Coming into the 2014 season, the LSU football team’s offensive line was touted as one of the most talented, experienced offensive lines in the Southeastern Conference, if not the country.
The big men up front were coming off a 2013 season in which they assisted the running backs in gaining 2,630 yards at an average of more than five yards per carry, and with the exception of right guard Trai Turner, who departed LSU early to enter the 2014 NFL Draft, everybody came back.
“The veteran offensive line will certainly give [the quarterbacks] some time,” said LSU coach Les Miles at SEC Media Days in July. “[Senior left tackle] La’el Collins and [sophomore right tackle] Jerald Hawkins will be two of the finest tackles in our league. “We’ll be veteran at the guards and at the center. It should give the opportunity for that offense to continue up and down the field.”
With a running back carousel consisting of two seniors in Kenny Hilliard and Terrence Magee in addition to freshman Leonard Fournette, the Tigers seemed poised to have a big season on the ground.
But the unit’s season started with more of a whimper than a bang.
In the first half of its contest against a young and relatively small Wisconsin defense, LSU gained just 16 rushing yards on 15 carries and 136 yards of total offense, 80 of which came on one play.
“We didn’t focus on the little things as well as we should have against Wisconsin,” said senior offensive lineman Evan Washington.
Whatever halftime adjustments the line made against the Badgers worked, and they’ve kept working. The Tigers ran more than twice as many rushing plays for 110 yards, punctuated by a three-play drive in which Hilliard ran 58 yards for the game-winning touchdown.
The line’s success continued into last weekend, as LSU ran the ball 58 times for 334 yards and four touchdowns against Sam Houston State.
The improvement on the ground has also helped open the passing game. After completing just five of 15 pass attempts (33.3 percent) in the first half against Wisconsin, the Tigers have connected on 15 of 24 passes (62.5 percent) for 369 yards and six touchdowns since.
“We came out more focused and more capable,” Hawkins said after LSU’s contest against Sam Houston State. “We knew we could get it done.”
Washington said experience on the offensive line has resulted in success not just from a skillset standpoint, but also because the group’s maturity allowed it to bounce back in a timely manner.
“This is one of the deepest [offensive lines] since I’ve been here,” Washington said. “One of the better offensive line’s, player for player. We’re pretty deep.”
After a tumultuous start to his LSU career — he did not see the field in his first three years because of injury and academic reasons — Washington has emerged as a sort of jack-of-all-trades for the offensive line, serving as a backup for all five positions.
In LSU’s two games this season, Washington has played already received playing time in three of them: right guard, left guard and his favorite, right tackle.
“He knows everything from playing all the positions, and he’s very good at helping others on the line,” Hawkins said.
Washington said he enjoys playing each different position, but sometimes it can get a little confusing.
“I have like three different positions in my head,” Washington said with a laugh. “Sometimes at practice [offensive line] coach [Jeff] Grimes will ask me ‘why’d you do that,’ and I just say ‘ah, I forgot coach. I thought I was at
another position.’”
You can reach Tyler Nunez on Twitter @Nunez_TDR.