2019 Offensive Line

[LSUDad]

LSU ushering in its future up front

 

 

Sam Spiegelman

Sam Spiegelman • TigerDetails.com

@samspiegs

 

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.”

[LSUDad]

The OL has to keep building depth. By far the biggest jump in a player last year, Cush. I saw him play in the Spring game, he was far from ready. The move he made from the Spring to the opening game shocked me. He knew the calls, blocking assignments, and could hold his own. The Red-Shirt year, Spring Game allowed him to play the position. A former 2 Star player out of high school. He has turned into a major player on the OL. 

[watson]

Cushenberry seemly has held that o line together. 

[LSUDad]

48 minutes ago, watson said:

Cushenberry seemly has held that o line together. 

I’m trying to remember a player making a jump like this from the Spring Game to starting the first game of the season. 

Ill expand on this one a little later. 

[LSUDad]

LSU guard Chasen Hines undergoes knee surgery Friday

Updated 5:28 PM; Posted 4:10 PM

Texas 2018 offensive lineman Chasen Hines at the LSU OL/DL camp Saturday June 3. (Amos Morale III)

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By Brody Miller, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

bmiller@nola.com

The Times-Picayune

LSU freshman offensive guard Chasen Hines posted a picture of himself in a hospital bed after surgery Friday (Jan. 4). LSU football sources say the surgery was on a knee issue he was able to play through during the season.

Hines was thrown into major playing time during his true freshman season just two months after switching from defensive line to offensive line at the start of fall camp.

When starting guard Garrett Brumfield went down against Auburn on Sept. 15, Hines rotated in and impressed coaches. When Brumfield went down again the next week against Louisiana Tech, Hines again stepped into a major role.

 

He missed the Florida game Oct. 6 with a minor knee injury, but Hines then took the majority of guard snaps against Georgia and Mississippi State. Brumfield returned by the Alabama game, and Hines still rotated in for the next three weeks.

He did not play against Texas A&M or in the Fiesta Bowl against UCF.

[LSUDad]

Ed Ingram was suspended indefinitely. Word out, he has kept up with his schooling. If and when the off the field gets cleared, we’ll see where this one falls. 

[LSUDad]

Ed Ingram is now listed on the LSU roster. 

[LSUDad]

Got word, Kardell Thomas is down to a slim 325lbs. 

Edited May 30, 2019 by LSUDad

[LSUDad]

On 4/20/2019 at 4:57 PM, LSUDad said:

Got word, Kardell Thomas is down to a slim 325lbs. 

More: 

Kardell Thomas arriving to LSU with a new look

BySHEA DIXON 16 hours ago 

Share19 Comments

 

(Photo: 247Sports)

Southern Lab’s Kardell Thomas has been a fixture around LSU recruiting discussions for years, committing to the Tigers early in his recruitment process and becoming one of the program’s top recruiters when it came to helping reel in other prospects to the 2019 class and beyond.

 

Now, Thomas is 48 hours away from moving into his new home on LSU’s campus.

 

“It’s crazy,” Thomas said. “It’s been a long time coming, just sitting here anticipating it. But I am going to have fun with it. This is something I have always dreamed of, and now it’s here.”

 

One of the biggest talking points around Thomas this spring has been his push in the weight room. At the Army All-American Bowl in January, Thomas checked in at 6-foot-2.5, 356 pounds.

 

Five months later, he will arrive to LSU’s campus and join the team with a new look, which he hopes helps push up his chances of seeing the field right away as a freshman.

 

“I have lost some weight, and I have put in a lot of work,” Thomas said. “When you are eating wrong, it’s easy to add weight. So I decided to stop with that, and I lost a bunch of weight. I felt like I was looking like a tight end. I was 360 and was so overweight, and I know that they wanted me to get down some.

 

“When I looked at what I was eating, I was eating bad,” Thomas added in an interview with Off the Bench in 104.5 ESPN radio. “Once I cut that out completely and started to eat the right things, the weight lost itself. And then running every day, working out and eating the right way, it lost itself. I have just been stern on eating the right things.”

 

With some significant weight gone, 35-plus pounds to be exact, Thomas said the difference is showing itself right away.

 

“I got down to 325 pounds, and the LSU coaches were like ‘whoa’. When I dropped it, now they could see where I fit," he said. "The whole thing about high school, it can be a drag. We weren’t doing much at the end and I gained weight. Now I have been focused and ready.”

 

With Thomas set to move onto campus on Friday, what’s ahead for the newcomer as he gets acclimated to life as a collegiate student-athlete?

 

“I know we have classes then going with (Strength and Conditioning Coordinator Tommy Moffitt)," he said. "It’s all about getting ready, because fall camp there in August, that can be like hell weeks. Ever since I have signed, I have been around Saahdiq Charles and Damien Lewis and them. They told me to come in and be ready and be an asset.

 

“I feel like it’s going to be like my eighth grade year when I started varsity for the first time. A lot of those guys were D1 guys. I feel like I am walking into the same thing. I just have to raise my level of play.”

 

With offensive line coach James Cregg adding a handful of linemen to the room this summer, where does Thomas see himself fitting into the depth chart next fall?

 

“It’s an interesting thing, because I am not completely sure yet,” Thomas said. "(Cregg) wants to see me at left guard and wants to see me at right guard. I have also heard some guys might switch positions, but it will probably be one of the guard spots. If they need me to play anything, I will hop on it right away. I am ready to get into the trenches with those guys.”

 

19COMMENTS

As for a final message before arrival to an LSU fanbase that’s tracked his moves since he arrived onto the recruiting scene, Thomas said he hopes that a summer’s worth of hard work will set him up be see the field on the opener next August.

 

“The show is coming,” Thomas said. “It’s time to show everyone what I am about. I am trusting God and hoping I can be starting for Georgia Southern. That’s the goal.”

 

[houtiger]

He sounds committed and he obviously has a lot of self discipline.  This is great to see and hear.

[LSUDad]

I know there has been talk of the 2020 recruiting, some saying, we are not getting enough OL. Kind of checking with a few folks, the staff are still recruiting a few, but they feel good about what they have on campus. 

We will have only 3 Sr’s on the roster, Magee, Traore and Lewis. Of those 3, Lewis played the most last year, locking down a guard spot. Both Traore and Lewis were JC transfers. Magee is one, when on, can handle a position, guard or tackle. Having lettered 3 years, Magee should get playing time early this season, from there, it’s up to him to hold down a position. We have started to find depth along the OL, something lost over the years. This years OL might surprise a few folks. 

[LSUDad]

The story of Badara Traore: his family's 'American Dream,' long train rides and long journeys

• BY BROOKS KUBENA | STAFF WRITER
• PUBLISHED JUN 22, 2019 AT 5:45 PM | UPDATED JUN 22, 2019 AT 8:59 PM
•  

 

Buy Now

LSU offensive tackle Badara Traore (74) walks the LSU bench area in the first half against Florida, Saturday, October 6, 2018, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla.

Advocate staff photo by HILARY 

 

 

Brooks Kubena

Two weeks in Guinea and two more in Mali led Badara Traore to a fuller view of his family.

And his place in the world.

"It wasn't what people think Africa is," the LSU offensive tackle said. His parents' native countries weren't just desert and jungle. Traore had learned that quickly during his month-long stay with relatives in the summer before seventh grade.

 

No, his parents had both grown up in capital cities: His father, Bakary Traore, was born in Bamako, a rapidly growing city in southwest Mali with more than 2 million people; and his mother, Rouguiatou Kaba, grew up in Conakry, Guinea, a coastal city with beaches lapped by the Atlantic Ocean.

"Go back and see where you're from," the parents told Badara and his younger brother, Mohammed. "Look at life a different way."

 

So the brothers left their home in south Boston for West Africa, where Badara and Mohammed saw the traffic-flooded streets and the humble homes of families fighting to make it day by day.

"I saw a lot of kids that didn't have enough or don't have anything," said Traore, 22. "I can't take life for granted. A lot of people are struggling over there."

Perhaps that's the perspective Bakary and Rouguiatou wanted for their son: something that would drive him beyond the all-too-visible crime and drug life that surrounded him in the Boston suburb of Hyde Park, where the parents moved to start a family after meeting as immigrants in the early 1990s.

Now, Traore is on his way to becoming the first person in his family to graduate from college, which he said was his parents' goal for him when they moved from Africa to pursue "the American Dream."

Football has paved the way toward higher education for the 6-foot-7, 323-pound senior. That path has twisted through a distant high school, two junior colleges and farther south in the United States than the New England native ever thought he'd go.

 

In yet another unfamiliar place, Traore is again finding his place in the world, racking up class credits and fighting to regain the starting spot at right tackle — a position he lost after struggling in two starts in 2018.

He knows he's "a big part" of his parents' American dream, and they've been tracking his progress from more than 1,500 miles away.

"Football was never a focus for me," said Traore's father, Bakary, "but I have always wanted him to reach his goal, which has always been to play in the NFL. It's been very hard for me to have my son so far away from home, but I know that it will be worth it in the end."

 

The morning train to Cambridge

The darkness of the underground train tunnel helped Traore catch up on lost sleep during his two-hour commutes to high school.

The 4 a.m. alarm blared every morning. Traore slogged down to the transit station to catch the first of two trains and two buses to Matignon High, about 12 miles north in Cambridge.

Joseph DiSarcina, Matignon's principal, said the private Catholic school has built an outreach connection with kids living in Boston's inner city, and it's common for as many as 20 students each year to take commutes like Traore did. Along with financial aid for tuition, the school also helps pay for portions of student travel.

That provided an opportunity for the Traores to free their son from the public schools near Hyde Park, where they said "bad influences such as drugs and violence" were common.

"I wanted Badara to go to Matignon so he could have a better opportunity to be something and make something out of himself," Bakary said. "Where we are from, kids seem to fall into the same trap because that is the only way of life that they know, and I wanted something better for him and I knew he was capable of better."

 

The hardest part of high school, Traore said, was waking up — especially once he joined Matignon's football and basketball teams. Practice ended after 6 p.m., and he'd go back through the two-hour commute, sometimes arriving back home well after nightfall.

"I think the biggest challenge (for such students) is time management," said DiSarcina, who is also Matignon's girls basketball coach. "They can't waste time. Whatever time they have available for academics, they have to use that time wisely."

Sometimes Traore didn't use his time wisely, he said. He got into a routine of just waking up, playing sports and thinking he was going to get by.

"It caught up to me," Traore said, and instead of qualifying academically for scholarship offers from big-time Division I schools, he enrolled at ASA College in Brooklyn, New York.

There, Traore played for Joe Osovet, one of the highest regarded junior-college head coaches at the time, who helped craft Traore into a highly sought-after offensive lineman.

"I don't think I would take (that experience) back," Traore said. "I think junior college made me who I am."

'I still have a lot to prove'

There was usually no one but parents sitting in the bleachers at Lincoln High, where the ASA College Avengers played their home football games.

But it was at that high school stadium, three blocks from Coney Island, where Traore first learned the run-pass option offense he'd later connect with again at LSU.

ASA College averaged 41.9 points per game in 2017, going 9-1 with a Valley of the Sun Bowl victory under Osovet, who is now a quality control assistant at Tennessee.

Osovet was unavailable for interviews; it's Tennessee's policy that assistant coaches aren't available to media.

Traore soared in recruiting rankings — rising to the nation's No. 2 JC offensive tackle according to 247Sports — and when he transferred to LSU for the 2018 season, LSU coach Ed Orgeron believed Traore would offer much-needed depth to a young offensive line.

 

Indeed, when starting right tackle Adrian Magee was injured in Week 1 against Miami, Traore stepped in — but after LSU surrendered two sacks and multiple quarterback pressures to Southeastern in Week 2, Traore was benched for sophomore Austin Deculus, who started for the rest of the season.

Traore started once more in a Week 4 game against Louisiana Tech, filling in at left tackle for an unavailable Saahdiq Charles. After that, Traore was withheld from LSU's more meaningful games, not playing any snaps in a five-game stretch that included games against Florida, Georgia and Alabama.

"The changes from JUCO to the SEC was basically like the NFL," Traore said. "It was tough. I came from playing every game in junior college. It was a big learning experience, so I had to sit back and take it in and see what was really going to happen."

 

Going into his final season, Traore said he's "gotten a lot better," refining his technique with offensive line coach James Cregg and improving his flexibility and strength with head strength coach Tommy Moffitt.

By the fourth week of spring practice, Orgeron called Traore "one of the most improved players on the team." Part of the improvement, Traore said, has to do with the fact he was ahead of the curve when it came to the RPO scheme that new passing game coordinator Joe Brady is implementing. 

"I knew what was going on," Traore said. "It was also a little different, because as far as pass protection (at LSU), it was a lot different than what we ran at ASA. But as far as the run game, everything was the same."

Traore and Deculus entered the spring game in a position battle, although Deculus received most of the first-team snaps. Toward the end of the third quarter in the scrimmage, Traore went down with an apparent leg injury, which Orgeron said "didn't look good on the field" at the time.

 

Traore is expected to compete to start at right tackle in the fall, and he remains one of the foundational pieces of an offensive line that is seeking vast improvements. Last season, LSU was tied for 106th nationally with 35 sacks allowed and ranked 110th with 89 tackles for loss allowed — both program worsts since at least 2009.

If Traore can turn into the tackle he was expected to become, he could be one of the solutions for LSU's protection issues.

"I still have a lot to prove to people," Traore said.

They're all watching: LSU; his parents back in Hyde Park; the staff and students back at Matignon.

"He's a tremendous role model for us," DiSarcina said. "It just illustrates that it's not how you started, it's how you finished. If you have the drive and the consciousness to do your best, it can happen."

[houtiger]

We need improvement on the o-line and hopefully Traore's development will allow him to help out.  His injury in the spring game has never been discussed, so hopefully it not as bad as O thought it was from his field view.

By the way, the 5th action icon above (bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, QUOTE) was just added by Herb so we can paste in text from elsewhere and then wrap quote marks around it.

Thanks Herb!!!

Edited June 25, 2019 by houtiger

[houtiger]

A picture of the new, lighter Kardell Thomas, incoming freshman OG.  He looks pretty slim for a guard, I wonder if he can play tackle at this size?  I would say this guy is committed to do everything he can to get on the field sooner rather than later.  I would like to see before and after on Tyler Shelvin and Apu Ika.

https://www.dandydon.com/Kardell_Thomas _Weight_Loss.php

[LSUDad]

Just a little info on what we have returning on the OL. Returning we have 8 players that started games last year. But to add, in the first 6 games, we had a different starting lineup each game. That would be into the Fla game. With the loss of Brumfield, the open spot will be at guard. But as always, right tackle will be one to watch. The sure bets are Cush at center, Lewis at guard and Charles playing tackle. Once camp starts, we’ll see where we go from there. The three Sr’s this year are Lewis, Magee and Traore. Some talk, the last two Magee and Traore will have spots on the OL, and will see playing time. Magee can work a number of positions along the line. 

[LSUDad]

On 6/20/2019 at 8:56 AM, LSUDad said:

I know there has been talk of the 2020 recruiting, some saying, we are not getting enough OL. Kind of checking with a few folks, the staff are still recruiting a few, but they feel good about what they have on campus. 

We will have only 3 Sr’s on the roster, Magee, Traore and Lewis. Of those 3, Lewis played the most last year, locking down a guard spot. Both Traore and Lewis were JC transfers. Magee is one, when on, can handle a position, guard or tackle. Having lettered 3 years, Magee should get playing time early this season, from there, it’s up to him to hold down a position. We have started to find depth along the OL, something lost over the years. This years OL might surprise a few folks. 

 

On 6/27/2019 at 10:13 AM, LSUDad said:

Just a little info on what we have returning on the OL. Returning we have 8 players that started games last year. But to add, in the first 6 games, we had a different starting lineup each game. That would be into the Fla game. With the loss of Brumfield, the open spot will be at guard. But as always, right tackle will be one to watch. The sure bets are Cush at center, Lewis at guard and Charles playing tackle. Once camp starts, we’ll see where we go from there. The three Sr’s this year are Lewis, Magee and Traore. Some talk, the last two Magee and Traore will have spots on the OL, and will see playing time. Magee can work a number of positions along the line. 

Revisit. 
 

I saw improvement in the OL, but by the end of the season, they were playing very well.

To win the OL of the year was a major accomplishment. A joy to watch.