figure out how to play football again. I hadn’t played football in three, three and a half years. So I was getting the feel of things again, remembering how to move in the pocket, make people miss. I hadn’t done that in so long. 

“That first year was just kind of a feeling-out process, then that second year, it kind of all clicked for me. We had a lot of guys coming back. Obviously, we had Ja’Marr [Chase], Justin [Jefferson], Clyde [Edwards-Helaire]. All those guys you see balling in the league. We had really good players.”

In the end, everything worked out for Burrow. After that season, the Cincinnati Bengals took him as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and he took Cincinnati to Super Bowl LVI this past season — just one year after he suffered a torn ACL as a rookie.

Edited May 26, 2022 by LSUDad

[houtiger]

I have never seen a guy make so much progress as a QB as Joe did from his first to his second year.  Of course by then he was a fifth year senior, but he really made a jump.  Joe Brady brought a complex pro passing scheme, and Joe had the "BRAINS" to figure out how to see the defense and use the scheme and his weapons to attack the defenses.  I still say the thing that makes Joe great is his brain.  I've seen better arm talent, better runners.